Spring Symposium 2024: Africa, Asia, and the Americas

This spring 2024 symposium, organized by Georgetown University’s Africa-China Initiative and African Studies, brings together experts from across the United States, as well as Peru and Chile, to examine transregional linkages between Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In three sessions, scholars and practitioners from multiple disciplines will examine historical connections and engagements, elaborate on diasporas and other flows between regions, and problematize the concept of “the Global South” as they explore “Global China’s” relations with Africa and Latin America.

This public event is part of a larger workshop exploring the possibilities of transregional studies and a collaboration between Georgetown University’s Africa-China Initiative, Center for Latin American Studies, Georgetown Americas Institute, and Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues with Howard University’s African Studies Center and Michigan State University’s African Studies Center and Asian Studies Center.

1:45 – 3:00 p.m. Africa, Asia, and The Americas: Historical Ties

Caitlin Barker, Michigan State University
Ignatius Suglo, University of Pennsylvania
Yasser Ali Nasser, University of Chicago
Laura MacDonald, Michigan State University

3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Diasporas and Other Flows

Nifta Lau, Universidad del Pacífico
Monica DeHart, University of Puget Sound
Vivian Lu, Rice University
Carol Chan, Universidad Diego Portales
Manjusha Nair, George Mason University

4:30 – 6:00 p.m. Problematizing “The Global South”: African and Latin American Engagements with “Global China,” Restrictive Nationalisms, and Shifting Global Dynamics

Lina Benabdallah, Wake Forest University
Margaret Myers, InterAmerican Dialogue
Viola Rothschild, U.S. Department of State
Eleanor Albert, Georgetown University
Jordan Lynton Cox, The Ohio State University