PANEL DISCUSSION: Peace and Conflict in West Africa

Source: 
Cambridge Chronicle
Duration: 
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 20:00
Countries: 
Africa
Western Africa
PeaceWomen Consolidated Themes: 
General Women, Peace and Security
Initiative Type: 
Conferences & Meetings

On Thursday, Sept. 27, at 6:30 p.m., the West African Research Association, a consortium of scholars and institutions with interest in West Africa, will host a panel discussion on Peace and Conflict in West Africa in collaboration with the Cambridge Peace Commission. The event will take place in the auditorium of the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library.

The panel discussion will take place under the auspices of the West African Peace Initiative, a multifaceted project organized and implemented by the West African Research Association with support from the U.S. Department of State, which works to advance research, dialogue, peace-building and conflict resolution in the region. Discussion will revolve around peace-building efforts and the challenges being faced in the region.

There will be three featured panelists with extensive experience analyzing conflicts in the region. They include Prof. Abu Bakarr Bah, professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University, founder and editor-in-chief of the “African Conflict and Peace-Building Review,” a peer-reviewed journal that grew out of the West African Peace Initiative; Prof. Wilson- Fall, director of Africana Studies at Lafayette College, who serves on the steering committee of the West African Peace Initiative and has written extensively about Africa and the African Diaspora; and Janet Johnson, who covered the civil wars in Liberia for more than 20 years and is featured in the documentary film, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” which chronicles the contributions of women in bringing an end to the civil wars in Liberia.

Learn more about the histories, struggles and peace-building practices of West Africans at the Peace and Conflict in West Africa discussion. Learn more about the West African Peace Initiative at www.westafricapeace.rog. For information about the work of the Cambridge Peace Commission, visit www.cambridgema.gov/peace.aspx.

For more information regarding this event and to RSVP, email Stephanie Guirand at west.African.research.association@gmail.com or Muna Kangsen at mkangsen@cambridgema.gov.