Friday February 18, 2022
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Online Zoom Meeting
Dear Colleagues:
This is the time of year when people are fed up with winter and thinking about Spring Training. Well, at least some of us do. There is more to be fed up with this year, and less Spring Training. But lots to think about, as the “Friday Lunch,” a CWRU tradition since 1989, continues on Zoom.
I would like to think we’ll be able to have some in-person meetings sometime during the term, but we’re still not at a point when it makes sense to gather folks in a room and eat lunch at a big table.
The Public Affairs Discussion Group (the formal name) presents experts from campus and sometimes beyond to discuss important issues for the university, local community, nation or the international stage. We hope to encourage discussion or at least vigorous Q&A. It is a special pleasure this week to welcome a new colleague, a leading historian of Africa and especially African economic history, Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza.
This Week’s Program
We have had very little opportunity to learn about Africa in our discussions, and there are many themes he could discuss. Possible issues range from in what sense “Africa” is a place, as in the fate of “pan-Africanist” efforts, to relations between Africa and the world powers and international institutions, to African contributions to global culture, to African aspects of global crises such as climate change and pandemics, to the African diasporas. All are topics in his current course, HSTY/POSC/AFST 372, “Africa’s International Relations: 1945 to the Present.”
What we’re calling the “New Globalization,” however, should be a good introductory theme. Partly, it allows discussion of topics ranging from migration and the spread of disease to economic development, terrorism, and the Chinese economic outreach to Africa. Partly, it sets up a contrast or comparison between the old globalization – otherwise known as colonialism – and the new patterns, which in some cases might be called neocolonialism. Partly it suggests that Africa needs to be thought of in context, as both influenced by and part of processes that expand well beyond the continent.
Please join us what I consider a wonderful new opportunity to expand our discussions.
Signing In
This semester’s discussions will begin at 12:30 p.m., the usual time. The meeting will be set up as from Noon to 2:00 p.m., so people are not all signing in at the same time and to allow for the discussion to run a bit long. Each week we will send out this newsletter with information about the topic. It will also include a link to register (for free) for the discussion. Every Monday the same information will be posted on our website: fridaylunch.case.edu.
If you register, you will automatically receive from the Zoom system the link to join the meeting. This week’s link for registration is:
https://cwru.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwtdu6pqzMqGtOB3WuizGRm9iVSG67DnOU-
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please e-mail padg@case.edu if you have questions about how the Zoom version of the Friday Lunch will work or any other suggestions. Or call at 216 368-2426 and we’ll try to get back to you. We are very pleased to be partnering this semester with the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program to share information about the discussions.
Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza has experienced life in countries around the world—from the West Indies and Kenya to the United States and Canada. Throughout his travels, he’s worked in higher education in six countries on three continents.
This past fall, Zeleza brought his transnational experiences to Case Western Reserve University as an associate provost and visiting professor for Siegal Lifelong Learning and Cleveland College. He’s also serving as the North Star Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza received three academic degrees all in different countries—a bachelor’s degree at the University of Malawi, a master’s degree at the University of London and a Ph.D. at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia—providing him with expertise in history, English, African history, international relations, and African economic history.
Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
February 25: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Election Administration, Voting Options, and Turnout in the 2020 U.S. Election. With Paul S. Herrnson, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut.
March 4: The Present and Future of Cryptocurrency. With Peter Zimmerman, Ph.D., Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
March 11: Spring Break
March 18: Inflation. With Mark Sniderman, Ph.D., Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Weatherhead School of Management; former Executive Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
March 25: Covid-19 Through Covid-22: The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same? Wtih Mark Cameron, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.
April 1: The French Presidential Election. Wtih Patrick Chamorel, Ph.D., Senior Resident Scholar and Lecturer, Stanford in Washington, Stanford University.
April 8: Greening the Grid: The Energy Storage Challenge. With Robert F. Savinell, Ph.D, Distinguished University Professor and George S. Dively Professor of Chemical Engineering.
April 15: TBA
April 22: TBA |
