Celebrated writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o will deliver the African Studies Center Coleman Memorial Lecture on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 7:30 pm in the Billy Wilder Theatre at the Hammer Museum.

Thursday, May 25, 2017
7:30 PM
Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

One of the world’s leading writers and scholars, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has been a force in bringing Africa to the forefront of contemporary literature and postcolonial theory through his novels, essays, plays, journalism, and social activism. His new memoir, Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening, chronicles the period in early-1960s East Africa when he first found his voice as a leader of a literary and intellectual movement. A distinguished professor in the School of Humanities at UC Irvine, he has also been nominated for the Man Booker International Prize.

James S. Coleman Memorial Lecture

The Coleman Memorial Lecture is given in honor and memory of Professor James S. Coleman, the founder of the UCLA African Studies Center. A pioneer in the field of African Studies, Coleman’s capacity for work was extraordinary, and he was among the first American scholars to recognize, understand, and give voice to the significance of the African perspective. His scholarly contributions were immense and focused largely on nationalism, education, and development theory, but he also wrote on academic freedom and political economy; his works have endured. In 1989, the Center was renamed to honor its founder James S. Coleman, one of the architects of African Studies in the United States, and an annual Coleman Memorial Lecture features a presentation by an outstanding Africanist scholar.

Past Coleman lectures have been delivered by Crawford Young, Mamadou Diouf, Véronique Tadjo, V. Y. Mudimbe, Chérie Rivers Ndaliko and Petna Ndaliko, Pearl Robinson, Paul Zeleza, Caroline Elkins, and Robert Farris Thompson.

Tickets are required and available at the Box Office one hour before the program. General admission tickets are available one per person on a first come, first served basis following member ticketing. Early arrival is recommended. Parking is available under the museum and there is a $6 flat rate after 6 p.m. Parking is cash only. Parking for visitors with disabilities is provided on levels P1 and P3.

Cost : Free and open to the public

https://www.hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/05/ngugi-wa-thiongo/

Sponsor(s): African Studies Center, Copresented by the Hammer Museum.