Abstract:

The post-colonial histories of the Sudan and Nigeria have been and continue to be scarred by violent political conflicts.  These conflicts have some common causes in the two countries, namely, contested identities and religious temptations for hegemonic power and domination. Using comparative analysis and critical political economy, the lecture will discuss the historical commonalities and the sharp differences, which characterize the salient roles of identity and religion, in the enduring political conflicts, in the Sudan and Nigeria.

Bio:

Lako Tongun is an Associate Professor of International, Intercultural Studies and Political Studies at Pitzer College.  His research interests are in African politics, political economy, and developmental economics. Some of his publications include “Pan-Africanism and Apartheid: African-American Influence on US Foreign Policy,” in Sidney J. Lemell and Robin D.G. Kelley, eds., Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. London and New York: Verso, 1994; Reviewed Surviving Drought and Development: Ariaal Pastoralists of Northern Kenya, by Elliot Fratkin, American Ethnologist vol.21, no.4 (1994); and The Political Economy of National Planning in the Sudan: Determinants of Choices and Priorities.  Davis: University of California, Davis, 1983.  He is working on a book entitled Planning the Tragedies: Political Economy of Development Policies, Genocides, and the Break-up of the Sudan.

Professor Tongun earned his PhD at UC Davis.

This lecture is part of the African Studies Center Seminar Series (ASCSS).

Cost : Free and open to the public.

http://international.ucla.edu/africa/

Sponsor(s): African Studies Center, Special thanks to the Charles E. Young Research Library.