African Research Institute Committee:
Dr David Dorward- History (Director); Dr Dimock (served as acting director during Dr Dorward's absence on leave in the second half of 2000, in addition to serving as the Institute's seminar coordinator); Prof. Martin Chanock- Law & Legal Studies; Dr Elizabeth Dimock; Sarah Romney (Post-Graduate Representative); Eva Fisch (Library Representative).

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SEMINAR PROGRAM Report by Dr Elizabeth Dimock

Seminars were held at the Bundoora campus and at Australian Volunteers International in Fitzroy. The decision to hold some seminars in the early evening in Fitzroy has opened up the seminar program to a broader audience, especially members of the various African communities dependent upon public transport.

Dr Bhadra Ranchod, the High Commissioner for South Africa, gave an address on issues relating to equity of opportunity in the new South Africa, within the context of the new 1996 South African Constitution. While affirming the South African government's focus on attracting investment and encouraging the corporate sector, Dr Ranchod spoke of the consequent job retrenchments in the face of social needs and the urgency of increasing employment opportunities. Dr Ranchod commented on the need to find a satisfactory balance between maintaining a vibrant economy and dealing with social issues resulting from the inequalities of earlier regimes.

Emeritus Professor Martin Klein, from the University of Toronto, gave a seminar paper in May, entitled 'Ethnic Pluralism and Homogeneity in the Western Sudan: slavery and the internal slave trade'. Professor Klein focused on the complexity of state structures, existing economies and the influence of status groups such as leather workers, blacksmiths and praise singers in maintaining slavery through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The same factors were also influential in maintaining slavery through much of the twentieth century.

In June Associate Professor David Dorward gave a comprehensive account of the background to current political and social turmoil in Sierra Leone. Entitled 'The Tragedy of Sierra Leone: diamonds, war-lords and the failure of the United Nations', this was an insightful commentary on the power of the diamond trade to influence the political process in a West African country and relations with neighbouring countries.

Reverend Alan Nichols addressed the African Research Institute on Rwanda, based on his work there in 1994- 1995, when he witnessed some of the consequences of genocide, and again in 2000. He spoke about moves towards a new system of justice after the killing of all Rwanda's judges in 1994, the work of the international court in Arusha, the accelerated training of new judges within Rwanda and the use of customary processes of law, gacama, at village level, in dealing with local aspects of the killings. Alan Nichols spoke optimistically of the process of counselling and reconciliation that is being attempted throughout the country.

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AFRICAN COMMUNITIES AND SETTLEMENT SERVICES IN VICTORIA: TOWARDS BETTER SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS

After long discussions with the Steering Committee under the aegis of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, the Report was finalised in September 2000. The Minister, the Honorable Philip Ruddock launched the report on 12 November at a large gathering of African Australian community members and representatives from a number of migrant services.

The authors, Dr Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe and Dr Liz Dimock were the Principal Research Officers of the project, initiated in February 1999. The 200-page report includes maps and analyses of the African Australian population in Victoria based on the 1996 Census and DIMA Settlement Database statistics, a literature review, surveys of African perceptions of settlement services and of a range of settlement services including: immigration, on-arrival services, accommodation, employment, English-language teaching and education, health, youth, family and community services.

The principal findings demonstrate the diversity and fragmentation of African communities in Victoria, issues around gender, and special problems faced by minority groups especially those from Francophone and Lusophone Africa. The main problems facing African migrants are as follows:

long-term suitable accommodation
employment
discrimination and racism
youth issues: language training, schooling and tertiary eduacation, substance abuse, recreation facilities
family and generation issues
understanding Australian systems and processes in social services, and the need for more African Australian imput
the experience of isolation and alienation
immigration and visa issues, especially concerning family reunion, student visas, skills visas

The primary recommendation concerned a need for a powerful collective voice for all African Australians in Victoria through the establishment of an African Central Agency which would:

promote African culture and identity,
liaise with government and non-government departments and agencies to promote better service delivery,
promote better understanding among the diverse community organisations and counterbalance the current fragmentation,
promote African Australians to the media, and
investigate and promote an Africa Centre in the metropolitan area.

Many recommendations were made concerning specific settlement services and, for some, a need for further research.

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BLUE TUFF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, KENYA

David Wines was engaged in field research in Kenya on flora in conjunction with on-going archaeological research at the Blue Tuff site in Kenya, under the supervision of Dr Stern.

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HUMANITIES FACULTY WINTER AND SUMMER PROGRAMS

In June and July 2000 Dr Liz Dimock taught the five-week course 'Women, Race and Gender in Africa' in the faculty of Humanities Winter Program. Some students were interested in the ten credit points that are available at 2/3 level for a Humanities degree. Others were from outside the University system and doing the course for interest, sometimes work-related, sometimes inspired by travel in Africa, sometimes from an interest in African culture.

In the Summer Program, Dr Dimock introduced a new course, 'The role of gender in European relations with Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries'. This course focused on European perspectives, while 'Women, Race and Gender in Africa', repeated again in February 2001, concentrates on African viewpoints. These courses aim to draw attention to Africa beyond the confines of the university. While numbers attending are not high, levels of interest are.

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Other Activities:

Sue Thomas and Ann Blake co-authored , England through Colonial Eyes in Twentieth-Century Fiction, (forthcoming 2001); Dr Thomas contributed chapters on Olive Schreiner and Buchi Emecheta, while Ann Blake dealt with Doris Lessing, Dan Jacobsen and Abdulrazak Gurnah.

Dr Elizabeth Dimock was re-elected Vice-President of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP).

Dr Dorward spend part of late 2000 undertaking research in Ghana, on Arthur London, first chief agent for Swanzy & Co. in Kumasi, and in Britain and the United States on the role of the Congo Balolo Mission in exposing the 'Red Rubber' Scandal in the Congo Free State of King Leopold II. Dr Dorward also served as consultant on an exhibition on Gold and Civilisation to open in 2001 at the new National Museum in Canberra and wrote a contribution on "African Gold' for the exhibition catalogue.

Dr Kivubiro Tabawebbula left at the end of 2000 to take up a teaching position at the Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. His expertise on African material culture was unique and his exuberant personality will be sorely missed.

Members of the Institute provide news media commentary on a range of African issues during the year.

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Publications:

Liz Dimock and Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe, African Communities and Settlement Services in VictoriaToward Better Service Delivery Models (Melbourne: DIMA, 2000)

David Dorward, " South Africa: Democracy and Citizenship in a Plural Society", Citizenship and Democracy in a Global Era ed. Andrew Vandenberg (London: MacMillian, 2000)

David Dorward, editor of African entries, SBS World Guide, 8th edition, (Melbourne: Hardie Grant Books, 2000)

David Dorward, "The Art of Southern African", South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland 4th edition (Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications, 2000)

David Dorward, 'The African Growth and Opportunity Act, 2000: American Penetration of Africa under the guise of commercial opportunity", Boab Connection of the Australia-Southern Africa Business Council (Winter 2000) pp. 12-13.

David Dorward, "American Re-colonisation of Africa: African Growth and Opportunity Act, 2000". LaTrobe Forum XVI (Aug 2000), pp. 29-31.

Mary. Ross, "The prisonhouse of language,: literary production and detention in Kenya 1953-60." Captive and Free. ed. Graeme Harper. (Continuum International Publishing and Leicester University Press, 2000.)

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Seminar/Conference Papers:

David Dorward, "What is happening in Sierra Leone", paper delivered at Annual Conference of African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP), Adelaide, 14 July

David Dorward, "Business in the Gold Coast: A unique Perspective on the Life and Times of an F & A. Swanzy Chief Agent", Ghana Studies/ Office of African Security Dialogue and Research, University of Legon, Ghana, 29 Sept. 2000, chaired by H.E., Dr Peter Schweizer, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ghana.

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