speech coverage revision

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – David Wiley, director of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, blamed European colonialism for Africa’s current disorganization, and looked to the U.S. to turn around the current predicament and decrease militarization during a lecture Wednesday at Kalamazoo College.

The lecture pointed to European colonialism, which was full of military arms, soldiers, and warfare, and misconceptions about Africa being distant, dangerous with disease and crime, and uncivilized as the reasons for the policies that have developed. Wiley showed that despite common delusion, Africans have the highest education and income of all immigrants in the U.S.

“This is the idea I really wanted to get at: the West carries responsibility for Africa’s current state,” Wiley said. “By fostering maritime security and stability in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea region, by signing U.N. protocols, and by ending the focus on military prowess as a source of security, the U.S. can really turn a corner.” Wiley, who currently is director at one of the largest and most highly ranked faculties in the nation for the study of Africa, has previous research experience on social stratification and religion in Zimbabwe and Zambia, urbanization and housing in Zambia, and scholars and U.S. foreign policy toward Africa.

The lecture, titled “Understanding the Disorganization of Africa: Militarizing a Continent,” was attended by about 55 students, many of them African Studies students,
who positively received Wiley by laughing when appropriate and asking engaging questions.

“I thought he was an interesting speaker, and I liked that the lecture was oriented toward a solution in Africa, not just talking about the problem,” said Anne Jefferson, a sophomore at Kalamazoo.

Wiley quickly clicked through a slide show to back up his lecture, which included mostly photos, cartoons, and graphs. Wiley kept the tone light with some of the photos and cartoons. For example, he showed a picture of presidential candidate Barack Obama as a monkey to reflect the deepness of the guttural images of Africa that still remain in American culture.



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