ACC MOI
- Title
- ACC MOI
- Date
- November 25, 2024
- Language
- English
- Transcript
- [Music] [Applause] [Music] the six year Journey has been very protective we feel we have fulfilled all the objectives of the the initial objectives of the of the of the Africa mple in reconfiguring Africa studies and we can show that from the work that we have we have we have published so we really feel that we have been a worthy partner in this in this journey towards fulfilling the objectives of the of the project IRS affiliations um was one is one of those research sections which give Mo University a good image in the region and internationally because we were able to visit physically during that Corona period we were able to visit uh Kigali daram Rwanda we have visited University of Lagos you know we have visited South Africa so you can see that affiliations is the backbone to the reconfiguration of African studies to one thing that um we must appreciate about the the cluster multiple cluster coming up with the idea of reconfiguring African studies is that it has opened a huge possibilities for us to engage uh with this thing and that we are moving beyond the way that it had initially been configured uh in the initial proposal of the of the of the cluster uh but we are now beginning to reimagine uh new areas of studies that uh were initially ignored as part of um knowledge um in in in in in [Music] Africa what we liked about this um proposal is that it was giving us um even opportunities to actually move out of the of the of the of of Mo University and do your research somewhere else like among the four centers it had a component of what they are calling early career researchers early career resers are uh people have just finished their phds so we had we had a lot of our colleagues who had just finish their phds but they had no opportunities to actually like um develop their their academic careers so foro University so far we have nine of them we have nine early career Scholars we have six doctoral and uh three post dos all of them come from different departments within the [Music] [Applause] university we we we've been hosting what you're calling artist in residents uh one thing is because we also believe they will have value to not what we are doing but also to University programs okay so we have had like U so far three or four uh residences artists in Residence right and um yeah I I don't know whether you know the writer van is one of our first artists in Residence and she did wonderful work when she was here with our with our with our students who do creative uh stuff creative programs and so forth writers you know poets and so forth my time as an artist in Residence is one that I'm grateful for at the mo Africa cluster Center because it gave me a chance to learn a lot it was a very fulfilling experience and most importantly I got to shoot an amazing documentary on the life of a South Sudanese comedian from kakuma refugee camp M it's called comedy and canvas and I'm excited for the possibilities that it holds out here welcome home welcome home here is this the place where we very lovely place where we live in kakuma the other thing that I almost forgot of course is the fellowships that we we we we have like every year we we do uh two or three fellowships what that means is that we have people coming to to to to African cluster Center at Mo University to do their research for 6 months or or 3 months depending on on their own commitments and and this again has to be collaborative so when they come here they already have people they collaborate with and they spend time here you know and those want to keep lectures they do of course it's obligatory that they they do what we call exit workshop at the end of their stay here but what has been interesting is not even you know the exit workshop for example but also the interactions that happens you know between them and our own and and our own researchers and [Music] students remember we have what we calling individual projects right where individuals collaborate in in their individual capacities with other researchers elsewhere but as a center now we we we we we we do we do like early for example uh Workshops can that can actually bring in people to Mo but more than that we we actually like every year we do an International Conference sorry so far we've uh as we come to the close of these projects we have actually done like four International conferences and this has this was really you know um very exciting you know so to to speak in fact one we just did it just just after they had allowed people to go out of their countries just after the coffee that slightly like um East so we did the first uh conference and we really had a big participation but our greatest one was was one that we did um in 2023 which is what we are calling inoc Mo University in the National Conference on African studies and we really had participations from you know the the different locations even people from Brazil who had been collaborating quietly also also came in yeah and we we if I if I look at the impact of all that I I can see that it's it's we can look back and say yeah it was worth uh joining this this this this uh research project ordinarily in the Africa colum we bring in people from outside more University and we listen to them this is part of enriching our own research culture the vibrancy at Mo ACC and at Mo University School of Arts and social sciences is enhanced by these kinds of activities so we are always uh getting new things uh through Africa colum through workshops and so on now the other obvious output of course from research is the publication yeah so um and and we're doing well we we are counting I think 25 times [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] titles so I think one of the uh huge advantages that come uh from this project actually is that mentoring you know that we are able to assist some of our Junior colleagues to move out of the you know the local locations of Elder and realize that there are so many other things that can be done elsewhere in connection with other people but we're happy that this project has actually helped quite a number of students to to to to to do their postdoctoral um sorry their doctoral work uh through the funding of the of the of the project and uh for me I think uh I appreciate it in the sense that it has given me an opportunity uh to be able to collaborate with colleagues who are not necessarily within the cluster uh or yeah within the cluster within this other focal point in Africa uh African cluster [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] museums were our starting point you get to the museum look at the materials that they have and then place them back to the community either in form of a picture or that particular item or we would find out from them what materials they had and then you choose one and then discuss about it and its role in the community the knowledge and so on so forth um in the process we have collected about 170 items initially we thought we' collect 10 per site but when we got into the community we found are more materials um and people are willing especially when they hard work from the inv and the materials would be used for educational purposes so we got um quite a good collection uh from the field in the process also uh we've been able to network with these museums uh to the extent that um they have invited us um in their major uh occasions like in cabet been there twice when they had um what they were calling um stakeholders meetings and stakeholders meetings here includeed researchers like us and members of the community where collect the materials uh for the in Land Hills where we were also doing the collection within the county the curator there um has also been inviting us to be part of the their major um annual um commemoration of through that collaboration uh or that network with them we realized they also having ideas about expanding the MOs mum into to a full Museum and they wanted our input and alongside our participation in the Sam commemoration we also met members of the Sam qu family and one of them um came to us and said you know in wasu County we've been thinking of starting a mum and this time um they wanted to tie it with the Bari a son of [Music] the they learned where it is to be put up has already been set aside but they wanted us to think along with them uh what concept they can adopt in terms of the the architecture the design of the museum itself and that is um the discussion been having with them and now that the molum in Land Hills is a shield representing um quite some way the one for been thr around with the idea of a structure that looks like a spear um because of um his status um and his position as a warrior um in MO University um the library has also been um very keen you know in participating with uh and we've been having the person in charge come to our meetings come to our workshops um the idea is that we can assist them formalize that collection we realize that that collection um the way it was done they they took it the same way that they purchase books so they have an accession number that by that accession number really is about tracing a book but doesn't have the history of who owns or who gave those Mater materials and so on and so forth we have also been discussing with them how to formalize that particular Center by linking them to one of the museums so far we've had very successful discussions with the italan museum and the cabet museum so that they can show us the way how we can formal is it um so far uh that is the way we've been looking at this particular project as also having an impact within the community uh because we realized there are so many students primary and high school who come around more and their major interest usually is the collection when they get into the library is the collection and therefore we thought um we could um assist the library and the university by formalizing um that particular Center documenting what they have already collected going backwards from their records so that we can formalize uh and formally have information about those items that we collect [Music] [Applause] through this you get a lot of experience you get to know what happens in the other uh you know other other centers or other other regions of the world and uh apart from experience you also get knowledge you know you get a lot of information about what is good going on and also um getting um these Partnerships you know gives us strength you know it also strengthens our our our centers and our section so it is very important to to collaborate with others you cannot work in is in isolation you cannot progress when you work alone gender and diversity is very critical in our research endeavors because it is through it that we can be able to actually produce a robust uh kind of research that is actually going to be useful in solving our societal problems because of the kind of inclusivity the kind of reflexivity that has gone into it uh that is actually uh critical in uh changing and transforming our environment or actually our our world so what I can say is that uh we cannot really afford to leave others behind because the whole concept of gender and diversity is that no one should be left behind as a researcher I'm always open to the surroundings and that is what I believe in thatth if you are a scholar then you should open your senses all the senses to their surroundings in order to identify issues uh of concern in whatever field that you are the issues that you can study so that they have some impact in people's lives around you for me it has really like first of all um uh made me realize that uh one can do so many things for others you get what I mean like you you really feel like you you're part of of people that are growing up with you right and but personally of course it has helped me to also network with a lot of other other other other groups of researchers outside Kenya my stay at the Moa ACC has been a marvelous time I was able to meet uh a lot of people and have many ation I learned a lot about Kenya I learned a lot about the research I was trying to uh follow here and I think these three months passed on really quickly and I hope I can come back sooner than later the secret to good Academy is collaborating is sharing and that is why we grateful this idea of African clusters it promotes mobility of Scholars mobility of our students and mobility of [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ideas the beauty with this process of renewal this time around I told you um the first time we were just invited as African universities uh to p and join University of byid as um as partners but this time around um uh the conceptualization has been so in Innovative uh the African uh Scholars who are nestled in these African cluster centers you know um have been part of the process of renewal what what that means is that they have been part of actually coming up with Concepts and ideas you know to drive the next phase of the of the of the African multiple in other words this is now where we feel like we are not being allowed to say what exactly do we really want to do to to do in terms of research from the different locations in Africa you get it so there's nobody who is just assuming that I think Africa needs this kind of um you know research agenda and so forth we are the ones now creating the agenda in this new proposal and we are really hoping that it goes through because then we'll feel like yeah we we we we we really participated you know in terms of coming up with ideas and Concepts you know that actually we as African resers think are very critical and crucial you know for us in in in the continent oh yeah we thank uh our partners especially of course the University of broid this has been a wonderful working relationship and uh yeah and which anyway did not start with this project we had had a lot of work with the University of broid uh a lot of collaborations um I am Lum of the University of bid so I feel like I was always back home whenever I had something that touched University of Bid And so so we we thank them and especially the dean and the deputy Dean that's professor cesan and and and and Professor UT vendler they have been very very supportive and the whole team in byro let me say that they've been it's not easy when you see the kind of work they doing we really thank them because they've been very supportive and of course my fellow um directors from the the other clusters uh University of Roads University of Lagos and Joseph K we have been like a family and one of the things that now that you mention that that this this collaboration has done is that it has brought us closer as African universities and this was one of the amazing byproducts of this of this project and everybody's happy about it when people talk about University of lakos it's like a second home for them those who have gone there for fellowships about I think eight Scholars have been there for fellowships others have been there for for other things like workshops and so forth and yeah you can see that you know that connection it comes out so well and and and I think it's something that will Outlast you know the project itself yeah and we are hoping even as even as we we think of this renewal we're also hoping that uh uh we will actually have you know uh constructed something that will last and I'm happy now that you talked about University management and I fot this that the university management is actually willing to upgrade from just a center to an Institute and we have already started um the processes you know there's those processes that you you you you do the concept then it goes through the many the many uh bodies in the University but we have had Express um support already by the Vice Chancellor and this team that we have no problem in upgrading new people into into into an Institute of African studies so that would be a huge win for us and a huge win for the project oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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