ACASA

Due date: Nov. 1, 2024

The Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) seeks expressions of interest from members whose institutional contacts can host our Twentieth Triennial Symposium on African Art in 2027. Institutions can be a university, museum, research center, or other venue appropriate for a conference of about 450 participants. Recent Triennial Symposia have taken place at DePaul University and the Art Institute of Chicago (2024), the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon (2017); the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York (2014); and the University of California, Los Angeles (2011). For more information, visit https://www.acasaonline.org/past-triennials/.

The Triennial Symposium is the premier forum for presenting cutting-edge research on the arts and expressive cultures of Africa and its Diasporas. It brings together scholars, artists, teachers, students, museum specialists, collectors, gallerists and other enthusiasts to advance research, knowledge, and collaboration. The Symposium features a rich program of panels, workshops, roundtables, and cultural activities.  It includes a full day devoted to museum professionals. At the Triennial Symposium, ACASA presents awards for leadership, curatorial excellence, and the best books and dissertations in the field of African art histories.

As the primary event through which we engage with each other to share our passion for African Arts, the Symposium is a forum for advancing ACASA’s mission: to facilitate communication among people working to advance knowledge about the arts of Africa and its Diasporas; to promote greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in its many forms; and to encourage contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.

In order to host the Symposium, venues need to accommodate the following over a five-day period:

1)    Five or six rooms of varying size that can seat between 25 to 50 people.

2)    An auditorium that seats about 300 for a keynote and an awards ceremony.

3)    Projection capabilities in all rooms.

4)    Common spaces for breaks and lunch service.

You will be able to rely on the ACASA Board and committees to support your work every step of the way. The Board helps form all Triennial committees, fundraises for the Symposium, and contracts with local vendors to supply all necessary materials.

We emphasize that this call is not for full-fledged proposals to host, but merely letters of interest. Please submit these to Caroline Bastian Retcher, ACASA Arts Administrator and Project Manager (bastian@acasaonline.org) by November 1, 2024.

We will provide further details to all interested parties, with full proposals to be submitted by Feb. 1, 2025.

In August, nearly 250 scholars, collectors, and enthusiasts of African art convened in Chicago for the 19th Triennial Symposium on African Arts. Over four days, the event featured over 70 conference panels centered on human-centered approaches to African arts. Topics included collaboration, diverse knowledge systems, relationship-building, inclusive thinking, and active listening. The Art Institute of Chicago hosted a remarkable keynote address by Adenike Cosgrove, founder of ÌMỌ̀ DÁRA. Cosgrove discussed how her digital platform empowers enthusiasts, scholars, and collectors of African art. Additionally, ACASA honored leaders in the field with awards for leadership, teaching pedagogy, and achievements in books, dissertations, and curatorial practices. The conference, with its varied speakers, interactive sessions, and networking opportunities, proved to be an invaluable platform for intellectual and professional development.

Arts Council of the African Studies Association Conference. Photo by Morgan Kirsch / DePaul Student Photo Agency

This Triennial would not have been possible without our hosting institutions, DePaul University and the Art Institute of Chicago, and title sponsor Schweizer Premodern. We thank Mark Dike DeLancey and Constantine Petridis for their dedicated work as hosting co-chairs. Because of Schweizer Premodern’s generosity, ACASA was able to support over 50 scholars from the African continent with travel grants.

A special thanks to the tireless efforts of the Programming Committee: Amanda M. Maples (co-chair), Paul Basu (co-chair), George Emeka Agbo, Juliana Ribeiro de Silva Bevilacqua, Zainabu Jallo, Matthew Oyedele, and Alexandra M. Thomas for their countless hours reviewing proposals, organizing panels and roundtables, and accommodating the needs of our attendees. We also thank the dedication of the Fundraising Committee, which allowed ACASA to present such a robust and successful event: Kristine Juncker (chair), Christine Mullen Kreamer, Peju Layiwola, and Alexander Bortolot. 

Arts Council of the African Studies Association Conference in Chicago. Photo by Quentin Blias / DePaul Student Photo Agency

The Triennial marked a transitional period for the ACASA Board. We expressed our gratitude to seven outgoing board members who played crucial roles in organizing the Triennial and advancing ACASA’s future. Special thanks go to Mark DeLancey (now past president), Kristine Juncker, Amanda M. Maples (now vice-president/president-elect), Kristen Windmuller-Luna, Candace Keller, Kehinde Shobukonla, and Peju Layiwola. Under their leadership and previous ACASA board member Erica P. Jones, the Board secured a $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to enhance organizational capacity for scholarly exchanges, programming, and restitution efforts. Kristine Juncker, ACASA Treasurer, led the successful recruitment of Julye Williams, founder of Project 2043, to develop a DEI statement for ACASA. ACASA remains committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as core components of our mission. We also unveiled a new logo (special thanks to Candace Keller and the Matrix team at Michigan State University), launched a biannual webinar series, and initiated several other projects to advance our goals.

We welcomed new board members: Michelle Apotsos (treasurer-elect), Allison Martino (secretary), David Doris (social media editor), Ruth Sacks (newsletter editor), Amanda M. Maples (vice-president/president-elect), and Paul Basu (transitioning from president-elect to president). We are enthusiastic about the fresh perspectives and objectives this new board brings and look forward to furthering the understanding of African and African Diaspora art and culture.

Kristine Juncker (Left) and Nichole Bridges (Right) at the Arts Council of the African Studies Association Triennial. Photo by Morgan Kirsch / DePaul Student Photo Agency

At the Triennial, the Steering Committee for the Working Group on Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for U.S. Museums Holding African Objects (CCRBP) presented the new Best Practices Document publicly for the first time. The panel, led by CCRBP Co-Chairs Amanda Gilvin and Erica P. Jones, attracted nearly 300 attendees from all over the country eager to learn about the creation of this pivotal document. The CCR Best Practices Document is now available on the ACASA website and is recommended for sharing with all U.S. collecting institutions. To view the impressive document and recording of the panel, please visit this link.

Arts Council of the African Studies Association Conference. Photo by Morgan Kirsch / DePaul Student Photo Agency

The Triennial concluded with Museum Day at the Art Institute of Chicago, where over 20 museum professionals shared their research in specialized fields often overlooked in conferences but crucial to presenting African art in the 21st century. Special thanks to the Museum Day Planning committee: co-chairs Kristen Windmuller-Luna and Constantine Petridis, along with Ashley Fiutko Arico and Annissa Malvoisin, for their tireless efforts to host such a diverse program. Museum Day featured contributions from Egyptologists, archaeologists, Nubiologists, conservators, research scientists, and audience evaluation specialists, offering valuable insights into their work.

Museum Day Presenters at Arts Council of the African Studies Association Conference. Photo by Kit Wiberg / DePaul Student Photo Agency

The ACASA Awards Ceremony honored an unprecedented number of scholars and researchers in the field. The celebration lasted late into the night with a fantastic dance party, great music, and even better company. ACASA honored two distinguished scholars in the field with the ACASA Leadership Award: Robin Poynor and Anitra Nettleton.

Suzanne Blier shared these words for Robin Poynor:
“We are honored to present this year’s co-winner of the ACASA Lifetime Achievement Award to Robin Poynor, Professor Emeritus in the School of Art & Art History, University of Florida, Gainesville. He exemplifies excellence in scholarship, curatorial practice, mentorship, and leadership in the field. Robin began his Ph.D. in 1967 under Roy Sieber (Indiana University), following a BFA in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute. Robin’s scholarship has been broad reaching. He co-edited the textbook A History of Art in Africa (2008, 20010, 2024). he has also maintained close ties with the Owo Yoruba community in Nigeria with whom he did extensive field research, addressing questions as varied as Egungun masks (1978), Textiles (1980), and Ako second burial figures (1987) in various African Arts articles, as well as an overview article on the field in the 50th anniversary issue ofAfrican Arts (2017).

A mentor to multiple Ph.D. and MA students in an array of disciplines. Robin also has been active in museum and curatorial work. These contributions include Nigerian Sculpture Bridges to Power (Birmingham Museum – 1984), African Art at the Harn Museum (2001) as well as From Ogun’s Forge- Metal Art for the Orisha: The Sculptures of Yaw Owusu Shangofemi and Vassa Niemark (Thomas Center Gallery, Gainesville FL – 2007). His 2013 exhibit and catalogue, Kongo across the Waters (and catalogue 2013) brought together scholarly expertise. Robin’s Africa in Florida: 500 Years of African Presence in the Sunshine State (2014) addressed Africa local history. ACASA has benefitted greatly from Robin’s efforts. An ACASA member since its inception in 1982, he served on the governance committee from 2001 to 2006 then as President from 2002-2004. In 2007 in part through his efforts the 14th Triennial Symposium was held in Gainesville. As a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend, Robin’s generosity and collegiality has been boundless.”

Robin Poynor (Front) with students and colleagues (From Left to Right: Ndubuisi Ezeluombna, Monica Blackmun-Visonà, Victoria Rovine, Rebecca Nagy, Carlee S. Forbes). Photo by Morgan Kirsch / DePaul Student Photo Agency

Marla Berns shared these words for Anitra Nettleton:
“We are honored to present the 2024 ACASA Leadership Award to art historian Anitra Nettleton, Professor Emerita at the University of Witswatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she received all of her academic degrees and then taught from 1970 to her retirement in 2015. Her 1985 PhD dissertation was on “The Figurative Wood Carving of the Shona and Venda,” making her one of the first South African scholars to disseminate knowledge about the historical arts of southern Africa.

Her distinguished record of accomplishments makes Professor Nettleton highly deserving of this award. She has been a leader and innovator over the fifty-plus-year arc of her career. She was responsible for broadening the study of art history at Wits to include the arts of Africa with an emphasis on regional southern African arts. Notably, she spent thirty-six years building the Standard Bank African Art Collection, which became the foundation of the new Wits Art Museum. She dedicated twenty years to spearheading the Museum’s realization.

Nettleton’s work epitomizes what ACASA seeks in recipients of the Leadership Award: highly effective teaching and mentorship ( she supervised 15 Masters and 9 PhDs); holding key administrative appointments (including Head of Art History and Academic Head of the Wits Museum); groundbreaking research (she received a B3 rating) and extensive international publishing (on regional modernism, wood sculpture, and beadwork, among other topics); curating and consulting on exhibitions and collections; service on editorial boards for key journals in the field; collaborative work with colleagues worldwide; and more. Nettleton has been an ACASA member since 1986 and was elected to the ACASA Board in 2017.”

Anitra Nettleton (Middle) and her students Laura De Becker (Left) and Christopher Richards (Right) and. Photo by Morgan Kirsch / DePaul Student Photo Agency

Special thanks to all awards committee volunteers for the dedication set forth to honor such an esteemed group of winners. Awards Committee volunteers include Shannen Hill, John Monroe, Jean Borgatti, Erica P. Jones, Fiona Seigenthaler, Ndubuisi Ezeluombna, Azu Nwagbogu, Kehinde Shobukonla, Ashley Stewart, Cynthia Becker, Tenley Bick, Antawan Byrd, Henry Drewal, David Doris, Candace Keller, Guilia Paoletti, Marla Berns, Suzanne Blier, Mary Jo Arnoldi, Christa Clarke, and Roslyn Walker. The complete list of winners can be found below. 

2024 ACASA Award Winners:

Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award

Single author winners:
Jennifer Bajorek for Unfixed: Photography and Decolonial Imagination in West Africa (Duke 2020)
Delinda Collier for Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa (Duke 2020)
Barbara Frank for Griot Potters of the Folona: The History of an African Ceramic Tradition (Indiana 2021)
Matthew Rarey for Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic (Duke 2023)

Multi-author winners:
Bongi Dhlomo and Pfunzo Sidogi for Mihloti Ya Ntasako: Journeys with the Bongi Dhlomo Collection (Javett Art Centre, U of Pretoria 2022)
Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu for El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture (Damiani 2022)
Perrin Lathrop (ed) for African Modernism in America (Fisk & Yale 2022)
José de Silva Horta, Carlos Almeida, and Peter Mark (eds) for African Ivories in the Atlantic World, 1400-1900 (Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa 2021)

Single author honorable mention (in no particular order):
Christa Clarke for The Activist Collector: Lida Clanton Broner’s 1938 Journey from Newark to South Africa (Newark Museum & Rutgers 2022)
Jordan Fenton for Masquerade and Money in Urban Nigeria: The Case of Calabar (U of Rochester 2022)
Ferdinand de Jong for Decolonizing Heritage: Time to Repair in Senegal (Cambridge 2022)
Okechukwu Nwafor for Aso Ebi: Dress, Fashion, Visual Culture, and Urban Cosmopolitanism in West Africa (Michigan 2021)

Multi-author honorable mention (in no particular order):
Bennetta Jules-Rosette & J.R. Osborn for African Art Reframed: Reflections and Dialogues on Museum Culture (Illinois 2021)
Contanstijn Petridis (ed) for The Language of Beauty in African Art (AIC & Yale 2022)
Allen Roberts, Marla Berns, Tom Joyce, Henry J. Drewal, William Dewey, and Candace Goucher (eds) for Striking Iron: The Art of the African Blacksmith (Fowler Museum UCLA 2019)
Ray Silverman and Neal Sobania for Ethiopian Church Art: Painters, Patrons, and Purveyors (Tsehai 2022)

ACASA Award for Curatorial Excellence

Africa-Based Exhibition Winner:
Bernard Akoi-Jackson for Simply Iconic! Vintage Images off the Beaten Path at The Heritage Photo Lab in Accra

Large-Scale Exhibition Winner:
Paul Basu for [Re]Entanglements: Colonial Collections in Decolonial Times at Museum of Archeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University

Small-Scale Exhibition Winner:
Laura de Becker for Wish You Were Here: African Art and Restitution at University of Michigan Museum of Art

Shortlisted (in no particular order):
Andrea Gyorody and Matthew Francis Rarey for Afterlives of the Black Atlantic at Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College
Kevin D. Dumouchelle for Heroes: Principles of African Greatness at National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian
Rachel Kabukala for Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past & Present at Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University
Tameka Ellington and Joseph L. Underwood for Textures: the history and art of Black hair at Kent State University Museum
Sandrine Colard for Congoville at Middelheim Museum, Antwerp
David M. Riep for Shattering Perspectives: A Teaching Collection of African Ceramics at Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University

ACASA Award for Teaching Excellence

Distinguished Teaching Award Winner:
Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi, Emory University

Early/Mid-Career Teaching Award Winner:
Genevieve Hill-Thomas, Ringling College of Art and Design

Roy Sieber Dissertation Award

Winner:
Rebecca Wolff for “Experience and Memory: The Nigerian Civil War (1967–70) and Its Effect on Nigerian Contemporary Art”

Honorable Mention:
Greer Odile Valley for “Legacies and Afterlives of Dutch Colonialism: Told and Imagined Accounts of South African Colonial Histories in Contemporary Exhibition Practice”

ACASA Leadership Award
Robin Poynor
Anitra Nettleton

Voting for new members of the Board of Directors is extended through 12 July 2024. ACASA members in good standing (with active memberships) are eligible to vote. Election results will be communicated via membership email.

Vote Here: https://www.acasaonline.org/member/page/BoardElection

Five elected candidates will serve for an approximately 3-year term as Members-at-Large (ending Triennial 2027). The Election will be presided over by President Mark DeLancey, with election nominating committee members Ashley Stewart, Endy Ezeluomba and Karen von Veh. The current board will additionally appoint a President–Elect/VP from the elected candidates (to be ratified electronically by the membership) who will succeed Paul Basu as President at the end of his term of office (ASA 2025). For more information regarding the structure and duties of the board, please consult the by-laws.

ACASA Board Candidates 2024-2027

Olayemi Tosin Ajayi

It is an honor to be considered for this position, and I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Council’s mission and goals. As a seasoned academic and media consultant with a strong background in art, design, and publishing, I am confident that my skills and experience make me an ideal candidate for this role. My extensive experience in writing, editing, and reviewing scholarly articles, as well as my expertise in graphic design and visual communication, will enable me to effectively review and enhance the quality of the ACASA newsletter. Moreover, my passion for African studies and my commitment to promoting academic excellence and cultural understanding align with the Council’s objectives. I am eager to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to the Board and work collaboratively with other members to advance the Council’s mission. Thank you for considering my nomination. I look forward to the opportunity to serve ACASA and contribute to its continued success.

Short Biography:

Yemi Ajayi is a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, and imparts his expertise in Graphics, Robotics, Digital Art, and general art-related courses. He holds various leadership roles, including Departmental Examination Officer, Special Adviser to the Head of Department, Teaching Staff Secretary, and Patron to the National Association of Art and Design Students. Ajayi’s influence extends internationally as a vital member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards for the International Journal of Arts and Humanities in the United Kingdom, where he actively participates in decision-making and scholarly contributions. Ajayi is a natural leader, teacher, and counselor and has given numerous seminars, workshops, and conferences as a keynote and guest speaker. His commitment to academic progress is evident through his role as a research reviewer for international conferences. Ajayi is a published author and poet and has contributed to international and national journals, book chapters, and evocative poetry.

Link to four-page CV

Mathias Fubah Alubafi

I am writing to express my interest in the position of vice president of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). Reading about the work of ACASA and participating in some of their activities over the years, have convinced me that I have the professional experience and academic qualifications that will enable me to make a strong contribution to ACASA’s efforts in strengthening the study and dissemination of information on the Arts of Africa. As a board member of ACASA, I would be particularly interested in engaging with the work of the current board members on production and dissemination of research findings on topical issues on art and museums in Africa to a wider audience, especially the less privilege on the African continent who do not have access to the wonderful work the association is doing. I am enthusiastic about taking the work of ACASA to these areas and other parts of the continent that are unaware of ACASA and its work on African art. I would be excited to create awareness about ACASA and its work to researchers and scholars living and working in Africa and to encourage them to join the association. I will also work closely with the other board members to lobby for funding that will allow us to continue to invite and sponsor less privileged researchers, artists, leaders of African art institutions and museums to ACASA events, such as the Triennial. It is my belief that my work speaks to the work of ACASA. I will also work closely with the board to grow ACASA membership beyond the current figures.

Short Biography:

Mathias Fubah Alubafi is presently a senior research specialist (for humanities) at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, South Africa, a position they have held since 2014. Alubafi has been working as coordinator of humanities-related projects at the HSRC since 2017. They were one of the HSRC-Africa focus committee members from 2017 to 2020 and worked closely with committee members and African partners in facilitating the signing of MoUs for the HSRC and various African institutions. Alubafi is also a Research Ethic Committee member at the HSRC, and their role is to review funding applications that have been approved and provide advice about the interests of participants before the projects are implemented. Alubafi is an editorial Board member for the African Historical Review and is responsible for reviewing submissions on African History, art, museums, and cultural heritage and providing advice on critical issues to ensure the Journal meets its objectives. Alubafi has contributed to major exhibitions such as Object Biographies (March – October 2015) at the Berlin Ethnological Museum, and the Cameroon Grassfields Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum. Back in Cameroon, Alubafi sits on the Advisory Committee Board for palace museums in the Bamenda Grassfields.

Link to four-page CV

Michelle Apotsos

I am very interested in the possibility of serving on the board of the Arts Council of African Studies Association. As an organization, ACASA plays an important role in facilitating dialogue between makers and scholars both on and off the continent. Thus, in my theoretical capacity of a member of ACASA’s board, I hope to support the continuity of these productive discourses as ACASA moves into the future. I feel that my administrative experience in conjunction with the professional networks I have fostered over the years through my scholarly foci both illustrate and support this claim. Further, I would like to register my interest in participating in new and/or ongoing conversations as they relate to ensuring robust representation of both continent-based scholars as well as emerging scholars and artists in the context of publications, conference participation, and/or organizational administrative structures supporting the mission of ACASA. I would also like to begin organizational discussions with regards to what it means to be an ethical scholar in the contemporary period and the types of “best practices” that we can encourage towards ensuring that scholarship undertaken within the context of non-US and non-European spaces is non-extractive and mutually beneficial to all stakeholders involved.

Short Biography:

Michelle Apotsos is currently serving my final year as both chair of the Art History Department at Williams College and treasurer of the Islam in Africa Studies Group (IASG). Apotsos has served on collegiate committees ranging from the Committee on Educational Affairs to the Campus Environmental Advocacy Committee, and is currently an evaluative panelist for the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Program. In addition to participating in various symposia and conferences over the years, Apotsos has been a research fellow at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa) as well as a research associate in the Department of Art History and Discourse of Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa). Apotsos conducted fieldwork in Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Senegal.

Link to four-page CV

David T. Doris

I’m honored and grateful to be nominated to ACASA’s Board, for which—if I may—I would like to be considered especially for the role of either Social Media Manager or Newsletter Editor. Those venues are intriguing sites of connection for all of us, wherever we are on the planet. In the daily flow of social media and in the less frequently published newsletters, ACASA members represent themselves to each other and to the world, together creating an organizational Identity that is at once unified and extraordinarily diverse, and always surprising. In the name of transparency, I must admit: my own strengths tend toward the creative rather than the administrative. Before delving into a full-time academic career, I was a musician, and spent some years in the advertising business, where I worked as a creative copywriter rather than, say, an account executive. Such remains my inclination to this day. So, regarding any role I might play as an ACASA Board member, I would be most excited to participate in generating programs that embrace novel possibilities for enhanced communication and

creative growth. In the first century CE, author Pliny the Elder wrote in his Historia Naturalis, “Something new is always coming out of Africa.” Today, more than two millennia later, it’s still true; we in ACASA have the privilege to commit ourselves daily to fostering and translating all that newness for new audiences in each new historical moment. Communication is key. If I can help in some small way, I would like that very much.

Short Biography:

David T. Doris (PhD Yale 2002) is Associate Professor of African Art and Visual Culture at the University of Michigan. His scholarly interests include theories of cross-cultural interpretation, conceptions of an “anti-aesthetic” in African contexts, the phenomenology of “power objects,” the representation of Africa and its peoples in world’s fairs, theme parks, and other commodity spectacles. He maintains a special focus on the art and culture of the Yorùbá people, both in southwestern Nigeria and in the Diaspora. His PhD dissertation, written under the mentorship of Robert Farris Thompson, received ACASA’s 2004 Roy Sieber Memorial Award for Outstanding Dissertation in African Art History; currently, he serves as Chair of ACASA’s Sieber Dissertation Award Committee. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Nigeria; an Ittleson Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts; a Smithsonian Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Museum of African Art; a Residential Fellow at the Getty Research Institute, and has curated two exhibitions of African Art. His book, Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics, and the Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria(University of Washington Press, 2011), addresses the moral, ethical, and aesthetic roles of assemblages of “useless” and discarded objects in contemporary Yorùbá culture. In 2012, Vigilant Things received the African Studies Association’s Melville J. Herskovits Award (now known as the ASA Best Book Prize), presented for “the most important scholarly work in African studies published in English during the preceding year.” His current book project is provisionally titled, A Natural History of Immortality: on the Art & Obscurities of the Ancient & Venerable Ògbóni Society of Honored Elders. He considers his work a sort of object-focused pataphysical ethnography.

Link to four-page CV

Djibril Drame

As an independent scholar, I have been documenting graffiti in Senegal for the last 20 years, as a visual artist I have been practicing for the last 15 years and curating art for the last 10 years. I do believe that I will be à good fit to bring more diversity and inclusion. I do believe in freedom, peace, love, all races and gender are equals.

Short Biography:

Djibril Drame has been creating visuals for over 20 years. He has worked in the Senegalese Government, been a freelancer in the United States, and is an acting producer, art director, communicator, and art curator. Drame is currently the director of Sabali, Inc. in Dakar.

Link to CV

Amanda M. Maples

I bring to the nomination three years of service to ACASA as the Social Media Editor on its Board of Directors, and nineteen years of experience working with African arts, primarily in university and museum settings. In addition, I have taught at the university level, supervised and mentored students and interns, developed and managed conferences and databases, directed and managed a major internationally traveling exhibition, worked with living African artists as well as historic materials, and have delivered numerous scholarly and public lectures. I am committed to academic research and writing for both scholarly and general audiences. I also strongly believe in making African arts research widely available and accessible, not only to academic audiences, but to the general public. My recent work advocates for ethical museum practices, particularly in regards to provenance and field research, collaborative projects, and the equitable circulation of objects globally. My ability to multi-task, write for multiple audiences, and serve in other capacities as an editor and a secretary make me an ideal candidate to continue my service on ACASA’s Board of Directors.

Short Biography:

Amanda M. Maples is Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She has taught university courses in African arts and served in curatorial and scholarly capacities at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center, the Yale University Art Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, the High Desert Museum, and UC Berkeley’s Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Maples has served as the Dialogues editor for the journal African Arts since 2020, and has curated a range of exhibitions on historical and contemporary African arts. Her scholarship explores urban and contemporary masquerade, decoloniality, jewelry and self-fashioning, museum policies, collecting practices, and restitutions. Maples holds a Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Link to four-page CV

Allison Martino

I am eager to become more involved with ACASA during the next three years and am honored to have been nominated to serve on the ACASA Board of Directors. Collaboration is central to my curatorial work with academic art museums and I would bring that collaborative spirit to my involvement with the ACASA board. I am happy to serve in any of the board positions that will become open; I am most interested in contributing as secretary or newsletter editor. I am also keen to pursue opportunities to strengthen ACASA’s professional development programming, particularly ones related to current curatorial issues as well as mentorship and training for young scholars entering the field.

Short Biography:

Allison Martino been working as the Laura and Raymond Wielgus Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and Indigenous Art of the Americas at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, located at Indiana University in Bloomington, since 2020. At the Eskenazi Museum, Martino initiated and developed a provenance research project for the collection that they oversee. This project has become a priority for Martino’s work and signals their commitment to ethical stewardship. Martino designed this provenance project to include graduate student researchers, as Martino prioritizes student training in critical issues facing the field today. Previously, Martino held curatorial appointments at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and also taught courses on African art and visual culture at both Michigan and Bowdoin.

Link to four-page CV

David Mbuthia

I am interested in serving as a member of the ACASA board because I believe in and would like to contribute to ACASA’s mission of “promot[ing] greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its many forms, and encourage[ing] contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.” In so doing, I will be able to promote the well fare and appreciation of African material and immaterial culture in different aspects. Given a chance in the board, I will do my best to promote the understanding of African Art and heritage in general. I will do my best in whatever role the board allocates me.

Short Biography:

David Mbuthia has worked in the heritage field for the last 24 years having worked at the National Museums of Kenya for 21 years and two years at the National Heroes Council. Mbuthia holds a PhD in Heritage Management, an Msc. in Applied Ecology and Conservation, a postgraduate certificate in Museum Public Programming, and a Bsc. (Hons) in Environmental Studies. Mbuthia’s experience in heritage management includes policy, researching, monitoring, interpretation, exhibitions, and programming for different audiences, including school groups, youth groups, community groups, special needs groups, and vulnerable groups. Mbuthia is innovative with strong skills in leadership, teamwork, developing partnerships, fundraising and report writing. Mbuthia highly appreciates socio-cultural as well as perspective diversity and inclusivity. Mbuthia has worked with African cultural materials and expressions at local national and international level. He has participated in many national and international exhibitions and public programmes dealing with African Arts. Mbuthia has several publications in the field of heritage management with some dealing with the topic of African Art and the search for relevance by museums in Africa.

Link to four-page CV

John W. Monroe

In my opinion the great virtue of ACASA, and of African art studies more generally, is its interdisciplinarity. The groundbreaking work that scholars and curators in this field produce is unique in its creative openness, not only to a wide variety of methodological approaches, but also to an ongoing questioning of foundational assumptions: the difference between the “universal” and the “particular,” “tradition” and “modernity,” “art” and “craft” – indeed, the very nature of “art” itself.

The two Triennials I’ve attended, in 2012 and 2017, have been among the most engaging, intellectually rich conferences I have ever taken part in; they have also been by a substantial margin the most welcoming.  One of the pleasures of doing research in this field is the opportunity it provides to enjoy the company of so many generous, enthusiastic colleagues.

For that reason, I’m honored and humbled to be nominated to stand for election to the ACASA board.  If I were to be elected, I would look forward to contributing to the next Triennial, to committees the board chooses to organize, and to the ongoing development of the field.  My current service on the Rubin Award Committee and the MNAA subcommittee of the CCRBP have given me a clear sense of both the intellectual dynamism of the field and the strong ethical commitment ACASA members bring to their work.  It would be my pleasure to be able to support these endeavors further from a position on the board.

Short Biography:

John Warne Monroe is a Professor of History at Iowa State University.  He is author of two books, both published by the Cornell University Press.  The second, Metropolitan Fetish: African Sculpture and the Imperial French Invention of Primitive Art, received the Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award at the 2021 Triennial.  It was also one of five finalists for the CAA’s 2021 Charles Rufus Morey award.  Research for the book, which took him to both France and Senegal, was funded with major grants from the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

John was originally trained as a cultural historian with a focus on nineteenth and twentieth-century France.  His professional engagement with African art studies began in the mid-2000s, when an encounter with the Stanley Collection at the University of Iowa Museum of Art inspired him to turn his love of historical African art into the basis for a new research project.  During the 2005-2006 academic year, John held a Curatorial Fellowship at the museum, working closely with the late Chris Roy.  Since then, John has immersed himself in the scholarly literature on African art and material culture, beginning a research journey that continues today. In his position at Iowa State, where he has been employed since receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2002, John has been active in professional and institutional service.  He has served two three-year terms on the Executive Council of the Western Society for French History, where he was on prize and conference programming committees; has done stints on three journal or book-series editorial boards; and regularly peer-reviews manuscripts for journals and university presses.

Link to four-page CV

Kgomotso Moshugi

My desire to serve on the ACASA board stems from a deep-rooted conviction in the value of the arts. While I am a recent member to ACASA, I firmly believe that the organization is pivotal in preserving, promoting, and protecting the arts of Africa and the diasporas, broadly conceived. It is clear that the organization serves as a crucial network for advocacy and advancing arts discourses and practices, giving a necessary voice and presence to African ideas and ideals embodied in various works. The board’s focus on Africa acknowledges the profound and rich art heritage of the continent and its potential to continuously yield meaningful insights that enrich art knowledge and experiences. I am eager and ready to dedicate myself to contributing to this work. I am excited to share my unique experiences pertaining to the cultural value chain and creativity as a system of artistic, cultural, and socio- economic activities to further the ACASA board deliberations and the organization as a whole.

Short Biography:

Kgomotso Moshugi is a musician who has more recently also become a university scholar of the arts with a journey in the art world spanning over twenty years. Moshugi has worn multiple hats during this period, whether as a team member, team leader, practitioner, creator, or administrator. This diverse blend of roles, at times born out of necessity and at others out of moments of passion, has shaped their understanding of art ecologies. Moshugi has seen that for the arts and study of the arts to thrive, creation and dissemination often require mediated interventions. Since 2013, Moshugi has expanded their research horizons through pursuing a PhD and appointment to the teaching faculty at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Moshugi combines conventional qualitative tools with creative and artistic approaches. Their current research and teaching focus on cultural policy and management, with attention to factors that influence the contexts in which creators practice the art, as well as the sustainability of those contexts.

Link to four-page CV

Ruth Sacks

I am honoured to be nominated as a board member for ACASA and eager to serve as webmaster or newsletter editor. As a practising artist and published academic in African Studies, I bring experience in implementing and running interdisciplinary activities between contemporary art and academic activity (which can involve managing the project website). If elected, I would encourage ACASA to strengthen mentorship and support for emerging African artists and curators, alongside academics, to develop their Africa-based projects into scholarly publications. I came to academia from a career as a South African visual artist who had participated in major international exhibitions dealing with the representation of Africa (such as the 2007 African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale). This experience led me to probe African positions from a theoretical point of view, as is evident in my scholarly publications, including my recent monograph dealing with Congolese visual culture and the city of Kinshasa. My research on the Congo and in my hometown of Johannesburg also led to a body of artworks, parts of which have been exhibited in Europe as well as the African continent. While lecturing in the Visual Art Department at the University of Johannesburg, where I hold a senior position, I have developed strong collaborative connections to other African institutions, particularly in Kinshasa and Lagos (where my new research lies). I am an active member of the African Studies Association and the Lagos Studies Institute as well as ACASA and a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of the Witwatersrand).

Short Biography:

Ruth Sacks is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg (Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture), where she has held a position in History and Theory of Art (Visual Art Department) since 2021. Sacks obtained a PhD through the interdisciplinary African centre WiSER (the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) in 2017, where she was a doctoral fellow. Her first academic monograph, Congo Style: From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence, was published by Michigan University Press in 2023 and other publications include a chapter in the edited volume Planetary Hinterlands: Extraction, Abandonment and Care (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Sacks has recently been invited to give guest seminars at the Africa Institute in Sharjah (May 2024); MESAAS (Middle Eastern South Asian and African Studies Institute), Columbia University, in New York (December 2023); and CIVA Museum & Archive in Brussels (September 2023). Sacks has exhibited widely as an artist and recent exhibitions include Style Congo: Heritage and Heresy at CIVA Museum & Archive (Brussels, 2023), whose curators include Congolese artist Sammy Baloji, and Overwhelmed at the UJ Gallery (Johannesburg, 2023). She was a co-director of the large-scale community arts project Response-ability in inner city Johannesburg (2020-1) and has organised international conferences such as Médiation passée, présente et future at the Kinshasa Academy of Arts (2016).

Link to four-page CV

Majula Swareh

I am grateful to have been nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. As an up and coming scholar in the field of African Studies, I am deeply interested in the work of ACASA and the possibility of engaging with interdisciplinary African Art scholars, where “scholar” is defined beyond western academic categorizations. My extensive background in African cultural studies, combined with my professional experience in museums and cultural institutions, makes me well-suited for these roles and will be helpful in supporting ACASA’s mission to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange and promote the diversity of African arts. As a member of the ACASA Board of Directors, I am eager to contribute to ACASA’s goals, enhance its visibility and access, and expand its reach.

Short Biography:

Majula Swareh is the Special Assistant to the Director at the National Museum of African Art, and has actively contributed to interdisciplinary storytelling and the development of dynamic programs that nurture visionary engagements within the public space. Swareh’s academic foundation, with a master’s degree in African Cultural Studies, complements their practical experience in project management, program development, and community outreach, both on the African continent and internationally. Additionally, Swareh’s contributions to the Mellon Foundation-funded African Museology Project, particularly in restitution and regenerative knowledge production, highlights their commitment to ethical practices in cultural heritage. Swareh’s professional experience also includes managing initiatives focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Represented Collective, where Swareh successfully created a professional development curriculum. This role, along with their work at the National Center for Arts and Culture in The Gambia, has equipped them with skills in project management, grant writing, and team coordination, all of which are essential for effective board service. These experiences have deepened Swareh’s understanding of the complexities and richness of African artistic expressions. Swareh will also be presenting on African Literature, Film and sites of memory in the ICMEHMORI Conference in Kigali, Rwanda in July.

Link to four-page CV

Tukufu Zuberi

Short Biography:

Dr. Tukufu Zuberi is the Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, and Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Lead Curator of the Africa Galleries at the Penn Museum. His administrative responsibilities have included being chair of graduate programs and departments, directing several difference centers, and working with senior administrators to enhance the excellence of the student body and faculty. He was the founding Director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He curated several exhibitions and filmed in many of the major museums in the US on the hit series PBS History Detectives, and has visited the major museums in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Zuberi has curated myriad exhibitions and published numerous books and over 100 articles and reviews.

Link to four-page CV

All Nominations Due May 20, 2024

The ACASA Board of Directors has five open Member-at-Large positions:

Vice President/President-Elect, Secretary, Newsletter Editor, Social Media Editor, and Treasurer

Term Length: ACASA Triennial 2024 – Triennial 2027

All nominees must be members in good standing of ACASA (must have an active membership). In addition to their assigned position, each Board member serves on committees during their 3-year term and participates in regular board meetings. Please note that nominees do not apply to a specific board position. Following the general election, the Board will hold an internal election to designate one new member as Vice President/Future President, as indicated in the bylaws, and assign the remaining board positions accordingly. All elected nominees must be willing and ready to serve as ACASA Vice President/President-Elect.

All nominations are due May 20, 2024. Submit your nominations here

The ACASA Board Elections Committee will email all nominees once the nomination portal is closed. Those who accept their nomination must submit a short statement of intent and a 4-page (max) CV by June 3, 2024.

Members may nominate another ACASA member or themself for one of these positions.

If you have any questions, please email Caroline Bastian Retcher, ACASA Admin, at bastian@acasaonline.org

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Thank you for voting. The current ACASA bylaws are now available for viewing.

Please reach out to Caroline Bastian Retcher at bastian@acasaonline.org if you have any questions or issues.