Twenty-sixth annual ATWS meeting in PA great success

Millersville, Pa.—The 26th annual meeting of the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS), Inc., was held at Millersville University Oct. 26-28. The conclave featured 80 attendees who participated in 25 panels and round tables that focused on the theme, “Voices of the Subaltern: Identities, Hierachies and Social Struggles in a Globalizing Age.”

The conference was co-sponsored by ATWS, Millersville University, Georgia Southwestern State University, Ithaca College and Louisiana State University-Shreveport.

Participants representing Georgia Southwestern were Harold Isaacs, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history; Gary Kline, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of history and political science; and Philip Szmedra, Ph.D., associate professor of economics.

Preceded by a reception, the meeting’s keynote address, “The Colonial in the Global: Where Does the Third World Fit,” was presented by Marnia Lazreg, Ph.D., professor of sociology, Hunter College. Kline gave the presidential address, “Who Will Speak for the Voiceless?”

A number of awards were presented to recognize individuals who have made significant scholarly contributions to the academic discipline of third world studies. The prestigious ATWS Presidential Award for 2008 was presented to Doyin Coker-Kolo, Ed.D., associate dean of education at Millersville University, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the promotion of scholarship devoted to the third world. The winners of the Lawrence Dunbar Reddick Memorial Scholarship Award for the best article published on Africa in the “Journal of Third World Studies” (JTWS), were James G. Guseh, Ph.D., professor of public administration, North Carolina Central University, and Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, Ph.D., professor of political science, North Carolina Central University. Guseh and Oritejafor received the award for their article, “Government Size, Political Freedom and Economic Growth in Nigeria, 1960-2000,” published in volume 24, no. 1, of the spring 2007 issue of JTWS.

The winner of the Cecil B. Currey ATWS Book Award was Elizabeth F. Drexler, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology, Michigan State University for her work, “Aceh, Indonesia: Securing the Insecure State,” published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2008.

The Toyin Falola ATWS Africa Book Award was presented to Ogbu Kalu, Ph.D., professor, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill., author of  “African Pentecostalism: An Introduction,” published by Oxford University Press in 2008; and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, Ph.D.,  professor of department of biobehavioral health, Pennsylvania State University for his work, “Healing Our Differences: The Crisis of Global Health and the Politics of Identity” published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.    

The “Harold Isaacs Graduate Student Award,” given to the author of the top graduate student paper presented at the annual ATWS meeting, was presented to Joseph Agbonifo, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, for his paper, “Beyond Exclusion and Inclusion: The Ogoni and the Politics of Subversive  Patriots.”

Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, Ithaca College, who served as Vice-President/President-Elect organized the conference program, received the ATWS Outstanding Leadership Award. ATWS Outstanding Service Awards were presented to Kline, Isaacs, and A.B. Assensoh, Ph.D., professor of history, Indiana University. 

Entertainment at the banquet was provided by the “Imani Edu-Tainers,”Dance Group of Lancaster, Pa.

Newly elected  ATWS officers are: Peyi Soyinka-Airewele,  president; Mario D. Fenyo, Ph.D., professor of history, Bowie State University, vice-president/president-elect; and Mueni Wa Muiu, Ph.D., assistant  professor of social science, Winston-Salem State University executive council.

The ATWS was founded at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) in 1983 by Isaacs and is the largest organization of its kind in the world.

The Twenty-Seventh annual ATWS meeting will be held in Ghana, November 21-23, 2009.