Poet and scholar Tsitsi Jaji will give two public talks at events co-sponsored by Prairie Schooner, UNL’s international literary journal, on Feb. 26.
The first event, a lecture titled “Africa in Stereo: Listening for Pan-African Futures,” will take place 3:30-5 p.m. in Dudley-Bailey Library, 228 Andrews Hall. The second, a poetry reading, will follow from 7-8 p.m., in Room A of the Regency Suite in Nebraska Union.
Jaji’s poetry has been featured in Prairie Schooner, and her chapbook, “Carnaval,” appears in the Seven New Generation African Poets box set, which was published as part of the African Poetry Book Series by Slapering Hol Press in association with Prairie Schooner and the African Poetry Book Fund. Jaji was also named a finalist in 2014 for the African Poetry Book Fund’s Sillerman First Book Prize.
“The African and African-American Studies program unanimously chose to invite Jaji to UNL. Jaji’s research on African-American music in Africa represents the best of interdisciplinary global and African diaspora studies,” Alice Kang, assistant professor of political science, said. “On top of that, Jaji is a wonderful poet. We’re thrilled that Jaji will be giving both an academic talk and a poetry reading. There will be something for everyone.”
Jaji was born and raised in Zimbabwe. An assistant professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Jaji’s work has appeared in Poetry International, Prairie Schooner, Bitter Oleander, Munyori, Runes, and elsewhere. She is also the author of “Africa in Stereo: Modernism, Music and Pan-African Solidarity (Oxford University Press, 2014),” a scholarly monograph on which her lecture is based.
In addition to Prairie Schooner, event sponsors include the African Poetry Book Fund, the African-American and African Studies Program, the Institute for Ethnic Studies, the departments of English, history, political science and sociology, the UNL Faculty Senate Convocations Committee, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Both events are free and open to the public.
For more details about this event, visit http://www.prairieschooner.unl.edu.
