Liberia : Performing Symbols of the Past, Reinventing Symbols for the Future

Friday, March 23

3:00

Registration: East Lounge, Indiana Memorial Union

7:30

LSA Reception: Mathers Museum

Opening of Liberia Exhibit

Opening Remarks: William Siegmann, Brooklyn Museum

(Registration Table available)

Saturday, March 24

8:00

Registration & Continental Breakfast
Frangipani Room Balcony

Videoconference between Indiana University and Liberia

8:30

Welcoming Remarks

Patrick O’Meara, Dean, Office of International Programs

John Hanson, Director, African Studies Program

Saaim W. Naame, Executive Secretary, Association of Liberian Universities

Symbols of Past and Present Liberia, Panel I:
Chair, D. Elwood Dunn, Sewanee–University of the South

9:00

Some Divide, Others Unite: Assessing the Role of Liberian National Symbols,
William E. Allen, Kennesaw State University

9:30

Non-Combatant Men as Symbols for the New Liberia,
Mary H. Moran, Colgate University

10:00

Flags of Convenience: Reflections on the Significance of Flag Design in Iraq, Kenya, and South Africa,
John Simpkins, Charleston School of Law

10:30

Matilda Newport: The Power of a Liberian Invented Tradition
Svend E. Holsoe, University of Delaware

Coffee available on the Frangipani Room Balcony

Reconstruction & Development , Panel I

Chair, Cyril Broderick, Delaware State University

11:00

Agricultural Resources of Liberia: Demand for and Production of Goods and Services:

Correlations with the 2005 Elections Data

Cyril Broderick, Delaware State University

11:30

A Comparison of the Recent National Elections in Liberia and the Congo
John Yoder, Whitworth College

12:00

Political & Economic Integration in Liberia: Is it an Elusive Goal?
Emmanuel O. Oritsejafor, North Carolina Central University

12:30

Who Owns Papa's Land: Challenges of Research on Land & Property Rights in Post-conflict Liberia
Jeanette Carter, University of Liberia

Saturday

1:00-2:30

Buffet Lunch
Georgian Room

Reconstruction & Development , Panel II

Chair, Jeanette Carter, University of Liberia

2:30

The Role of Liberians and Liberianologists in the Diaspora in Human Capacity Building in
the New Liberia
C. William Allen, Civil Service Agency of the Republic of Liberia

3:00

Educational Reconstruction Efforts and the Well-being of Teachers in Postwar Liberia: When Is Now?
Janet Shriberg, Columbia University

3:30

Women in Postwar Liberia: Identities, Opportunities, and Constraints in a Historical Perspective
Veronika Fuest, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

4:00

Managing Suffering: Open Mole and Trauma Among Liberian Women
Sharon Abramowitz, Harvard University

4:30

Traditional Marriage Relationships between "Wife-Giver and Wife-Receiver" in Bandiland: An Instrument for Enhancement of Peace and Stability in Bandi Society and Its Implications for Sustainable Peace and Stability in Liberia

Liberian Studies Association Annual Banquet
Georgian Room

7:00 PM, Saturday Evening

Keynote Speaker: Sakui Malakpa, University of Toledo
Liberia : Lessons, Challenges and Chances from Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Poster Presentations
View during breaks on upper level of Frangipani Room

Multiple Trajectories Toward Reintegration,
Maarten Bedert, Ghent University ( Belgium)

Microorganisms that Threaten Liberia and Liberians,
Cheryl Broderick, Indiana University

Sunday,
March 25

Registration & Continental Breakfast
Frangipani Room Balcony

Chair, Alpha Bah, University of Charleston

8:00

Ideals and Symbols as a Reflection of the Relationship between Minority and Majority in Liberia
Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University

8:30

Courage, Principle, and Ambition: Peaceful Resistance to Repression in Liberia (1979-2003)
Robert M. Press, University of Southern Mississippi

9:00

Without Vision and Heart the People Perish: Symbols of a New Liberia
Boikai S. Twe, Sinclair Community College

9:30

The Wisdom of the Road,
Jane J. Martin, US Educational and Cultural Foundation, ((1984-89)

10:00

The Philosophy and Culture of Liberia: Slogans and Mottos on Commercial Vehicles,
James Guseh, North Carolina Central University

Coffee available on the Frangipani Room Balcony

Reconstruction & Development III
Chair, Andreas Massing, Independent Scholar, Weiler bei Bingen/Rhine, Germany

10:30

The Hegemonic Presidency, The Constitution and Post-Conflict Peace-building in Liberia
George Kieh, Grand Valley State University

11:00

Reinventing the Security Sector in Liberia: Lessons Learnt from Public Perceptions of Security Actors
Judy Smith-Höhn, Institute of African Affairs,
GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies

11:30

Building Sustainable Peace in Liberia,
Veronica Walker, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

12:00

Forecasting Liberian GDP
Anthony M. Andrews, Global Trade Research Institute, Governors State University

12:30

Myriad Environmental Problems in Liberia and the Way Forward
Morris Koffa , Liberia Environmental Watch

Sunday

1:00

Buffet Lunch
Georgian Room

Liberian Studies Association Business Meeting

LSA President, Alpha Bah, University of Charleston

1:30 -
2:30

Historical Perspectives on Liberia
Chair, Claude Clegg, Indiana University

2:30

Myths about Early Liberian Emigration Unveiled: The Monrovia Case, 1822-1870
John Wess Grant, University of Arizona

3:00

To Liberate from An "Anomalous Condition" or "Secure in Ignorance and Wretchedness"?
Reassessing the Intellectual Origins of the American Colonization Society,

Andrew Kahrl, Indiana University

3:30

The Rice Growers and the Transatlantic Slave Trade ,
Amos Beyan, Western Michigan University

4:00

Inferential Early History of Liberia 1460 -1490,
Andreas Massing, Independent Scholar, Weiler bei Bingen/Rhine, Germany

Poster Presentations
View during breaks on upper level of Frangipani Room

Multiple Trajectories Toward Reintegration,
Maarten Bedert, Ghent University ( Belgium)

Microorganisms that Threaten Liberia and Liberians,
Cheryl Broderick, Indiana University