Five Colleges, Incorporated: Bamako: Globalization on Trial

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"Bamako: Globalization on Trial" film screenings and conference February 27-March 1, 2008

Five College conference features celebrated film rebuking international lending policies in Africa

[*Please note the UMass Amherst date and venue change below]

Multiple screenings of a critically acclaimed film, an appearance by a Hollywood star and a video conference with scholars a hemisphere away are among the highlights of a conference sponsored by the Five Colleges African Studies Council and African Scholars Program.

"Bamako: Globalization on Trial," will take place on three area campuses from February 27 through March 1, 2008. As with its namesake film, the Bamako conference will explore the impact of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other aspects of globalization on African countries. While some may applaud the billions of dollars in international aid that has flowed into Africa over recent decades, others point out that it has resulted in crushing debt for developing nations, with little if any improvements to show for it.

Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, the film Bamako flows between fantasy and reality as a group of townspeople put on trial the IMF and World Bank in a dusty courtyard in the Mali’s capital city, Bamako. Robed magistrates hear impassioned testimony about the burden of debt servicing, the loss of control over natural resources and infrastructure and the rise of political corruption that accompanied the loans that have flowed into Africa under the auspices of international aid.

The film has proven to be a darling of the critics, with the San Francisco Chronicle writing, "Trial movies can be painful, but Bamako is a powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor," and the Los Angeles Times noting, "Bamako is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational -- and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating."

*At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 27, 2008, as part of the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, the film Bamako will be introduced by Danny Glover, whose company produced the film and who makes a cameo appearance in it. It will be shown at in Room 137 of UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management on Massachusetts Avenue in Amherst.

The next screening of the Bamako will take place on Thursday, February 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Browsing Room of the Neilson Library at Smith College. A panel of area African Studies faculty will discuss issues raised in the film with the audience.

At 3 p.m. on Friday, February 29, Bamako will be shown at Westfield State College’s Scanlon Banquet Hall, where it will be introduced by Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica Forum, the largest African American organization focused on social justice in the African world.

The Saturday, March 1, 2008 conference events will be at Smith College, as follows:

9:30 a.m.- 12-noon in Seelye 201: African Responses. A live video conference discussion with African scholars and civil society members based in Dakar, Senegal, including former Senegalese cabinet minister Aissata Tall, who appears in Bamako, and Ibrahima Thioub, chair of the Department of History at Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar. In at Smith College.

1-3 p.m. in Seelye 201: Connecting College and Community: Activism and Globalization. Student presentations and a lively discussion of the issues, followed by brief presentations by local organizations doing Africa-related work. Hosted by Nicole Lee. In Seelye 201 at Smith College.

3-5 p.m. in Weinstein Auditorium in Wright Hall: Keynote address by Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica Forum.

All screenings and conference events are free and open to the public. Registration is requested, but not required. A registration form can be found at http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/african (follow the Bamako registration link) or http://www.fivecolleges.edu/forms/ASP_Bamako_register.html

Sponsors include: Amherst College Black studies and Political Science Departments and Women’s and Gender Studies; The Five College African Scholars Program, African Studies Council, and Lecture Fund; the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival; the Smith College Lecture Committee, African Studies Program, and African-American Studies Department; the Mount Holyoke College Purington Fund and McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives; the UMass Amherst Graduate School, School of Education, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; the West African Research Center; l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop; Westfield State College.

Bamako, in French and Bambara with English subtitles, is 115 minutes long. It is not rated. For more information on the film, visit http://www.bamako-themovie.com.

Originally posted 2/15/08

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