There are three things to remember about Africa: Africa is huge, Africa is diverse and Africa is full of hope and promise. So says Janis Weeks, interim director of the African Studies Program at the UO.
Neuroscientist Janis Weeks with a child from Mariele Children's Home, an orphanage in Zimbabwe.
A neuroscientist, Weeks teaches classes such as “Diseases of Africa,” and “The Challenge of HIV/AIDS in Africa.” She is one of 24 scholars offering classes that support the new African Studies minor — the first African Studies degree offered in the state of Oregon
Students receive credit toward the minor for classes in disciplines ranging from international studies to linguistics, sociology, law and journalism. They can study abroad in places like Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, and study languages like Arabic and Swahili. The program also features traditional arts, including African dance, drumming, literature and folklore, as well as classes on many aspects of African history and politics.
Weeks began to explore Africa in 1996 when she traveled to South Africa to teach neuroscience to African graduate and medical students as part of the International Brain Research Organization. This teaching opportunity has taken her to various sites throughout the continent, where she learned first-hand about the challenges and successes associated with disease control.
“Through my work in Africa, I became very committed to global health and social justice,” said Weeks, “I felt there was an unfilled need for more courses in this area at the UO, especially for science majors.”
Although a neuroscientist, Weeks initiated a second career in infectious disease and parasitology and is currently the only biologist teaching as part of African Studies. In 2007, the program sent her to shadow medical professionals in rural Zimbabwe to learn more about disease, with the support of a curriculum development grant.
The African Studies Program is still young, but Weeks hopes it can soon support a major. She may even offer classes in mbira (“thumb piano”) which she learned to play, along with the marimba (wooden xylophone), at the Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center — a Eugene non-profit dedicated to the music and people of Zimbabwe.
Among the center’s many activities, Kutsinhira musical groups perform benefit concerts to support the hospitals and clinics where Weeks works in Zimbabwe.
To learn more about the African Studies Program — events, faculty, courses, languages, Oregon Africanist resources and more — visit africa.uoregon.edu.
photo: Isaac Dhliwayo
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