- Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for joining us for this monumental event, where we were just watching the "Year of Global Africa" documentary.

And we are now at the interview, sort of discussion section of the evening.

And I'm joined here by some beautiful people who we worked on this project with.

I, myself am Shingi Mavima.

I was involved in many different capacities, but you would have seen me likely as the poet in this, in the video.

So, guys, if we can start with the gentleman and introduce ourselves.

- Hello, I'm Jason Howard.

I was the director, cinematographer for this.

And then here's my co-director right here.

Gloria, why don't you introduce yourself?

- Hi, my name is Gloria.

I was a student at Michigan State while we were filming the movie in the School of Journalism.

And I worked with Jason on the movie in different capacities, as we're going to discuss tonight.

- Indeed.

Welcome, folks.

And to all our viewers out there, we have maybe one or two other guests who may join us a bit later, including who was actually intended to be our actual host.

So if she does come in, I will cede the floor to her.

But we'll continue to have the conversation, you know, as we have started it.

So let's get talking about this.

Jason, how do you link up with the Year of Global Africa team?

How does that happen?

- Yeah, so I was a media information student getting a minor in documentary filmmaking.

And my professor, Geri Zeldes, had a connection with the African Studies department.

And they wanted to do a film about the Year of the Global Africa.

And so we had a meeting and I just saw the passion and how bright this project was.

And I just was like, "Yes, I would love to be in."

And then we brought in Gloria as well.

And it was, it just all tied together so nicely.

- Indeed.

And before I get to you, Gloria, at what, because the Year of Global Africa ran for a good 18 months or so.

At what point in the year did you, were you brought on?

At the end?

- Yeah, pretty, pretty close to the end.

I was brought in at least a year after the Year of Global Africa started, well, more, closer to two years basically.

But I had actually been a part of that halftime show through filming it with the video board crew.

So I had already known that it was a huge project and it was just, it was so fun to be there.

- Indeed.

And, Gloria, coming to you, Jason mentioned that we, you know, you were brought on a little bit after he came on.

Can you tell us about what that was like?

- Yeah, so prior to joining Jason on this project, I was involved in the Year of Global Africa already.

I was involved in the halftime show, the project that kicked off officially the Year of Global Africa.

I was a part of the team that performed at that show.

And there were a few other events that I was already participating in.

And in the summer of 2019, I believe, that's when, yeah, Geri Zeldes and Jason talked to me about the movie and invited me to contribute to the project.

And I was so happy to get involved because I had already been involved in the bigger Year of Global Africa prior to that.

- So how did they, is that because of what you were studying at the time?

How did you connect with Geri?

- Oh, yeah, so just like Jason, I was also in the department of, in the College of Communication in Arts and Sciences, but I was majoring in journalism.

And Geri Zeldes was also one of my professors.

She taught me a filmmaking class and I believe a different other class.

I can't remember.

But it was through that connection.

We were in the same college.

And that's how I came on to this movie.

- All right, all right.

Jason, you mentioned, so not only did you come onto the project, onto the Year of Global Africa a bit late after it had started, you are also coming from outside the immediate cultures that it's representing.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you were able to reconcile that and immerse yourself in this project?

- Yeah, so I think that's one of the core messages was to have people outside of these, the culture learn about it and understand it.

And so that's kind of how I took it to teach other people to, what I have learned through it essentially.

And that's, I think, why the message meant so much to me, it was like, this is, we're trying to share in the people of the continent of Africa.

And it was great.

- And, Gloria, I'm interested in how you played a few different roles in this, right?

So was there any difference from when you were sort of in front of the camera dancing and performing and bringing sort of your skill set as a student and professional on the other side of the camera at this time?

- Yeah, surprisingly, I actually enjoy the behind the scenes.

I enjoy the process of telling the story.

So one of the things that Jason and I did were recording interviews.

So we had to select the people that you saw in the movie who were sharing in their part and the roles that they were playing throughout the Year of Global Africa.

So we had to select different people and go to their offices and set up the cameras and all the equipment and record the interviews.

I enjoy that part and just having that discussion.

Because for me, what that did was it created a bigger picture of what the Year of Global Africa was.

I had my own personal experience with the halftime show and other things that I got involved in, but recording this movie and spending so much time behind the scene just helped me learn even more, you know, some of the events that I may have missed.

And I was sort of reliving those experiences through the stories of others.

- Wow.

Let's follow up on that, right, a little bit.

And we'll start with you then, you know, Jason, you can chime in as well.

Selecting the people who were interviewed, as you guys have already expressed, this was a grand event, you know, a grand series of events, sorry.

Dozens of events, really.

How did the, and, and now Lisa is back on.

I will cede the floor to her after this question.

How did the, can you tell us a little bit about the selection process?

How did you guys select the people you ended up talking to?

- Okay, well, I'll start.

So there were different events, as I mentioned, different events that were happening in different departments and different colleges.

So one, the first place where we started, we were looking at people who were already involved in some capacity.

Maybe they moderated an event.

Maybe they taught a short course on a specific country in Africa.

Regardless, really, of how they got involved, we looked at who were involved in the project.

For instance, we had a section in the movie where we, Jason, spoke to a chef.

The chef came up with interesting dishes to celebrate the Year of Global Africa.

And so those are stories like that, that we were sort of, you know, going after.

Like who did what during the Year of Global Africa and how can they now speak about that experiences contributing to this major celebration?

- Yeah, another way, we really tried to reach how far the branches went out.

So with Chef Curt, we with the culinary aspect, and then Luanda with the business side, we really wanted to get a mix of all the different aspects of the Year of Global Africa.

- Okay.

- Okay, I'm back.

I am so very sorry.

This internet connection and all these technology issues are always a bother to me.

- Well, welcome back, Lisa.

Just to brief you on the few questions we've already spoken about, Gloria and Jason introduced themselves, told us about how they came onto the program.

And now they were just telling us about how they went about selecting the different people who were to be interviewed in the documentary.

And that was just what they were responding to.

So if you can carry on from there, I'll cede the floor.

- Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it, Shingi.

And I also want to thank the audience for being here.

My name is Lisa Fruge.

I am the event, the Managing Coordinator for International Projects and Events in the African Studies Center and in the Alliance for African Partnership at Michigan State University.

I am a 25-year plus veteran of the African Studies Center.

And I am extremely honored to serve as the moderator for tonight.

And I appreciate the audience for taking your time to be here with us.

This film honors the past, present, and newly formed relationships and partnerships that were created during the 18-month long celebration.

Okay, before we continue, I have to give you a few housekeeping notes.

The first one is that these events like these from WKAR are made possible with support from people like you.

Thank you for those that have donated to WKAR.

If you are not a WKAR donor yet, you can do so at the donate to WKAR link or call 517-884-4700.

Again, for tonight's discussion, please enter your questions for our panelists into the comment box.

And I will ask the panelists the questions as the time permits.

Now, I don't think we had a chance to go into how the Year of Global Africa actually began, did we?

- No, we did not.

- Okay.

So let me give you a brief on how the Year of Global Africa actually started.

Our partnership began in 1960 when the MSU president John Hannah joined with the first president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, to establish a new university in Nigeria based on the land grant model.

MSU faculty worked together with Nigerian colleagues to launch the University of Nigeria at Nsukka.

This partnership contributed in turn to the founding of African Studies at MSU, including the creation of the MSU African Studies Center.

In 2016, MSU continued this legacy of partnership by creating the Alliance for African Partnership, a coalition among MSU and 10 African universities and the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes, better known as ReNAPRI.

In fall of 2017, the MSU African Studies Center, the Office of Cultural Engagement, and the Office of the Provost declared 2017 to be the Year of Global Africa at our university.

The idea behind this festival was to celebrate our long history of partnership and engagement with Africa, while inspiring and supporting new connection.

The message was spread through campus-wide programming that lasted for two years.

On November 18th, 2017, MSU launched the Year of Global Africa at the MSU halftime show and culminated with a grand finale celebration on December 3rd, 2019.

So since everyone has introduced themselves already, I'd like to ask Jason, and hopefully I didn't miss this.

Jason, what was your motivation for pushing to get the film screened on WKAR?

- Well, what I always say with my, with a film is what's the point if it's not trying to spread a message to bring awareness to things and to get more people talking about subjects?

So that was really my push to get this film on WKAR.

- Well, we at the African Studies Center are very grateful for all of your dedication and hard work.

All of you actually.

Gloria, Shingi, you all worked so hard to make this happen.

How does it feel to have your work shared on television?

- It feels great.

It's more, what's more proud for me is that more people are seeing the message really though.

It's, that's really what it is for me.

And then it's great to see Gloria and Shingi on TV, too.

- Gloria, you served as the student representative on the Year of Global Africa committee, if you remember.

- Yes.

- How did it feel to work alongside so many directors and faculty at MSU?

- Yeah, I actually talk about it slightly earlier.

For me, the entire experience was very exciting because what it did for me is just expand my experience at Michigan State.

So it was not, I was not just a student, but I built relationships.

I actually learned more about Africa.

I grew up in Africa, but when I came at Michigan State, I actually learned more about my continent.

And it was a very fruitful exchange, I would say, of building relationships, learning more about where I came from, and also improving on my skills, 'cause working on the film also helped me learn more on filmmaking and all of that.

- I think you and Jason did an awesome job with that.

You know, what I'd like to know from Shingi, as the creator of that inspiring poem in the film, what message did you want to convey to the listeners?

- So that's a great question, right?

And I want to preface it by saying that by the time I wrote the poem and performed it, that was at the end of the Year of Global Africa, but it was also coming to the end of my time at Michigan State University, which had been an incredible time of which for two years I'd worked as a student employee with the African Studies Center and also helped, and also programmed some of the events that took place during the Year of Global Africa.

So for me, it wasn't just an external poet coming in.

It was also as much a celebration of my own personal time with the Year of Global Africa and the African community at MSU.

So the poem, I titled it "As Day Beckons."

And I would be remiss if I didn't say that I didn't, I, you know, I sat down with some of the committee members of the Year of Global Africa just to sort of hear what ideas they had and how they were feeling about it.

So I rooted a lot of it in that as well.

But as I wrote the poem "As Day Beckons," this is what I wanted to communicate.

That as we mirror the Year of Global Africa as the day from dawn till nightfall, okay?

So, you know, I was using that as a metaphor of the passage of time.

But the important thing that I wanted people to take away is what happens after nightfall, right?

The dawn comes again.

So I didn't want the end of the Year of Global Africa to be the end of our conversation about Africa or the end of, you know, now we stop caring and we snap out of it, right?

So the idea was as the day ends, right, the day beckons again, and let's keep this conversation going, let's keep this liveliness going, let's keep this beautiful experience we've had going beyond just this designated time we've had.

And that was my thinking around the poem.

- That's beautiful.

And it was a beautiful experience.

The whole two years.

We had so much programming with so many different departments and units and faculty and students.

I mean, with the MSU band.

I mean, we partnership with so many people during that timeframe.

Well, you know, we're celebrating MSU homecoming this week.

So my question to each of you, starting with Gloria, and then Jason, and then Shingi, what does MSU homecoming mean to you?

- MSU homecoming, it's a celebration for me, a celebration of where we've come from as a school, as an institution, and where we're going.

It's a time where alumni, people who may have left the university for some time come back.

We celebrate.

I remember when I was on campus the week of homecoming, we also have games.

It's a day where we have Michigan State Madness where we get to know who our teams are, who our players are.

The week of homecoming will always be one of the most exciting experiences for me because there's a lot of excitement, there's so much that you learn, so many people that you discover.

And one of the highlight of the homecoming is the parade.

There's the year we took part in the parade as the African Studies Center.

So those are the things that come to mind.

Really excitement, pride for our school, and what Michigan State is doing.

Just a time where we celebrate what we've achieved and also discuss where we're going.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah, I think that was great.

A lot of the things that Gloria says, that's what it means to me.

But also the connections that you can make through education and just the diverse student body that you can come back and celebrate is also a huge part of homecoming, I think.

- Indeed.

And I wanna build on that theme of connection that my colleagues have said.

You'll find that with a school as reputable and big as Michigan State University, the potential to live very segmented lives is very high.

So there'll be times when I'll be sitting in class and I wonder if any of the people in this class are on the football team.

I don't know what they look like, you know?

Maybe it's 'cause of the masks.

But I wonder if any one of those guys are, oh, you know?

But I feel like the sports people really live sports people life.

And maybe if you're involved with the African Studies Center, you're really doing your own thing over there.

The fraternities are over there.

So with homecoming, I feel it's one of those times when we are really in the same space, right, mentally and physically.

And I really, really appreciate that from the time I spend with the African Studies Center, of course, but from the time that I spend just, you know, being at a football game and seeing who's out there and just getting a lot of love, just all good vibes.

Then, of course, the parades.

I'm on a group chat with some people here who have been gone from the school for a couple of decades now.

And they were excited to be bringing their kids to the parade.

And, you know, it just made me a little homesick as far as that goes.

So really one of those pivotal Spartans Will moments, right?

And I think that's the embodiment of that homecoming is definitely that, indeed.

- Pretty awesome.

Okay.

I just kinda wonder, what were your first impressions of the film when you saw it?

Starting with Jason and then Shingi and then Gloria.

- Since I was also the editor for this, so it's, I've seen it so many times.

But when it finally all came together, I just, it made me feel like people will enjoy watching this to get this message across.

And so it won't be like a painstaking task to get this message to people.

And it was a very proud moment for me.

- Definitely.

- And, Jason, shout out, man, that was, you guys did a fantastic job.

And I say that because it dovetails perfectly into me sort of seeing it for the first time.

Because I did that poem, I left, I almost forgot that we had done this thing until the messages started coming in that this thing was there.

And it was incredible.

I will say though, for myself, and there's a bit of a story to go with this.

So after, initially I was supposed to co-write that poem with a good friend of mine.

They weren't available.

I ended up writing it myself.

And I don't know why I was under the impression that I was going to just read it and be recorded and sort of visuals be put over it.

I did not know that I was going to be on camera myself until very late, until maybe the day or two before this, you know?

So where that shows is typically I would have memorized the poem, right?

But I hadn't had the chance to because I thought I was just gonna be reading it.

So I was there reciting four lines at a time, then going back to memorize the next.

I say this to say when I saw it, I thought it was, it was so good, but I was so worried that when you are afraid to forget as a performer, you speak very fast, you know?

But usually I speak kind of like I'm speaking now.

So I sent the video to my mom when I saw it.

I'm like, "I was speaking way too fast, wasn't I?"

There, you know, Mom, she was always gonna say, "Ah, no you weren't."

Then I sent it to, I sent it to Jamie who is the director of the African Studies Center.

I mean, I asked her, I was like, "What did you think?"

And, you know, after I got that confirmation from those two figures who I so adore, I was like, "You know what, I think it was fine."

And I watched it a few more times after that with a few other people.

And, you know, they think it was, it worked out well too.

But what I really loved about the editing was I felt that the parts that came immediately after my verses were perfect for how I had finished it off, right?

It was exactly the embodiment of what, when I was writing it out had imagined, yeah, these are the sort of sights I'm thinking about.

So, you know, I'm still in love with it to this day and continue to share it.

Indeed.

- That's awesome.

- [Electronic Voice] Memorialize.

- I'm sorry, sorry for that.

So for me, when I saw the movie, I felt very emotional because I was involved in the making of the movie, but there's a point in which I left Jason.

I was, I traveled, and he did the editing and everything else.

When I saw it, I felt very emotional because everything that happened through the Year of Global Africa, it felt like everything was in this one place.

And it was not just a fleeting moment, it was not just 18 months that we've experienced, but now we actually, we can tell the story.

It is here, and that anybody can also watch the movie and also share in that experience that we had.

So, yeah.

- Oh, great.

You know, you all make me so very proud to have worked with you.

And, you know, I just think you're incredible young people.

And you have made this Year of Global, you made the Year of Global Africa happen.

And you made it happen so that everyone else can see what Michigan State University African Studies Center is all about.

And I really appreciate it.

Let's see if I could think of any other questions.

Audience, you can write your questions to us and put them in the chat, if you have any.

While they're putting their questions in the chat, I'd like to ask, how will you continue to stay connected with the African Studies Center now that you have graduated?

Gloria.

- Well, I mean, contact, I believe I'm still on the distribution list, email list.

And I do receive news like that.

But we, in November, we will be a part of one of the panels.

So I'm involved with the organization that we created with a few of my friends at Michigan State.

We're continuing the work that we do doing interviews, research, engaging with different institution on the African continent.

And we will be presenting about that work in November in one of the events at the African Studies Center.

That's one way.

But I would like to do more panels like this, workshops, and get involved when the different events that I can participate, I can speak of my experience.

I would love to continue this going.

- Thank you, Gloria.

Shingi, we know you're already involved.

I think we still have you working with us.

Do we?

- Yes, yes, yes, yes you do.

Yeah, you know, I continue to be, you know, the African Studies Center and the African community at MSU, it is family, you know?

It's one of those spaces where, you know, in Shona we have a phrase that pretty much sums up where we say, "If I'm telling you I'm lying to you," 'cause you have to see it to really fully appreciate what I'm talking about here.

But one of the things that I plan on doing a little more, you know, in addition to continuing to do things like this is a, it's also, the African Studies Center, as a conduit, is also, has also got so many resources.

So I may, I hope to leverage that relationship.

I was thinking about some projects I want to work on.

And I'm hoping to come back and use the vast library and other things that I have access to by way of the African Studies Center for that.

So that's another, that's a sort of different way to what I've already been doing that I intend to connect with the center going forward.

Indeed.

- That's awesome.

Shout out to the libraries, yes.

- Indeed.

- Jason.

- Oh, I stay connected through social media.

So Instagram, Facebook.

I stay watching the events.

And I'm hoping that once the pandemic is over maybe there's some more in-person events coming out.

I'm still in the Lansing area.

So still close to MSU.

- Beautiful.

Okay.

Well, as we get ready to wrap up, any closing thoughts from any of you?

- Yeah.

Just one question for you.

How was your experience with the Global Year of Africa?

You heard from us, but we also want to hear from you, Lisa.

- Oh my goodness, you all.

Being part of African Studies Center for so many years, it made me so proud to be involved with the filming and all the work that went behind making the Global Year of Africa happen, especially the grand finale.

That was just so awesome.

Oh my goodness.

We had a so many people, and it was just wonderful.

So, yes, I was very proud to be part of African Studies at Michigan State.

So in closing, I just want to thank everyone, the panelists, and all of our stakeholders who contributed to creating this film about Africa at MSU.

And a very special thanks to Therese Brimmer.

She was our graphic design artist.

And Jamie Monson, the director of the African Studies Center.

And thank you to our listening audience for your contribution to your conversation and for taking this amazing journey with us tonight.

Thank you.

- Thank you so much.