Dr. Joseph Sahr Sankoh travels to India as Fulbright scholar

Dr. Joseph Sahr Sankoh, Associate Professor of Political Science, served as U.S. Senior Fulbright Guest Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University in India during a three-week trip in March, 2015. In 2014, Dr. Sankoh was approved for the the Senior Specialist Fulbright Award Roster for overseas exchange from the U.S. Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). This designation confers five years of eligibility for short-term Fulbright faculty exchanges with institutions throughout the world. (More information about Dr. Sankoh's Fulbright award is available in this story from February 2014.)

  

During his service as a Fulbright scholar at the O.P. Jindal Global University, Dr. Sankoh taught a graduate class in Global Migration & Refugees; evaluated dissertation proposals; participated in workshops, seminars, and speaking engagements; met international students; and visited a Tibetan refugee camp in New Dehli, India. The O.P. Jindal Global University is a private university with a strong focus on foreign relations, diplomacy, political leadership, and public service. The university has a strong presence of international students, many of them from the developing world. 

Upon his return from India, Dr. Sankoh emphasized his interest in building a relationship between Daemen and O.P Jindal Global University in such areas as International Studies, Migration & Refugee Studies, and Service Learning. He expressed appreciation to the Fulbright program and the U.S. Institute for International Education for the opportunity to travel to India. "I like India, its people, and its culture, and look forward to continuous positive relations between US and India," Sankoh wrote. 

During his time as a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Sankoh also plans to travel to Botswana, Poland, Ukraine, and Sierra Leone, and will draw upon these experiences for his current research on comparative global genocide since World War II. Among other case studies, he is focusing on Jewish, African, Burmese, and Syrian people.

Dr. Joseph Sahr Sankoh displays a medal 
awarded by O.P. Jindal Global University
after returning to Daemen

Ebola Panel Discussion

Dr. Joseph Sankoh, Dr. Gale Burstein, and Mr. Anthony Saysay discuss Ebola on Oct. 20

A large crowd of around a hundred people was in attendance Monday night for the second event of the new History & Politics events series, a panel discussion of the Ebola crisis currently ravaging the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. The event was organized by Dr. Joseph Sankoh, associate professor of Political Science, who is a specialist on African politics and coordinates the department's Refugee Studies minor. Dr. Sankoh chaired the panel and discussed the history and culture of West Africa. The two other panelists were Dr. Gale Burstein (Erie County Commissioner of Public Health) and Mr. Anthony Saysay, a native of Liberia who came to the U.S. seven years ago as a refugee.

The panel discussion emphasized the impact of the crisis has had upon West Africa, where over 9,000 people have contracted Ebola and where over 4,500 have died. While much of the press coverage of the Ebola outbreak in the United States has focused on the United States, there has been relatively little discussion of conditions in Africa or the impact that Ebola is having in Africa. This event offered a corrective to that perspective, keeping the focus on conditions in West Africa. Saysay spoke about trauma and devastation caused by civil war in Liberia, asking "Who is coming to help?" and asking those present to pray for Africa and for the victims and survivors of the Ebola epidemic. Sankoh emphasized such issues as the legacy of colonialism on the region's country, as well as the prevalence of poverty, the lack of basic health and transportation infrastructure, and discussed cultural practices that have helped to spread disease. Burstein traced the disease's trajectory, highlighting the ways that Ebola is transferred and identifying stages of infection and transmission.

Dr. Sankoh (photo from WBFO.org)

The panel discussion attracted attention from several local media outlets. Read/listen to news coverage from WBFO radio (linked HERE), and Time-Warner cable news (linked HERE).

Asked how to help provide relief for the victims of Ebola, both Sankoh and Burstein recommended work of Buffalo's Jericho Road Community Health Center, under the leadership of Dr. Marion Glick: http://www.jrm-buffalo.org/ Daemen's African Student Association is also raising funds for Ebola relief during this week's Ebola Awareness Week; contact ASA president Maryan Jumale (maryan.jumale @ daemen.edu) for more information.

Read more about the panelists at our earlier blog post, linked HERE. The event was sponsored by the History & Political Science Department, with co-sponsorship from the African Student Association, the Office of the President, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement, the Division of Arts and Sciences, the Division of Health and Human Services, the Health Care Studies Department, the Paralegal Studies Program, and the Public Health Department. 

Ebola Crisis in West Africa

History & Politics Speaker Series: Panel Discussion on Ebola

On Monday, October 20, our History & Politics Speaker Series continues with a panel discussion of the Ebola epidemic that is currently overwhelming the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.The event will be take place from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm in the Alumni Lounge in Wick Center on the Daemen College campus (located at 4380 Main Street, Amherst). Discussants will address different dimensions of the Ebola crisis, including governmental responses, cultural issues, and epidemiology, together with the perspective of people from the affected areas.

 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Outbreak Distribution Map

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/distribution-map.html [Oct. 2014]

Discussants on the panel include:

• Dr. Joseph Sahr Sankoh, Associate Professor of Political Science, will chair the panel and will address political, economic, and cultural dimensions of the Ebola crisis. Dr. Sankoh is a native of Sierra Leone and a specialist in African politics and global policy issues.

• Dr. Gale Burstein, Erie County Commissioner of Public Health, will provide a public health perspective on the Ebola epidemic.

• Julia Hall, a human rights attorney with expertise in international law, will discuss the legal and global implications of the Ebola epidemic. 

• Mr. Anthony Saysay, a native of Liberia, will discuss the impact of Ebola on his family, the people of Liberia, and his native country. 

This event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the History & Political Science Department. Co-sponsors include the Office of the President, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Center for Sustainable Communities and Civic Engagement, the Division of Arts and Sciences, the Division of Health and Human Services, the Health Care Studies Department, the Paralegal Studies Program, and the Public Health Department. The African Student Association, which is providing refreshments for the event, is also a co-sponsor. For more information, please contact Dr. Sankoh at jsankoh@daemen.edu

Please note that the African Student Association will be holding a fundraising event to be used for relief in the Ebola crisis on Thursday, October 23, from 12:00-3:00 in the Wick Student Center.

Dr. Joseph Sankoh approved for Fulbright

Dr. Joseph Sankoh

Dr. Joseph Sankoh, Associate Professor of Political Science, has been approved for the Senior Specialist Fulbright Award Roster for overseas exchange from the U.S. Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). The award will allow him to undertake short term collaborative projects with various universities overseas during the next five years. Dr. Sankoh plans to travel to Poland, Botswana, Rwanda, and Indonesia to share his expertise on service learning while conducting research in comparative genocide, among other areas. Last summer, Dr. Sankoh traveled to Poland to help initiate a service learning component focused on Jewish cemetery preservation in Przemysl, Poland, for Daemen's Polish Studies program (outlined in this blog post from July 2013). The Fulbright program is a prestigious academic award that provides funding for exchange programs for faculty, professionals, and students to undertake international study, research, and teaching. The Fulbright Senior Specialist Award program provides short-term consultation and collaboration opportunities (two to six weeks) for partnerships between scholars in the United States and their counterparts in other countries on areas such as curriculum, program development, and faculty development, as well as institutional planning, lectures, workshops, and research.

The Senior Specialist Fulbright Award will build upon Dr. Sankoh's academic training and teaching expertise in the areas of Service Learning (SL), globalization, and the African diaspora, and will enable him to extend research interests addressing refugee and immigrant communities and in comparative genocide. Dr. Sankoh was instrumental in developing the Service Learning (SL) program at Daemen and has taught many SL courses that bring Daemen students into communities and neighborhoods in the Buffalo area. His Service Learning for Refugee Studies course provides Daemen students the opportunity to examine issues facing refugees from a global perspective, with placements that allow Daemen students to work with refugee communities in the Buffalo region. Students learn from the immigrant and refugee groups while also providing them with assistance. This course has been emulated by other departments at Daemen and is a cornerstone of a new Refugee Studies proposal that Dr. Sankoh is developing. Dr. Sankoh has also collaborated on such efforts as last summer's panel discussion (among refugees) for World Refugee Day, discussed at his blog post from July 2013.

Congratulations, Joe!

H&P Department Sponsors World Refugee Day! By Dr. Joseph Sankoh

June 20^th is World Refugee Day.  This year, Daemen College was among many organizations around the world that participated in the celebration of this important occasion.  With funding from the New York Council for the Humanities and sponsored by the faculty of the History & Political Science Department, various local refugees (including some History & Political Science students) shared their sad stories and experiences about their displaced countries to their new found country of the United States.  It was a very good and successful event with over 68 people in attendance; including faculty, students and staff from Daemen; people from community organizations and the community-at-large; students from Saudi Arabia; a representative from the Office of the Mayor of Buffalo; and collaboration with BIREC (Buffalo Immigrant and Refugee Coalition).

Among the speakers were two student speakers:  Saladi Shebule, a native of Kenya and a 2013 Daemen graduate (Political Science major); and Maryann Jamale, also from Kenya, who just finished her first year at Daemen.  Saladi and Maryann talked about the experience of being refugees and how that had shaped their experiences as American college students.   

We plan to undertake another refugee event this coming academic year, focusing mostly on refugees from the Middle East, Asia, and Southeast Asia; with a keynote speaker from the University of Toronto. These programs are all part of our new Refugee Studies program initiated by the faculty of the History & Political Science Department.  For more information about the Refugee Studies program, please contact Dr. Joseph Sankoh, Associate Professor of Political Science, at jsankoh@daemen.edu.