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Join the Phi Alpha Theta Talk on Wednesday, March 31st at 4:30 PM for a presentation by Department of History Professor Dr. Benjamin Lawrance entitled "African Asylum Claiming and the History of West African Secret Societies." Secret societies, such as poro, bondu, and leopard societies, in the historical past, and today, are entities and rituals structuring order and power in West Africa. Secret societies consist of men or women or all ages, organized in age sets according to the year of entrance or initiation. Opposing secret societies can be very dangerous. Drawing on real cases of men and women who fled West Africa and sought protection abroad, Dr. Lawrance will show how secret societies constitute a powerful vehicle of knowledge-power operating in the Upper Guinea region and a rich repository of information about socio-historical change.
This event is free and open to the public.