Dr. Constanze Weise to give 'Women on Wednesdays' talk

JOHNSON CITY – “Women and Authority in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century West Africa” is the focus of a free virtual talk by Dr. Constanze Weise at East Tennessee State University on Wednesday, March 3, at noon via Zoom.

This talk is part of the “Women on Wednesdays” lecture series sponsored by the ETSU Women’s Studies Program.

Weise, an assistant professor in the Department of History at ETSU, will discuss women’s influence and power in pre-colonial West Africa and the changes that colonial imposition brought about. In that region’s pre-colonial and colonial past, women held important political and religious roles, including governing kingdoms, establishing cities, and founding states. Women were also essential in maintaining political and religious order in local kingdoms and city-states across West Africa. Weise will explain how, during the French and British colonial domination, women’s roles drastically changed.

Weise’s research focuses on the pre-colonial and early colonial cultural and political history of West Africa, with particular emphasis on the intersection of politics and religion in central Nigeria. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes dedicated to African history and methods, African art history, linguistics and ethno-history. Her ethno-historical films of religious masquerades from Nigeria have been shown in the internationally touring exhibition curated by the UCLA Fowler Museum and the Museé de quai Branly, Paris.

The “Women on Wednesdays” series is designed to raise awareness about the research, scholarship and community engagement conducted by women at ETSU; to provide a venue where women on campus and in the community can discuss and support each other’s work; and to give students an opportunity to meet faculty who could become mentors for their studies.

For more information or to obtain the Zoom link, email Heidi Marsh, executive aide, Women’s Studies, at marshh@etsu.edu.