SAFI'S AFRICA BENEFIT CONCERT

 

Come and support SAFI at the benfit concert on Friday, April 18th, 9pm at Dulcinea's 100th Monkey on 741 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $10 only, and the funds will go towards implementing projects in Kenya and empowering Africans. Most importantly, we are going to have FUN!!!!! 

 

Featuring: Home & Octupus Nebula.

 

 

By Janna Widdifield February 18, 2008—

 

 

Lucas Shamala grew up in rural Kenya. He tells students about the realities of Africa.

Lucas Shamala (PhD religious and theological studies ’06) may have grown up in Kenya, but he didn’t live in the jungle or meet lions while he played. Those are just a couple of myths about Africans and African life that Shamala tries to dispel among his students at Metro State College of Denver.

“I think that there are a number of misconceptions about African descent, and the students are very surprised at some of the things I share,” says Shamala, a professor of African and African-American studies at Metro. “They often admit that they have not been given enough information. I try to provide that missing link.”

When Shamala talks about his childhood in Kambiri, Kenya, he describes a rural upbringing not unlike pioneer days in America’s West. He had to walk many miles to school, there was no running water and he was responsible for various farm chores. Yet, he points out that people are quick to think that living in Africa is savage, violent, primitive and backward simply because it’s called a “tribe” instead of a “town.”

One student admitted that the word “tribe” made her think of people running around naked with spears and drinking blood. That’s why Shamala tries to stay away from the word and instead uses “community” or “peoples.” When asked their source of information, he says students point to the media and what friends have told them.

Shamala takes an interdisciplinary approach to his classes, blending history, culture, sc

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