“The main aim (of the program) is to keep people aware of the some of the misconceptions that we live with in the context of race,” said Jacquelyn Lewis-Harris, director of the Center of Human Origin and Cultural Diversity at UMSL.
“We want people to understand that we do still have a connection with Africa, either genetically or culturally.”
Harris, a lecturer in anthropology and education at UMSL, said the center’s lessons teach children, parents, students, teachers and even community groups about the origin of human beings and East and West African culture.
The center teaches, for instance, that race is socially constructed.
“There is no scientific evidence for the term ‘race,'” Harris said.
Harris said UMSL’s College of Education sponsored a contest last semester in which fine arts students were encouraged to submit design portfolios for a trip to Senegal, West Africa. The contest yielded six winners, Harris said.
“We flew from St. Louis to Chicago, from Chicago to Madrid (Spain) and then Madrid to Senegal,” she said.
Once in Senegal, the group worked with artists from a public art project called TGD4 (Tambacounda Geneva Dakar 4). The group explored, among other things, cultural differences between the West African nation and the United States.
“None of our students had been on the (African) continent before, so I believe they were a little startled,” Harris said.
“They learned a lot more about the West African culture that way,” Harris said.
“The people there have their sort of richness, unlike here at home,” said UMSL student Miata Lewis-Harris.”We got a chance to interact with artists from different places with different characters and interact with and see how they work.”
On the fourth day in Dakar, the group traveled 10 hours by bus to Tambacounda, in the heart of Senegal, for an 11-day stay.
“We did go over with the female students the importance of conducting yourself as a woman in a Muslim country,” Harris said. “Although Senegal is a contemporary Muslim country, women still have to conduct themselves a certain way.”
One of the main cultural differences between the Senegal and the U.S. are views on Muslim religion, Harris said.
“People don’t understand there is another form of Islam that’s lived everyday in West Africa, which is nothing like we see on television,” Harris said, “nor is it anything to be feared.”
Harris also spreads the message of human origin and cultural diversity to elementary and middle school students in the Ferguson-Florissant, Normandy and Wellston school districts.
The program, “African Cosmos: Knowing Your Community,” strives to enlighten African-American children who may have adopted stereotypical views and prejudices regarding themselves.
“We try to teach them that all people, no matter the color, have a genetic connection to the continent of Africa,” she said.
The Center of Human Origin and Cultural Diversity is planning a two-part series of public presentations on the Senegal trip. Harris and Marian Amies will present collected artwork, and photographs February 21 at noon in the JC Penny Building at UMSL. At noon on March 8 at the Student Millennium Center, the six fine art students who took the trip will display art books centered on their experiences in Senegal.
For more information, call 516-5023.