Summer Institute On Berber North Africa

By Angela Yeager, OSU

CORVALLIS, Oregon - Oregon State University has been awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities to host a summer institute that will bring a team of international scholars to campus. NEH awarded the university a grant of $155,000, which will be used to host a summer institute titled "Berber North Africa: The Hidden Mediterranean Culture."

OSU is one of only nine universities in the country to host a summer institute in 2007.

The institute will be held June 25 through July 20, 2007 on the OSU campus. It will be hosted by Joseph Krause, professor of French and the chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and by Nabil Boudraa, assistant professor of French and Francophone studies.

In addition to some of the leading world specialists in North African cultural studies, 24 college and university teachers will be selected to participate following a national call for applications. These teachers will have the chance to work closely with the scholars.

The Berbers (also called Amazigh people or Imazighen, meaning "free men" in Berber) are an ethnic group indigenous to northwest Africa.

There also will be many cultural events related to the Berbers that will be available free to the community.


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