BROWN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, NONFICTION WRITING PROGRAMAND THE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICANA STUDIES PRESENT:

ASALE ANGEL-AJANI

Author, anthropologist, and expert on women and organized crime, AsaleAngel-Ajani has traveled from West Africa to South America witnessing theimpact of drug trafficking and civil war on the lives of women. She spentyears interviewing women in Italy's notorious Rebibbia Prison in order towrite Strange Trade: The Story of Two Women Who Risked Everything inthe International Drug Trade, which tells the compelling stories of Mary, aLiberian drug courier with a college education, and Pauline, a Ugandan wife,mother, and drug cartel boss.

Herself the daughter of a drug trafficker, Angel-Ajani brings a deeply personalperspective to the account of these women’s lives and offers a nuancedunderstanding of their global context. She also raises and addresses questionsof the role, responsibility and ethics of observation and participation asan anthropologist and writer. These questions also frame a collection thatshe co-edited, Engaged Observer: Anthropology, Advocacy, and Activism.Asale Angel-Ajani is a professor at The City College of New York (CUNY)and serves as the director of Women’s and Gender Studies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018 ✤ 4:00 pmDepartment of English, 70 Brown Street, Barker Room 315

This event is made possible by the Shane Family Program Fund and the Department of Africana Studies.Co-sponsored by: Salomon Grant, Dean of the College ✤ Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice ✤ Swearer Center for Public Service.

The City College of New York

https://www.brown.edu/academics/english/events/category/nonfiction

ENGAGED OBSERVATION

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