Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, will address China’s continental impact on Africa, from historical and global perspectives, at the University of Florida on April 9.

Both the university community and the general public are welcome to attend the keynote address on April 9, at 6 p.m., followed by a reception at 7PM.  The event will be held in the Gannett Auditorium, Weimer Hall, in the College of Journalism and Communications.

Howard W. French is an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he has taught both journalism and photography since 2008. For many years, he was a Senior Writer for The New York Times, where he spent a nearly 23-year-career as a foreign correspondent, working in and traveling to over 100 countries on five continents. Until July 2008, he was the chief of the newspaper’s Shanghai bureau.

Prior to his current assignment, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. Mr. French’s work for the newspaper in both Africa and in China has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He has won numerous other awards, including the Overseas Press Club award and the Grantham Prize. French speaks English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish.

Mr.  French’s address is part of a two-day conference of invited scholars from Africa, China, Europe and the United States on “China-Africa: Engagement, Investments and Media Strategies”, taking place on the UF campus April 9 – 10.

The conference participants have been invited based on their areas of expertise in studying the China-Africa relationship.  Their disciplines include anthropology, economics, linguistics, mass communications, political science and sociology.  In addition to a broad discussion of China and Africa relations, scholars will examine China’s engagement in specific countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

The conference is being convened by UF Center for African Studies and the UF College of Journalism and Communications.  For more information contact Dr. Michael Leslie at 352-283-1713 or mleslie@jou.ufl.edu

Posted: April 2, 2015
Category: College News
Tagged as: Guest Speaker