Tribute to a titan: The Africa Institute Sharjah pays homage to Toni Morrison

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU) based in Sharjah — a centre for research, documentation, and study of Africa and its diaspora — hosted a two-day symposium (Feb. 28 — 29) celebrating the life and legacy of literary icon Toni Morrison at the Africa Hall, in Sharjah. The event inaugurated the Toni Morrison Senior Fellowship in African Diaspora Literature and Cultural Studies, and featured music performances and panel discussions based on two film screenings, including one by Morrison’s son.

“Toni Morrison was not only a novelist, but a theorist of the first order,” said Salah M. Hassan, Director of The Africa Institute (GSU) and Distinguished Professor, Cornell University, USA. “From The Bluest Eye to Beloved, she turned her unapologetic gaze inward while being mindful of the white gaze, and in the process, she humanised and complicated the inner soul of African Americans and their agency. Her theoretical work complemented her storytelling with the most eloquent meditations on gender, race and class in the context of the black experience in America. This body of work will remain a source of inspiration for generations to come.”

The symposium also shone the spotlight on Morrison’s artistic genius through screenings of two powerful films, namely, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019, 120 minutes) directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, which offers an intimate exploration of her life and work with interviews of renowned figures like Hilton Als, Angela Davis, and Oprah Winfrey and The Foreigner’s Home (2018, 57 minutes) directed by Rian Brown and Geoff Pingree, and produced by Ford Morrison, Toni Morrison’s son.

The Foreigner’s Home delves into her 2006 Louvre exhibition, using exclusive footage and archival materials to illuminate her insights on race, identity, and the transformative power of art. Following each screening, invited scholars and critics discussed Morrison’s artistic vision and its impact. The occasion also highlighted The Africa Institute’s recent launch of the Senior Fellowship in honour of Morrison.

The Al Multaqa Chamber Orchestra performs at Africa Hall.

The Fellowship is aimed at supporting established scholars and thinkers who have made significant contributions to African and African Diaspora literature and cultural studies. Its first recipient is Philathia Bolton, Associate Professor of English at The University of Akron, Ohio. “My being selected as the first scholar to have her research supported by the Toni Morrison Senior Fellowship brings me great joy and feels highly significant,” said Professor Bolton. “I will be a US scholar from Toni Morrison’s home state of Ohio in a different cultural context writing, researching and speaking about her, this iconic person whose works resonate across the globe. I am humbled by this and feel most honoured.”Morrison (1931 — 2019), is one of the most celebrated authors in the world. In addition to writing plays and children’s books, her novels have earned her countless prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. As the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, her work, exploring themes of identity, race and the human experience, has inspired a generation of writers to follow in her footsteps. Her legacy resounds as a powerful voice for social justice and cultural understanding.

According to Britannica.com, “the central theme of Morrison’s novels is the Black American experience; in an unjust society, her characters struggle to find themselves and their cultural identity. Her use of fantasy, her sinuous poetic style, and her rich interweaving of the mythic, gave her stories great strength and texture.” On the opening day of the event in Sharjah, Farah Jasmine Griffin, William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, delivered the keynote address. The two days of the proceedings hosted panels discussing the films screened, the significance of Morrison’s works with Ford Morrison (Princeton University) as well as key Morrison scholars and professors, namely, Margo Crawford (University of Pennsylvania), Riche Richardson (Cornell University), Manthia Diawara (New York University) and Bolton (The University of Akron and Inaugural Toni Morrison Senior Fellow).The programme commenced and concluded with tribute performances by The Africa Institute’s music academy, Al Multaqa Chamber Orchestra. They presented instrumental renditions of songs such as Lift Every Voice and Sing by James Weldon Johnson and Redemption Song by Bob Marley. The Africa Institute is conceived as a research-based think-tank, and a postgraduate studies institution offering both master’s and Ph.D. programmes, and diplomas in African Languages and Translation, aiming to train a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African diaspora studies.

Toni Morrison (left), Salah M. Hassan and Philathia Bolton

It is proposed to be a centre of excellence in research, teaching, and documentation to match the quality and breadth of coverage of existing peers of African and African Diaspora Studies in Africa, Europe and North America. The Africa Institute is integrated into the newly established Global Studies University (GSU) which is one of its networks of semi-independent institutes and colleges that concentrate on different regions of the world.

The globally oriented institutions aim to focus on postgraduate studies, research and documentation of histories, cultures and peoples who constitute different regions of the world. The next entity to be officially established in 2024 is The Asia Institute. Preparations are also underway to launch additional institutes that will focus on the regions of Oceania, Europe and the Americas, in the next few years. The Africa Institute is led by Director Dr. Salah Hassan and President, Hoor Al Qasimi.