Guest Lecture Program

The Institute for African Development occasionally hosts guest lecturers from a range of backgrounds from politics to law to gender NGO’s. During their visit to Cornell, they give public lectures that are free and open to the public, meet with faculty and students, and share their perspectives and experiences with the Cornell and Ithaca communities.

Fall 2005

Issa Shivji
Professor and Head of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Dar es Salaam

The Development Discourse in Africa since Independence
IAD Guest Lecture Program as part of the IAD Weekly Seminar Series
September 15, 2005
2:30 p.m., G-08 Uris Hall

Issa Shivji is Professor and Head of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Dar es Salaam. Professor Shivji has served as Advocate of the High Court and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania since 1977 and Advocate of the High Court in Zanzibar since 1989. He has taught and worked in universities all over the world, including the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Warwick, the University of Hong Kong, and El Colegio De Mexico. He is a prolific writer and researcher, producing books, monographs, and articles, as well as a weekly column printed in national newspapers. He most recently co-authored Constitutional and Legal Systems of Tanzania (2005).

Spring 2005

Augustine Philip Mahiga
Permanent Representative of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations

Africa and the Millennium Goals: Challenges and Prospects
IAD Guest Lecture Program
April 5, 2005
Conference Room, Biotech Building

Ambassador Mahiga has over a decade of experience working with the UNHCR and prior to his current appointment, he served as the UNHCR Representative to Italy, Republic of Malta, Holy See and Republic of San Marino. In this position he coordinated and managed asylum, refugee and migration issues. He also served as the UNHCR, Chief of Mission in India seeking durable solutions for the largest urban refugee caseload under UNHCR. The ambassador initiated the process of National Legislation on Refugees in India.

Ambassador Mahiga also served as the Coordinator and Deputy Director, Refugee Emergency Operation of the Great Lakes Region of Africa, involving more than 1.5 million refugees. This was the largest refugee emergency and post-emergency operation in Africa and the ambassador participated in formulating and implementing security arrangements with governments in the region and the UN in refugee camps.

From 1992-1994, he was the first UNHCR Chief of Mission in Liberia where he was responsible for the protection of and assistance to 90,000 refugees and 10,000 internally displaced persons.

Spring 2004

Hauwa Ibrahim
Senior Partner in the General Law Practice of the Aires Law Firm, Garki Abuja, Nigeria, and Pro Bono Legal Aid Counsel

Sharia Law and Women: The Case of Amina Lawal
IAD Guest Lecture Program
April 27, 2004
277 Myron Taylor Hall, Cornell Law School

The Institute for African Development has a copy of this lecture. Interested parties should contact the Institute at ciad@cornell.edu to borrow the DVD.

Hauwa Ibrahim has practiced law for sixteen years in Nigeria and is a senior partner in the General Law Practice of the Aires Law Firm in Abuja, Nigeria. She has worked on many pro bono cases of women who have been sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery, and youth sentenced to amputation for theft. Ibrahim defended Amina Lawal who was arrested, charged with adultery, and sentenced to death by stoning in January 2002 by a local Sharia court in Katsina State in northern Nigeria. The case captured international attention and Lawal’s conviction was overturned on September 25, 2003.