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Cheick M. Chérif KEITA

Chérif Keïta (Ph.D., University of Georgia) teaches Francophone literature of Africa and the Caribbean, as well as advanced languages courses. A native of Mali, he has published books and articles on both social and literary problems in contemporary Africa. His special interests include the novel and social evolution in Mali, oral tradition, and the relationship between music, literature and culture in Africa. He is the author of Massa Makan Diabaté (L'Harmattan, 1995) and Salif Keïta: L'oiseau sur le fromager (Le Figuier, 2001). He has completed a documentary film entitled "Oberlin-Inanda: The Life and Times of John L. Dube" (Special Mention at 2005 FESPACO) about the life of the first president of the African National Congress of South Africa and his education in the U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century. He has completed two new films(2009 and 2014) on American missionaries and missionary education in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Professor Keïta also leads the Carleton Francophone Off-Campus Studies Program in Mali

French and Francophone Studies

Department

Carleton College, Northfield

MN 55057.

Phone: 507-222-4433(office)

E-mail:

Education

University of Georgia 1. Ph.D in Romance Languages,

1984. Major area: French and

Francophone Literatures and

Catalan language.

Minor area: African history

and politics.

Dissertation: Le Roman et

l'évolution sociale au Mali,

under Dr. Jean-P. Piriou.

2. Certificate of Global Policy

Studies, 1984.

3. M.A. in French, 1979, with

distinction.

Thesis: Le Roman et la

société dans l'oeuvre de

Seydou Badian.

Studies in Belgium Institut Supérieur de l'Etat de

Traducteurs et Interprètes.

Licencié-traducteur in English

and Russian, with distinction,

in 1977.

Thesis: Translation into French

of Part II of Race, Class and

Party: A History of Negro

Suffrage and White Politics in

the South, by Paul Lewinson.

N.Y.: Grosset and Dunlap, 1965.

Teaching and Administrative

Experience

-Acting Director, African and African-American Studies, 2013-14

-Chair, French and Francophone Studies Department, 2009.

-Chair of the Department of Romance Languages, 2002.

-Chair, French Section, 2000-03.

-Director of Carleton off-campus Seminar in Mali, winter 2000 to present.

-Coordinator for Multicultural Issues(1998-2000)

(half-time administrative position).

-Co-Director of the Saint Olaf College January term in

South Africa from January 1-31, 1999. The topic of this study trip, in which 17 students participated, was Poetry, Performance and the Politics of

Identity in South Africa.

Books

-Heather Hughes and Cherif Keita, Nokutela: The Story of a Forgotten Woman Leader. Pietermaritzburg: Department of Arts and Culture of KwaZulu-Natal, 2013.

-Outcast to Ambassador: The Musical Odyssey of Salif

Keita. Amazon: Create Space, 2011.

-Salif Keita: l’Ambassadeur de la musique du Mali.

Paris: Editions Grandvaux, 2009.

-Salif Keïta: L’Oiseau sur le fromager. Bamako: Le Figuier, 2001

-Massa Makan Diabaté: Un griot mandingue à la rencontre de l'écriture. Paris: L'Harmattan,1995.

Co-authored books

-Vagabondages littéraires, with members of the

Carleton College French Section. A french reader for the intermediate level. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Documentary films produced and directed

“Remembering Nokutela/uKukukhumbula uNokutela”, to be completed in September 2014, 59 minutes. Already covered by Public Radio International and the BBC.

“Cemetery Stories: A Rebel Missionary in South Africa”

2009, 57 minutes, Official selection 2009 Pan African Film Festival, 2009 Durban Film Festival, First Theatrical release in Mpls(2009), 2009 Real Life Documentary Film Festival Accra(Ghana), 2010 Tokyo Cinema Africa, 2010 Rwanda (Kigali) Film Festival.

“Oberlin-Inanda: The Life and Times of John L. Dube”,

Screened on Capitol Hill(US Congress Sub Committee on Africa), July 2004. Licensed in 2012 to Autentic(GMBH), Germany, for worldwide broadcast.

Special Mention, 2005 Pan African Film Festival, 2005 Durban International Film Festival, Brasilia International Film Festival, 2010 Tokyo Cinema Africa. Aired on SABC 1&2(South Africa) and ORTM(Mali TV) and available with French narration, Portuguese and Japanese subtitles. Theatrically released in Minneapolis in 2009.

Film screenings and press coverage

-“The Pioneering Woman the World Forgot”, by Martin Vennard[Review of “Remembering Nokutela”, BBC News Magazine, June 12, 2014

-“Her Contributions to South Africa Were Unknown, But a New Film Aims to Change That”, by Marco Werman, on PRI’s The World, May 8, 2014, 10 minutes.

-“Remember To Call At My Grave”, The Witness(South Africa), September 5, 2013, page 9, Link: people.carleton.edu/~ckeita/Witness-NW-Main-9.pdf

-“U.S Professor Keita Moved At Durban Response To His Film”, The Witness, August 26, 2013. Link:

-Screening of “Cemetery Stories”, NYU, Africa House, March 14, 2013.

-“Continuing An Education Tradition”, An 89-minute video interview of Cherif Keita for the University of Minnesota Institute of Advanced Studies. Link:

-Cherif Keita’s video portrait, Minneapolis Institute for the Arts, Fall 2012:

-Screening of “Oberlin-Inanda” and “Cemetery Stories”, Oak Street Theater, under the auspices of the University of Minnesota International Program, October 28, 2009.

-Screening of “Cemetery Stories”, Oct 7, 2009, Makaranda Lodge, Kloof, Durban(South Africa) for the University of KwaZulu-Natal Conference on Community Engagement.

-Screening of “Oberlin-Inanda”, U. of KwaZulu-Natal-Pietermaritzburg Campus, Oct. 8, 2009.

  • review of Oberlin-Inanda on SA TV,
  • Paris showing:
  • Durban visit for Wilcox-Dube reunion and screening of “Oberlin-Inanda”:
  • “Oberlin-Inanda” at FESPACO 2005 mentioned in NY Times:
  • Interview on Radio-France Internationale about “Oberlin-Inanda”, 26 minutes, 2005
  • Capitol Hillscreening of “Oberlin-Inanda” under the auspices of the House Sub Committee on Africa and the Africa-America Institute, July 14, 2004, in coordination with Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Donald Payne of the House Africa Sub-committee. Cherif Keita spoke at the event,
  • “Oberlin-Inanda” at the 2005 New York African Diaspora Film Festival, in a series called “Leaders of the African Diaspora”:
  • Oberlin Roots Inspire South African Educator, by Cathy Gabe.
  • Film mentioned on the website of Oberlin 175th Anniversary: “Today, interested persons can explore Dube’s life further, thanks to a 55-minute documentary by Cherif Keita, professor of French and Francophone literature at Carleton College. The film, Oberlin-Inanda; The Life and Times of John L. Dube, has two screenings in Oberlin and earned an array of film honors.”
  • Review in the Malian daily, Les Echos, and posed on a website, under the title, “Un Malien porte a l’écran l’histoire de l’ANC”[A Malian Brings the Story of the ANC to the Screen]:
  • Wisconsin-Madison screening: Sponsored by African Studies, September 18, 2005.
  • “Oberlin-Inanda” at the 2006 Brásilia Film Festival:
  • Cinema da Africa do Sol. “Oberlin-Inanda: the life and times of John L. Dube, E.U.A.,” 2005, 54min). De Cherif Keita. Em 27 de abril de 1994, em comemoração ao triunfo da democracia na África do Sul, Nelson Mandela chama o povo para juntar-se a ele ao saldar a memória do primeiro profeta, John Langalele Dube. Dia 4, Cine Intelig Academia 4, às 16h. Dia 6, sala 3, às 17h30. Dia 9, sala 4, às 17h30.
  • Distribution of Oberlin-Inanda by Villon Films, Vancouver, British Columbia: Biography of John L. Dube (1871-1946), educator, musician, journalist, churchman, politician, and co-founder of the African National Congress in 1912, of which he was first president. The documentary shows how his education at Oberlin College helped him in his struggle for social justice in South Africa.
  • “Film Shows in Paris,” Northfield News:
  • “A filmmaker is born, a nation's hero revived”, Northfield News:
  • “Lessons from the past foster tomorrow's leaders”, Northfield News:
  • Durban International Film Festival 2005:
  • “Oberlin-Inanda” screened twice during the 30th Anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, by the Steve Biko Foundation:
  • Screening of the French version of “Oberlin-Inanda” on Mali’s National television, March 2008, followed by a special 26-minute documentary produced by a journalist on the “Making of Oberlin-Inanda”, based on interviews with the director and the United States Ambassador to Mali and former US Consul-General to Durban(SA), Terence P. McCulley.
  • Screening on South African National TV SABC1, September 2008:
  • Other screenings: Carleton College, 2005 and 2006; Indian Cultural Center of Johannesburg, 2005; Macalester College, 2006; Honeywell, Minneapolis, 2006; Wesleyan University, 2006; Colorado College, Africa Network Conference, 2006; American Cultural Center of Bamako, Mali; Denver, Colorado, Alliance Française, 2006; Emory University, 2006; Oberlin College, 2006 and 2007; Africa Network Conference, Lisle, Ill., 2007; University of Chicago, 2007; Wheaton College, 2007; Rencontres Cinématographiques de Bordeaux, France, 2007; Durban City Hall, South Africa, November 2007; Saaraba Cultural Center, Paris, May 2009. Reviewed in: “A la Redécouverte de John Dube”[Rediscovering John Dube] Albert Luthuli Museum, Groutville, July 2009; Inanda Seminary, July 2009; Ohlange High School. July 2009.
  • Real Life Documentary Film Festival, Accra, Ghana, April 28, 2009.

“Wilcox-Dube: An American-South Africa Story on the Screen”, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso:

“African Filmmakers Focus On Telling Our Own Stories” by Stephen Coan, The Witness,

“The Land Has Spoken”, by Matthew Le Cordeur, The Witness.

Review of “Cemetery Stories: A Rebel Missionary in South Africa” in La Stampa: “Jambo Africa: Leggere, Vedere i ascoltare”,

-Forum Culturel(ORTM) on "La Route de Wangrin: Voyage

des étudiants de Carleton College au Mali et au Burkina Faso", February 2002.

Fellowships and Consulting

Carleton College Viz grant to digitize 1964 film “Djoliba, village modèle”, by Hermon Davis, and create a Bamana narration.

-Consulting Editor for the Weill Music Institute (Carnegie Hall) on Music of Mali(Global Encounters Series, 2006)

-Presenter for the Smithsonian Institution Folk Life Festival(2003): Mali, Scotland and Appalachia, Washington, D.C.

-Minnesota Humanities Commission Fellowship for pre-

production of “Oberlin-Inanda: The Life and Times of John L. Dube”(Director and producer: Cherif Keita)

Radio and Television

“The Crisis in Mali”, Aljazeera TV, The Stream, April 2012.

-The Kojo Nnamdi Show(Wash. DC), The WVKR(Vassar College), Sahara TV(New York), 2012.

“Mali: A History in Music”, an hour-long radio interview for Afropop Worldwide aired on NPR stations, 2010 and repeated in 2012:


Radio program:

-Music from the Heart of Mali: Salif, Toumani and

Souleymane, Interview by Chérif Keita, produced by PaulHager and Northfield TV, Summer 1998, 35 minutes.

Travels

-Trips to the Ivory Coast, Sénégal, Belgium, France,

Great Britain, the Netherlands, Togo, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Swaziland, South Africa, Brazil and Japan.

Honors andProfessional organizations

2008 Northfield Human Rights Award, Paul Harris Fellow of Northfield Rotary Club, of the African Literature Association, of the French Colonial Historical Society, of the Mande Studies Association(MANSA), of the African Studies Association.