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KentStater

The independent news website of The Kent Stater & KSTV

KentStater

The independent news website of The Kent Stater & KSTV

KentStater

Members of Barefeet Dance Tribe perform at the closing ceremony for the Pan-African Festival on Saturday, April 30, 2022.

Pan-African Festival returns to Kent State after two-year hiatus 

Morgan McGrath, Reporter May 3, 2022
This year, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Oscar Ritchie Hall proudly welcomed students, staff and alumni to their yearly Pan-African celebratory festival. “The Pan-African festival is one event that we use to really connect with our community and our alumni in this department,” said Shemariah Arki, an activist and assistant professor in the Department of Africana Studies. 

African Cinema Week concludes with a showing “Lumumba”

Joshua Bailey, Reporter April 20, 2022

“Lumumba” – a true film based on the rise to power and assassination of the former leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba, was shown during African Cinema Week on Friday. “The theme...

Vince Robinson, a multi-genre musician, journalist and photographer, played the keyboard and piano during Words in Sound event on Feb. 9.

Poet Mwatabu Okantah shares African culture, history with community through poetry and song

Isabella Schreck Reporter February 11, 2022

In celebration of Black History Month, Mwatabu Okantah, interim chair of the Department of Africana Studies, shared the story of his African culture through poetry and song Wednesday in Murphy Auditorium. In...

What are they going to call us next?

Sophie Young Reporter February 6, 2022

The English language enveloped words from other cultures just as European nations enveloped “discovered” countries into their empires. As a result, English-speakers are left with phrases that are a...

SOCA Logo

A Home Away From Home: Caribbean student group looks for renewed representation at Kent State

Brianna Camp Reporter April 28, 2021

SOCA is back and ready for action. Founded in 2017, the Student Organization of Caribbean Alliance has had its ups and downs, but this year the group is trying to reorganize and re-establish itself on...

Flyer for African Night.

KASA celebrates 26 years of African Night

Cameron Aloway Reporter March 12, 2021

Over the next two weeks, the Kent African Student Association will continue to engage its community with the beauty of Africa via Instagram. Beginning the week of March 29, KASA launches its 26th annual...

Mia Baker shares her experience as a humanitarian photographer. 

OPINION: Is the dream job really the dream job?

Kelly Krabill Opinion Writer December 10, 2020

Each year PDN (Photo District News) Magazine’s June issue covers PDN’s 30, the magazine’s choice of new and emerging photographers to watch. And for over a decade I faithfully read June’s top 30...

Janine Tiffe, doctor of ethnomusicology and assistant professor, rehearses a dance with the African Ensemble. The dancers waved small towels around to music. Nov. 13, 2019

Dance ensemble explores African cultures

Lindsey Sellman Reporter February 9, 2020

Kent State’s African Ensemble allowed one student to discover a side of her identity  she never previously explored.Faith Forinash, a senior music education major, joined the African Ensemble in the...

Felix Kumah-Abiwu, founder of the Center of African Studies, at the launch in Oscar Ritchie room 230. Nov. 21, 2019.  

State of the African Economy lecture welcomes new Center for African Studies

Kennedi Combs Diversity reporter November 22, 2019

“Today’s event is a dream,” Co-founder and Director of the new Center of African Studies, Felix Kumah-Abiwu, said.Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m., the Department of Pan-African Studies launched the...

As'é Expressions, a dance troupe, performs at the beginning of the Kent African Students Association-sponsored Faces of Africa pageant in the Kiva Auditorium on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.

KASA hosts 5th annual Face of Africa pageant

Kennedi Combs Diversity reporter October 19, 2019

For the last 50 years, Kent’s African Student Association (KASA) has brought culture, inclusivity and wholesome fun to the African students of Kent State.  In the KIVA on Friday, Oct. 18, KASA showcased...

Wick Poetry Center gathers international community to share poetry

Megan Shovestull November 15, 2018

Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center held its fourth annual World Poetry Reading on Wednesday. The evening was filled with international students, professors and faculty sharing poems in their native language...

Catering staff serve attendees during KASA’s African Night held in the Student Center Ballroom on Friday, March 11, 2016.

KASA celebrates annual African Night

Itzel Leon International Reporter March 13, 2016

While lively music rang out, drums echoed and bounced off the walls of the Kent State ballroom at the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble presented by KASA's (Kent African Student Association) annual...