BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Director Kobina Aidoo will give a showing of his 2009 documentary Neo-African Americans on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 17 in Beckman Auditorium of The Ames Library (1 Ames Plaza East, Bloomington). The event, which is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs in honor of African-American Heritage Month, is free and open to the public.
Neo-African Americans explores the influx of voluntary immigration to the United States, and how it impacts the traditional interpretation of the term African-American, as well as initiatives like Affirmative Action. According to Aidoo, over the past 25 years, more than 3 million people have immigrated to the U.S. from countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
“It is not simply a matter of white Americans and black Americans confronting a shared past. It is a redefinition of who is white, who is black, who is African-American, and how we should treat each other,” Aidoo said in a 2009 interview.
Along with filmmaking, Aidoo is a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Originally from Ghana, he is a self-described African non-American, who studied at Barry University in Miami.
 Kobina Aidoo | He has since worked with Warner Bros. Publications, Intel Computer Clubhouse and De Beers. He has also performed economic consulting assignments for governments in the Middle East and Africa. Aidoo holds a master’s degree in public policy with a specialty in international trade and finance from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he also served as co-chief editor of the Africa Policy Journal. |
Illinois Wesleyan Contact: Rachel Hatch, (309) 556-3960
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