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Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, Ph.D. 529 W. 147 St. # 3B, New York, NY 10031, Tel.: 1-646-239-8519, E-mail: Sabinejb@aol.com |
| Academic Degrees | |
| 1980 | Ph.D. in Anthropology, New School for Social Research, New York, NY |
| 1974 | M.A. in Ethnology, Freie Universität, West Berlin/ Germany. |
Special Training |
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| 1982-85 | Film production courses, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY. |
| 1998 | Adobe Photoshop training, PRATT Institute, New York, NY |
Teaching |
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| 1998-99 | Assistant Professor, Dept. of Modern Languages, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN |
| 1996-97 | Visiting Lecturer, Dept. of Language and Communication Studies, The Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea. |
| 1990-96 | Adjunct Professor, Liberal Arts, Rhode IslandSchool of Design, Providence, RI. |
| 1987-88 | German Language Instructor, Inlingua School of Languages, New York, NY. |
| 1984 | Visiting Lecturer,University of Bayreuth, Germany. |
Publishing |
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| 2008-present | Editorial Board Member, Mbari. The International Journal of Igbo Studies |
| 2003-2008 | Editor-in-Chief, Dialectical Anthropology. Springer Publishers, New York. |
| 1996-2003 | Executive Board Member, Dialectical Anthropology, New York. |
| 1993-present | Special Correspondent, African Profiles International, New York |
| 1985-1987 | Assistant to New York Correspondent of Ringier Publishers, New York. |
| 1980-1981 | Editorial Assistant, Dialectical Anthropology, New York. |
| Books, edited volumes and exhibition catalogues: | |
| 2008 | The Water Goddess in Igbo Cosmology. Ogbuide of OgutaLake. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. (Reviewed in African Studies Review 51 (3): 172-173. |
| 2007 | Special Triple Issue in Honor of Six Prominent Igbo Scholars. Co-edited with P. Chudi Uwazurike, Dialectical Anthropology Vol.31, 1-3. (Forthcoming) The Igbo World: Ethnicity, National Identity, and Globalization in the Age of Rapid Transformation. Selected Essaysfrom Dialectical Anthropology 1988-2007 and the Special Triple Issue in Memory of Six Eminent Igbo Scholars. Co-edited with P. Chudi Uwazurike. |
| 2003 | Krokodil und Vogel. Kunst- und Alltagsgegenstände aus Papua Neu Guinea (Crocodile and Bird; Folk Art from Papua New Guinea). With George Jell. Exhibition Catalogue. Göttingen/ Germany: Stadt Museum. |
Book chapters |
|
| 2010 | “The Igbo Lake Goddess Ogbuide.” Goddesses in World Culture. Vol. I . Edited by Patricia Monaghan. New York: Praeger (Forthcoming) |
| 2008 | “Dada-Dreadlocks-Hair: The Hidden Messages of Mammy Water in West Africa.” Sacred Waters. Edited by Henry Drewal. Bloomington/IN: Indiana University Press |
| 2006 | “Owu, Agugu, and Omerife: The sacred art and ritual of balancing people, nature, and water spirits.” Education, Culture and Development. Edited by Y.James Emejulu and Michael C. Mbabuike. White Plains, NY: Jimacs-Hillman Publishers. |
| 2006a) | “Divine Waters of the Oru-Igbo in Southeastern Nigeria.” The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Edited by Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan. NYC: Continuum International. |
| 2006b) | “Mammy Water.” The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Edited by Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan. NYC: Continuum International. |
| 2003a) | “Funding Ethnographic Film and Video Productions in America.” Principles of Visual |
| 2000a) | “The Lake Goddess, Uhammiri/ Ogbuide, Eze Nwanyi: A Case Study of the Female Side of the Universe in Igbo Cosmology.” African Spirituality. Forms, Meanings and Expressions.Edited by Jacob K. Olupona and Charles H. Long. New York: Crossroad Press: 38-53. |
| 1998a) | “Female Power: Water Priestessess of the Oru‑Igbo.” Sisterhood, Feminisms, and Power. From Africa to the Diaspora. Edited by Obioma Nnaemeka. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press: 101-131. |
| 1998b) | "Flora Nwapa and Uhammiri/ Ogbuide Eze Nwanyi, the Lake Goddess; an Evolving Relationship.” Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa. Critical and Theoretical Essays. Edited by Marie Umeh. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press: 77-110. |
| 1998c | “An Interview with Flora Nwapa.” Emerging Perspectives on Flora Nwapa. Critical and Theoretical Essays. Edited by Marie Umeh. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press: 633-645. |
| 1997 | “Eze Mmiri di Egwu ‑‑ The Water Monarch is Awesome: Reconsidering the Mammy Water Myths.” Queens, Queen Mother, Priestesses and Power: Case Studies in African Gender. Edited by Flora Kaplan. New York: New York Academy of Sciences Vol.810: 103-134. |
| 1996a) | “Mammy Water: Weltbild, Ritual und Heilung: Beobachtungen bei den Oru‑Igbo in Südost Nigeria 1978‑1992.” (Mammy Water: Cosmolgy, Ritual and Healing: a Case Study of the Oru‑Igbo in Southeastern Nigeria,1978‑1992). Jahrbuch für transkulturelle Medizin und Psychotherapie 1993 (Yearbook of Cross‑Cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy 1993). Edited by Walter Andritzky. Berlin/ Germany: Armand Aglaster Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. |
| 1988a) | “On the Making of 'Eze Nwata: the Small King'.” Anthropological Filmmaking. Edited by J. Rollwagen. New York: Harwood Academic Publishers: 197‑221. |
| Articles in academic journals and refereed list services | |
| 2009 | “Falling Spirits, Crumbling Culture, and the Dismantling of Human Rights: |
| 2007 | “Book Review: ‘Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen.’ Edited by Vivian Bickford-Smith and Richard Mendelsohn.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 40, 3: 539-40. |
| 2007a) | “Flora Nwapa and Oguta’s Lake Goddess: Artistic Liberty and Ethnography.” Dialectical Anthropology. Special Triple Issue in Honor of Six Prominent Igbo Scholars. Vol. 31, 1-3: 253-262. |
| 2007b) | “Editorial,” with P. Chudi Uwazurike. Dialectical Anthropology. Special Triple Issue in Honor of Six Prominent Igbo Scholars. Vol. 31, 1-3: 7-9. |
| 2005 | “From ‘Haus Tambaran’ to Church: Continuity and Change in Contemporary Papua New Guinean Design.” With George Jell. Visual Anthropology, Vol. 18 (5). |
| 2005a) | “Editorial: Continuing the Quest of Dialectical Anthropology in the 21st Century: Reflections on the Igbo of Nigeria.” Dialectical Anthropology 28, 1: 71-90. |
| 2003b) | “Losing Ground: Place-Making, Alienation, and (Sub)-Urbanization in Rural Bavaria.” (With George Jell). Dialectical Anthropology 27: 69-87. |
| 2001 | “Book Review: 'Tödliche Rituale: Die indische Witwenverbrennung und andere Formen der Totenfolge.' By Jörg Fisch. (Deadly Rituals: The Burning of Widows in India and Other Forms of Funerary Rites Involving Followers in Death).” The International Journal of African Historical Studies.36: 9-11. |
| 2000b) | “Civilization, Wilderness, and Secrecy: Making two Nigerian Films.” Visual Anthropology 13 (4) Special Issue on Africa: 363-393. |
| 1999a) | “Book Review: 'Michael C. Mbabuike, Poems of Memory Trips.'” Afrlitcine@h‑net.msu.edu. |
| 1999b) | “Book Review: ‘African Experiences of Cinema’ edited by I.Bakari and M. Cham.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 34: 7-9. |
| 1999c | “Book Review: ‘Nigerian Video Films’ edited by Jonathan Haynes.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 34:15-17. |
| 1998d) | “Book Review: Paula Girshick Ben-Amos ‘The Art of Benin’ and ‘African Masterworks in the Detroit Institute of Arts’. Essays by Michael Kan and Roy Sieber, text by David W. Penney, Mary Nooter and Helen M.Shannon.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. Vol. 34 (1): 622-626. |
| 1998e) | “Book Review: Virginia Castleman, ‘Mommi Watta, Spirit of the River’” for H-AfrLitCine. |
| 1998f) | “Payback, One-Talk, and Compensations. A Letter from Papua New Guinea.” Dialectical Anthropology. |
| 1996b) | “Book Review: Ingeborg Maria Grau.'Die Igbo sprechenden Völker Südost Nigerias: Fragmentation und fundamentale Einheit in ihrer Geschichte.“ (PhD diss., University of Vienna.). In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 29 (3): 591-593. |
| 1995 | “The Concept of Mammywater in Flora Nwapa's Novels.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 26 (2): 30‑41. |
| 1994 | “This Native Something: Understanding, Acknowledging, and Teaching the African Experience.” Dialectical Anthropology, vol.19, double issue # 2 & 3: 373‑386. |
| 1991 | “Who is it for? ‑‑ Pictures are special and so are the people in them: about filming 'Mammy Water: In Search of the Water Spirits in Nigeria'.” Commission on Visual Anthropology Review, Spring: 24‑27. |
| 1990 | “Film review essay on: 'Naked Spaces: Living is Round', by Trinh‑T. Minh‑ha and Jean Paul Bourdier.” Commission on Visual Anthropology Review. Fall: 45-7. |
| 1989 | "Names and Naming: Instances from the Oru‑Igbo." Dialectical Anthropology 13: 199‑207. |
| 1988b) | “Funding Anthropological Film and Video Productions: Practical Points, Funding Politics, Ethnocentrism and the Direction of Visual Communication: Where does Visual Anthropology Fit Into Existing Funding Structures?” Dialectical Anthropology 13: 283‑289. Also in: Commission for Visual Anthropology Review, Fall Issue. |
| 1988c) | A Murder Case: Igbo Conflict Settlement.” Dialectical Anthropology 12: 359‑366. |
| 1985a) | “Ethnology and Fascism in Germany.” Dialectical Anthropology 9: 313‑335. |
| 1985b) | “From Divine Earth to Mami Wata.” Anthropologia Visualis. Edited by Asen Balikci, Montreal, Canada. Vol.1, no.1: 53‑59. |
M.A. and Ph.D. theses |
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| 1980 | Social Integration in the Absence of the State: A Case Study of the Igbo Speaking |
| 1974 | The Dynamics of Change among the Yoruba Speaking Peoples of South Western Nigeria. Unpublished M.A. Thesis. Freie Universität, W.Berlin, Germany. |
Fieldwork |
|
| 1998 | On the transformation of rural landscapes and identity in Southern Germany. |
| 1996-1997 | On art and architecture in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. |
| 1994 | On adobe architecture in Northern Nigeria. |
| 1978-94 | On social integration, gender and spirituality in Southeastern Nigeria. |
Grants received |
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| 1996 | Travel & research grant from the University of Technology in Lae/ Papua New Guinea, for research on images of the architectural heritage of Papua New Guinea in German |
| 1991 | Post-production grant from the Institute for Scientific Film at Göttingen/Germany towards film production of Owu: Chidi Joins the Okoroshi Secret Society in Nigeria. |
| 1990 | Cultural aid program grant from the German foreign office for film production of Owu: Chidi Joins the Okoroshi Secret Society in Nigeria. |
| 1988 | Cultural aid program grant from the German foreign office for film production of Mammy Water: In Search for the Water Spirits in Nigeria. |
| 1988 | Grant from the Nigerian Department of Culture for film production of Mammy Water: In Search for the Water Spirits in Nigeria. |
| 1987 | “Seed money” from the Center for New Television in Chicago towards film production of Mammy Water: In Search for the Water Spirits in Nigeria. |
| 1979 | Travel and research grant from the New School for Social Research in New York for research on Igbo colonial history in British archives. |
Awards |
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| 2008 | Honorable Mention, Elliott P. Skinner Award of the Association of Africanist Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association. |
Public lectures and PowerPoint presentations |
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| 2008 | Mother Water: An Igbo Goddess of Nigeria. From Ogbuide to Mammy Water. A PowerPoint presentation at FITA, Venezuela. |
| 2007a) | Mammy Water across the Waters: An Avatar of African Religious Beliefs.” A PowerPoint presentation at the conference in conjunction with the exhibition “Madre Africa” (Mother Africa). Curator Rey Kerr at the Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. |
| 2007b) | The Sign of the Python: From Nsibidi to Mammy Water. A PowerPoint presentation at Tri-anneal Meeting of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association at the University of Florida at Gainesville, FL, April, 2007 |
| 2006a) | The Agugu Festival: Integrating Oru-Igbo Society, Religion and Nature. A PowerPoint presentation at the first inaugural conference of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, “Exploring Religion, Nature and Culture” at the University of Florida at Gainesville, FL, April, 2006 |
| 2002a) | From “Haus Tambaran” to Church: Continuity and Change in Contemporary Papua New Guinean Design. A PowerPoint presentation at the IASTE (International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments) meeting at Hong Kong, 2002Berkeley, CA (with George Jell) |
| 2002b) | Ecology and the Oscillation between Melanesian Culture and Contemporary Architecture in Papua New Guinea. A PowerPoint presentation at the Visual Research Conference of the American Anthropological Association Meeting (With George Jell). |
| 2002c) | Introduction to “Crocodile and Bird,” an exhibition at the Stadt Museum (Municipal Museum) in Göttingen/ Germany. |
| 1999 | Männerhäuser am Sepik (Sepik Spirit Houses) at Städtische Gallerie (Municipal Art Gallery) Traunstein, Germany. |
| 1998 | Using Audio-Visual Aids for Teaching about Africa” at a Teacher Training Workshop organized by the Columbia University African Studies Institute, at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. |
| 1997 | Oru-Igbo Ritual Spaces, at the IASTE (International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments) meeting at Berkeley, CA. |
| 1995 | Traditionale Heilkunst und Prävention bei den Oru‑Igbo in Südost Nigeria”. (The Traditional Art of Healing and Prevention Among the Oru Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria) at Institut für Medizinische Psychologie, Heinrich Heine Universität, at Düsseldorf , Germany. |
| 1994a) | Africa on Film, Video and TV in the West, at a Teacher Training Conference, sponsored by the American ‑ South African Friendship Organization at SUNY Albany. |
| 1994b) | Okoroshi and Owu among the Oru Igbo, at the University of Göttingen, Germany. |
| 1993 | Mammy Water: The Icon, the Goddess, and her Priestess, at the University of Arizonain Tucson, AZ |
| 1992 |
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| Panels organized and chaired | |
| 1997 | Flora Nwapa: The Novelist’s Contribution towards Understanding Africa, at the New York African Studies Association Meeting at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY. |
| 1996 | Workshop: Africa on Film, at the New York African Studies Association Meeting at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY. |
| 1995 | African Art. Lived, Performed, and Audio‑Visually Represented, at the New York African Studies Association Meeting, at Hostos Community College, Bronx, NY. |
| 1994 | Africa and the Western Media, at the New York African Studies Association Meeting at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. |
Papers presented |
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Presented papers at scholarly meetings and conventions worldwide, including: American Anthropological Association Meeting (1984, 1990, 2002, and 2003); African Studies Association Meeting (2006, 1995, 1994, and 1993); African Literature Association Meeting (1998); IASTE (International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments) Conferences 1996and 2002; WAAD (Women in Africa and the African Diaspora) Conferences(at Indiana 1998 and Nsukka/ Nigeria 1992); Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future, International Conference on Literature by Women of African Decent, atNYU, New York (1997); New York African Studies Association Meetings (1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, and 1993); Central New York Conference on Languages and Literature (1993); Socialist Scholars' Conference (1993); University of Amsterdam Conference on Visual Sociology and Anthropology (1991 and 1993); Northeastern Anthropological Association (1985). |
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| Ethnographic documentary films/ videos produced: | |
| 1999 | Skull Art in Papua New Guinea. (30 min. color, digital video). berkeleymedia@earthlink.net |
| 1994a) | Tubali: Hausa Architecture of Northern Nigeria. (45 min. color Beta video). Ogbuide Films, NY. sabinejb@aol.com |
| 1994b) | Owu: Chidi Joins the Okoroshi Secret Society (60 min.) Ogbuide Films, NY. sabinejb@aol.com |
| 1991 | Mammy Water: In Search of the Water Spirits in Nigeria (60 min.) berkeleymedia@earthlink.net |
| 1983 | Eze Nwata -The Small King. (With George Jell. 27 min. col. 16mm film & video). Ogbuide Films, NY. sabinejb@aol.com |
| 1982 | Divine Earth ‑ Divine Water (A film‑trilogy, 82 min., 16mm). Ogbuide Films, NY |
Film screenings with public discussions |
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| Presented and discussed my films, Mammy Water: In Search of the Water Spirits in Nigeria; Owu: Chidi Joins the Okoroshi Secret Society; Tubali: Hausa Architecture of Northern Nigeria; Skull Art, and Eze Nwata - The Small King at various national and international festivals, conventions, professional meetings and institutions, including: Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2007). Festival Internacional de Tradiciones Afroamericanas, FITA, Maracay, Venezuela (2008). The Seattle Art Museum (2006). University of Texas at San Antonio (2000). American Anthropological Association Meetings (2000, 1995, 1994, 1992, 1989, 1984). Moscov/ Russia Ethnographic Film Festival (2004), Salekhard/Russia (2000). Nuoro Ethnographic Film Festival, Sardinia/ Italy (1998 & 1994). "Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future:an International Conference on Literature by Women of African Decent", New York University, New York (1997). Linden Museum, Stuttgart/ Germany (1997). The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, Ethnographic Film Festival in Kent (1996 & 1994). Tri‑ennial Symposium of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (1997 & 1992). New York African Studies Assoc. Meeting (1995). “Wohnräume” an Architectural Digest on German TV, WDR III and 3SAT (1995). The Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (1994, 1989, 1983). Afrikanistentag (German African Studies Association Meeting) University of Cologne/ Germany (1994). Landesmuseum Hannover/ Germany (1994). Symposion' 94: Psychiatrie im Kulturvergleich (Symposium on trans-cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy) Psychiatrisches Landeskrankenhaus Reichenau/ Germany (1994). Rhode Island School of Design (1992). Bilan du Film Ethnographique at the Musee de l'Homme, Paris (1991). African Studies Association (1991), Queens, Queen Mothers, Priestesses and Power, a conference at the Schomburg Center for Black Culture and at NYU in New York (1991). Blacklight Festival for International Black Cinema, Chicago (1990). Queens Village OPD, Creedmoore Psychic Center, New York (1990). The Northeastern Anthropological Association (1990). German TV, WDR III, Cologne/ Germany (1990). The 2nd International Congress of Traditional and Folk Medicine at the University of Morelos, Cuernavaca/ Mexico (1984). The Sixth Annual Festival of Anthropology on Film, at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (1983). The XI International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, in Vancouver/ Canada (1983). "Berlin am Montag", SFB, Berlin TV/ Germany (1982). Arsenal Theatre, Berlin/ Germany (1982). | |
| Exhibitions curated | |
| 2002 | Krokodil und Vogel (Crocodile and Bird: Art and Artefacts from Papua New Guinea) at Stadt Museum (Municipal Museum), Göttingen, Germany. |
| 1999 | Krokodil und Vogel (Crocodile and Bird: Art and Artefacts from Papua New Guinea) at Städtische Gallerie (Municipal Art Gallery), Traunstein/ Germany. |
Translations |
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| 1991 | Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Architects, NYC. Friedrichstadt Passagen, Berlin. (into German) |
| 1985 | Fritz Kramer: “Empathy: Some Notes on the History of Ethnological Ideas in Germany |
| Language skills: | Fluent in German; working knowledge of French and Spanish; some Igbo. |
| Travels: | In Africa (Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal), Australia, Europe, the Caribbean, China, Dominican Rep., Haiti, Indonesia, Mexico, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, Russia, the USA, and Venezuela. |
Affiliations: |
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American Anthropological Association, member |
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Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, 12/27/2008 |
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