Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow Professor of World and African History at La Salle University in Philadelphia, USA returns to the Gambia after more than 10 years with a public lecture for University of the Gambia students. Mr. Jallow a Gambian journalist and co-founder of the former Independence Newspaper which was arbitrarily closed by the Jammeh dictatorship in 2006 was forced into exile along with many other Gambian Journalists. Jallow fled to the United States where he immediately took advantage of his new home and opportunities to prepare and continue his journey of seeking knowledge and eventual contribution to society.
Dr. Jallow’s passion for gaining and sharing his knowledge and wisdom was never deterred by his new life in exile. As he mentioned in one of his writings, being in exile though a painful new reality of life, exiles had a choice to either take advantage of their new found home or continue to live the pain of isolation and struggles that comes with being forced to leave in a new land. For Jallow, his new inconvenient home was only temporary and therefore he ventures to acquire acknowledge and prepare for the inevitable return to his native land. Whether he resettles back in his native country or not, Jallow continue to contribute his part to share his little knowledge of African and world history.
He wrote extensively about the sycophancy of the dictatorship in Gambia with the ultimate goal of not only demystifying the dictator, but reassuring Gambians and African’s at large that no matter what we do and where we found ourselves we have the ultimate power to reshape our history. His articles sometimes satirical were a beacon of hope and inspiration for the young generation. His ability to conceptualize and explain in simple terms what appears to be an unsolved parallel mystery of colonialism and African leadership failures won the hearts and minds of many readers. It was always refreshing to read short lines from him explaining that “Democracy, Human rights and rule of law” were not Western Values but Universal human values”. Readers could not wait to see his articles published on Gainako and other sister online networks. For Baba as he humbly wants to be called, while Knowledge is the foundation of a strong society nation building start with building the human capacity capable to building a nation.
In short, Dr. Jallow’s return to Gambia for summer holidays and his immediate challenge of volunteering for public lectures to young university students underscores his commitment to continue to do his part to educate a people and build the capacity of future leaders… Jallow has a dream of helping create a nation School as one big family and one big school. Dr. Jallow’s scheduled lecture series appears to be the beginning of a new chapter in the New Gambia where the state will hopefully create an environment where such an idea will be seen as valuable for the rebirth of a new Gambia… Below is the Announcement of the Lecture by the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of the Gambia…
UNIVERSITY OF THE GAMBIA: School of Arts and Sciences Public Lecture
The Copycat State: Blind mimicry, neo-exceptionalism and the politics of failure in Africa
Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow
Since independence, African governments have uncritically mimicked those practices of the nation-state system that suit their purposes and practiced a sort of African neo-exceptionalism that allows them to monopolize the political space and plunder or neglect their countries’ human and material resources. The result has been a failure of the nation-state system and a culture of chronic underdevelopment and poverty in Africa. This lecture examines the peculiarities of the copycat state and highlights possible alternatives to what has effectively become an unimaginative politics of failure and dependence in post-colonial Africa.
Date: Thursday 6th July 2017
Venue: Faculty of Law, MDI Road, UTG
Time: 10am
Do not miss this rare opportunity to hear from Dr. Jallow on his historic return to the Gambia… Gainako will bring you the full lecture presentation as delivered by Dr. Jallow. We are optimistic that this is the first of many lecture series that would be offered by Gambia’s doyen professors from various disciplines…
Story file by Demba Baldeh
Brief Bio