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Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa Presents Next Lecture by Professor S. N. Nyeck

S. N. Nyeck, assistant professor of political science at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, will lecture at Washington and Lee University as part of the Mellon Seminar on Human Rights in Africa. The event will be April 1 at 5 p.m. in Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library.

Nyeck will speak on “Embedding Queer Rights in Africa: The Premises of a Dialogical Approach to Advocacy.” The talk is free and open to the public. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

In her talk, Nyeck will focus on queer rights in Africa to highlight strategic and conceptual challenges that governments and advocates face. The overall point of her talk is that because public opinion matters, the struggle for queer belonging in Africa is first and foremost sociological. A paradoxical approach to advocacy for queer belonging is necessarily a dialogical engagement with the aspirations of African people and governments.

Nyeck is pursuing two research tracks: the political economy of development with a focus on public procurement reform or government outsourcing in comparative perspective, and sexuality and politics with a focus on LGBT politics in Africa.

Her publications include “Public Procurement Reform and Governance in Africa” (2016) and “Sexual Diversity in Africa: Politics, Theory and Citizenship” (2013).

Nyeck is a recipient of several academic, research and community leadership awards. She serves as a board member of the Consortium for International Management, Policy and of the Association of African Women for Research and Development.