Henny Ziai, a PhD candidate at Columbia and a Sijal student, spoke with fellow students about the establishment of the settler colony of Liberia in the beginning of the early 19th century. Her research and presentation investigated the strategies employed by settlers to exert power over land and the indigenous populations of the new "Black republic".
We host lectures and cultural activities every week in the Fall and Spring terms, and twice a week in the Summer Intensive programs. The lectures span history, politics, music, literature, journalism, sociology, environmental issues, and much more! We’ve been honored to host a number of notable speakers at Sijal, and a non-exhaustive list of lectures that have been held in the past can be found below.