Contributor(s): Adama Samassekou | The Steve Biko Memorial Lecture Europe is an initiative of the South African based Steve Biko Foundation. The 2013 lecture takes place during Black History Month in the United Kingdom. Described as a resuscitative moment, the lecture is an opportunity to explore the inextricable link between the individual and society; to celebrate triumphs over inequality and to examine the importance of identity in the twenty-first century. In keeping with the tradition of Biko, the lecture focuses on issues of culture, identity and social change. Adama Samassékou, a Malian national, will deliver the lecture. He is the founder and former president of the African Academy of Languages- an official organ of the African Union; president of International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences as well as the MAAYA Network, a global body promoting linguistic diversity. He has previously served as president for Mali and Africa as a whole, of the Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights Education, Malian Minister of Education and spokesperson for the Government of Mali. Given that 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Organization of African Unity; his topic for the lecture is "The Social-Cultural Foundation of the 21st Century New Pan-Africanist Consciousness".
