2021 International Virtual Conference

WASHINGTON, DC:, September 7, 2021 — The historic October 2021 “Kushite-Nubian Heritage International Conference: Preserving An African Legacy” will feature important scholars, archaeologists, and cultural advocates and performers from various countries, namely from the U.S., Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Canada, and Japan.

This 3-day virtual conference (October 1-3) is sponsored by the Kushite-Nubian Collaborative, based in Washington, DC, and will present evidence of ancient Kush and ancient Nubia as important Nile Valley civilizations, and will focus on both historical contributions to humanity in various disciplines, and the preservation of the contemporary living cultures in this vast region.

The Kushite-Nubian Collaborative (KNC) was formed in 2018 to address these issues and the October 2021 conference is the organization’s first major event to promote and preserve the legacy of an important world heritage region.

KNC is hosting this international conference at a time when there is major change and disputes in the region, particularly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. KNC board member and retired Sudan Ambassador Nuraddin Abdulmannan stated that the timing of the conference is very important as “indigenous people are reorganizing themselves to preserve their rights in the Nubian lands” and elsewhere. He added, that there are “many threats against the indigenous groups in Sudan, who are faced with ‘Arabization’, cultural cleansing, and the selling off of their lands.”

The KNC President and historian Prof. Manu Ampim addressed the other main aspect of the conference and stated, “The historical contributions to humanity of indigenous Nile Valley and Omo Valley peoples are often distorted, minimized, or completely omitted from the historical accounts in documentaries, academic books, and college curricula, and the modern living communities in these regions are often marginalized.”

Ampim further stated that this vast northeast African region should be considered a large world heritage zone, due to the various historical contributions by these groups in such areas as architecture and pyramid building, kingship, religion, writing, and social organization and the high status of women.

These conference themes focusing on historical contributions and preserving the life and culture of the indigenous African groups responsible for this enduring and awe-inspiring legacy of ancient African civilizations is building a groundswell of interest and support in several countries.

Recent books have also inspired the conference. Both Abdulmannan and Ampim have written books about African civilizations and preserving the Nubian (Nobiin) language, respectively, in the past few years, and these works will be distributed as part of the early conference registration package.