First-Ever Drum Circle is a Big Hit on Campus
Baba Paul led a drum circle in the plaza outside the Multicultural Center on Tuesday, Sept. 25.
Galloway, N.J. – After a misty and overcast morning, the clouds parted and allowed the sun to shine on the D/F Plaza for an evening of music and camaraderie during Sankofa’s first-ever Drum Circle on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
Jayden Hamlet, a member of Sankofa — an initiative that mentors Stockton men of color — got in contact with esteemed drummer Baba Paul with the help of his mentor in the program, assistant professor of Africana Studies Kimoni Yaw Ajani. They then invited him to teach over 30 students the significance and utility of the various instruments he brought to campus, including several types of drums, bells, hoe blades and shekeres, which are gourd-like instruments covered in beads.
After introducing each instrument, Baba Paul established different rhythms for the participants to follow, starting with the big drums and concluding with the smallest of the bells and shekeres.
By the time the drum circle concluded, the sounds of the plaza outside of the Multicultural Center had shifted from the uncoordinated beats of a rhythmically challenged group to a unified song that brought laughter and joy to the group.
Hamlet, a senior Environmental Science major, said his recent study abroad experience in Ghana inspired this event. He had always been interested in music, specifically percussion, which he didn’t pursue, but he was told while abroad that he was a “natural.”
“I wanted the experience I had in Ghana to be an experience for Stockton as well,” Hamlet said while he welcomed students to the circle. “If you don’t know what sankofa means, it means to bring something back, and this is a part of the culture that I wanted to bring back.”
Hamlet hopes that this program will become an annual staple by Sankofa for the campus community, “I hope that students see that we can create new things if we want to — all it takes is just imagining it and putting it all together.”
Ian Bouie, director of Academic Achievement Programs, says initiatives like Sankofa are designed to enable and empower students to make an impact on Stockton’s campus through programs like this that focus on allowing students to feel pride in their culture and heritage.
“Though a Black-centered event, you saw students from all races and ethnicities participating on the drums or another instrument throughout the evening. Music is the ultimate unifier. We build a better campus when learning about each other's cultures and not shying away from exploring the unfamiliar,” Bouie said.
“Now that Sankofa is a Living and Learning Community with an aligned First-Year Seminar course taught by Dr. Ajani and a Sankofa champion in Jayden Hamlet, the sky is the limit for what this retention initiative is capable of on this campus. People have seen our t-shirts, but the drum circle shows the substance beneath the swag.”
Next month, Sankofa will host a tie-tying workshop on Wednesday, Oct. 16, on the Atlantic City campus in collaboration with the brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. This program is part of the Sankofa First-Year Seminar course taught by Ajani and will be led by adjunct professor Adrian Wiggins.
This is a student-led initiative that was sponsored by the Office of Academic Achievement Programs and the Office of Student Affairs.
– Story by Loukaia Taylor
– Photos by Lizzie Nealis
Faculty-Led Program to Ghana
SPRING 2024 | Celebrate Diversity Digest
Africana Studies faculty members Donnetrice Allison, Olutoyosi Aboderin, Kimoni Yaw Ajani and Beverly Vaughn recently took students to Ghana for a Faculty-Led Study Abroad Program (FLP), an academic course that combines traditional classroom learning with short-term studying abroad.
After being warmly greeted by dancers and musicians at the airport and a large dinner reception, the group explored various parts of Ghanaian life, including learning traditional textile work, participating in a naming ceremony, cooking outside in a village, and visiting places of cultural significance such as the Nkyinkyim Museum and the African Ancestral Wall in Laya Zaare. The trip wasn’t all work and no play either – students had the opportunity to traverse the Kakum Canopy Walkway deep in the jungle’s trees, sunbathe at Bojo Beach Resort in Accra and party until 4 a.m. during their farewell bash.
The most memorable part of the trip for the group was experiencing rain during the typically dry season while pouring libations at the Ancestral River Park. The site – a river where many of the enslaved were forced to have their final baths before entering foreign ships – was a vision of green and white as the attendees shouted out the names of their ancestors amongst the rain.
Sankofa Summit Addresses Issues Facing Men of Color
March 21, 2019
Galloway, N.J. – The third annual Sankofa Summit, an educational symposium about common issues affecting men of color, was held at the Stockton University Campus Center on March 19.
This event is coordinated by Stockton Director of Community Wellness and Health Education, Sankofa Founder, and Professor Jonathan Johnson. Johnson teaches the course “Black Men in America,” and the Sankofa Summit serves as a showcase of the research his students collect.
The theme of this year’s program was “Advancing the Achievement of College Men of Color,” and each presentation explored a critical problem that affects college-age men of color.
“The agenda to help men of color is there,” said Stockton Assistant Vice President of Inclusion and Wellness and Sankofa advisory board member Stephen Davis during his opening remarks. “Let’s look at issues today and figure out how we can change them, and how we can plant the seeds for success.”
Reported by Kat H. Wentzell and Julia Sus
