UC Santa Cruz sociologist part of World Affairs Council panel on Nigeria

Paul Lubeck, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will participate in a panel discussion of women's role in Nigeria on Wednesday, January 15, in San Francisco.

Paul Lubeck joins documentary producers in January 15 discussion of women's role in Nigeria

Sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the event is open to the public. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., and the program starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free for members; $12 for nonmembers; and $5 for student nonmembers. The World Affairs Council is located at 312 Sutter Street in San Francisco.

The event is being held in conjunction with the broadcast of the PBS Frontline/World documentary Things Fall Apart, a look at women's role in Nigeria. Lubeck will appear on the panel with Frontline/World coproducers Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herrman, and Frontline editor Stephen Talbot.

Bloom and Herrman were filming the documentary during the recent violence in Nigeria that erupted over the Miss World competition. Lubeck, whose career has been devoted to the study of Islam in Africa, will discuss that violence in the broader context of Nigeria's struggle to become democratic after years of military rule and the suppression of religious and ethnic disputes.

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and a major exporter of oil, is made up of 250 ethnicities following both the Christian and Muslim faiths.

The World Affairs Council of Northern California is dedicated to educating people about global issues. For more information, visit www.itsyourworld.org/ or call (415) 293-4600.