Centre News

Centre associate professor of history Rick Bradshaw (above, with
his students in one of the the College's outdoor classrooms) has
been featured in an interview on Radio France International, a
popular media outlet with an estimated 80,000,000 listeners
each day.

Dr. Rick Bradshaw, associate professor of history, has been featured in an interview on Radio France Internationale. Based in Paris, the popular media outlet has an estimated 80,000,000 listeners every day.

Bradshaw was contacted because of his expertise on the culture of the Central African Republic (CAR), a land-locked country located in Central Africa. Bradshaw was asked to comment on a recent situation in the CAR, where current president François Bozizé is seeking reelection in January 2011. Bozizé shocked many when he praised the tenure of former CAR president Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who, during his ruling in the 1970s, was widely regarded as a terrible tyrant. Bokassa was condemned to death in 1987, though the sentence was reduced to imprisonment only, and eventually he was granted amnesty. He died in 1996.

Radio France Internationale sought the expertise of Bradshaw to gain insight as to why Bozizé would now not only offer praise of an unpopular former leader, but also “rehabilitate in all his rights” the former president, especially since doing so, according to Bradshaw, would have “been unthinkable 20 years ago.”

Centre offers CentreTerm study abroad in the neighboring country of Cameroon, lead by Dr. Lori Hartmann-Mahmud, Hower Associate Professor of International Studies, and Bradshaw.

For more information on Centre’s study abroad in Cameroon or other location options, click here.