Pulsing rhythms, glossy ebony sculptures and fiery cuisine were the main attractions at… Pulsing rhythms, glossy ebony sculptures and fiery cuisine were the main attractions at Tuesday’s African fair, part of International Week sponsored by the University Center for International Studies. But part of the entertainment took place on the festival’s outskirts, where timid students moved toward the colorful displays and vibrant music in stages, stopping several times before taking the plunge into the first floor lounge.

For once, blue jeans and Pitt sweatshirts were the exception. The room was dominated by the bold colors of African robes and art, and visitors to the fair passed up the Pizza Hut for sale downstairs in favor of curried chicken and pepper steak from Donsvilles’ Jamaica Jamaica, an East Liberty restaurant tabling at the fair.

“We are trying to tell the community here that Africa exists out there,” Dr. Macrina Lelei, Pitt’s assistant director of African studies, said. “We are trying to share our culture with everyone.”

Participants sharing this culture included Mwambu, an eight-person band headed by a Kenyan native with members from various parts of Africa and the United States; Baraka crafts, a fledging company run by Kenyan native Angela Gikonyo; and Temujin, or “The Storyteller,” whose stories attracted a floorful of listeners, Lelei said.

The displays featured handicrafts ranging from hand-carved masks to African robes to sculptures carved from ebony and soapstone. The sculptures came from all over the continent, but certain themes appeared several times. Many of the carvings were of animals, but others featured people, especially women, and were symbols of family, unity and motherhood. One ebony piece showed a woman holding a globe above her head, “literally carrying the world,” African studies director Dr. Joseph K. Adjaye said. This theme occurs repeatedly in African art because Africans believe that “women carry the burden of the world,” said Adjaye.

Gikonyo’s display of crafts hailed mostly from her native Kenya. She brings many of the pieces back from visits to her family. “My goal is to promote Kenyan culture through arts and crafts,” said Gikonyo.

For sophomore Tyler Gourley, one of the best parts of the fair was the opportunity to talk to a number of people from Africa, particularly the East African country of Kenya. “I’m going to Kenya next semester. It was just kind of interesting to talk about it and get a taste of it,” Gourley said.

A major aim of the festival was to reach students who had never thought of going to Africa, or who might want to go, but are afraid, Lelei said. She said that many people hear about the bad parts of Africa, but less attention is paid to what the continent has to offer.

“We’re trying to bring out the good,” she said.