Co-Sponsored by Center for West African Studies, School of Public Affairs and Administration and School of Foreign Lanuages of UESTC, the fourth lecture on West African Studies titled "Call-and-in the Response dialogism in African Music & Literature was delivered by prof. Tan Huijuan from Hangzhou Dianzi University at UESTC on January 5, 2018.

Prof. Shen Xiaorong, vice chairperson of University Council of UESTC on behalf of CWAS of UESTC, appointed Prof. Tan Huijuan as the council member for the Strategy/Academic Committee of Center for West African Studies of UESTC. Academic staff from CWAS present were Prof. Zhao Shurong, Director of CWAS and Professor Zou Tao, Associate Director of CWAS.

At the lecture, Tan Huijuan illustrated first of all on the background of echoing tradition and dialogue theory. Then she elaborated on the types of music, their origins, forms of singing, musical genre known as polyphony and African and American music. She also elaborated on the similarities between African American literary creation and Bakhtin's dialogue theory as postulated by an American-African writer Ralph Ellison.

During the sessions for Q and A, African students present actively asked questions and shared their personal feelings about the echoes of African music.

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Tan Huijuan, Professor, Dean, School of Foreign Languages, Hangzhou Dianzi University. Senior Expert of Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, P.R. China, and Consulting Editor of Comparative Literature and Culture Journal, U.S. Prof. Tan achieved her Doctoral Degree in Chinese & English Comparative Studies from Beijing Language and Culture University P.R. China, and studied as a visiting scholar in University of California and Harvard University, US.

Prof. Tan’s research interests focus on the studies of African American and African literature. Her publications include 2 monographs, over 30 core journal papers, and nearly a million words translation. More than 20 postgraduates under her supervision have been engaged in African-American literature studies.