Program of NEWS AND EVENTS Fall 2018 African Studies Volume 29, Number 1

Rachel Beatty Riedl appointed PAS director

by Meagan Keefe

Rachel Beatty Riedl, associate professor of political science at She is a member of Northwestern, has been appointed director of the Program of the Council on Foreign African Studies. A member of the political science and core Relations and has African studies faculty since 2010, she is a faculty fellow affiliated conducted policy with Northwestern’s Global Politics and Religion Research Group, analysis for USAID, Comparative Historical Social Sciences Program, and Program the World Bank, the on Equality, Development, and Globalization Studies. In addition, State Department, the she is the current director of the French Interdisciplinary Group. Carter Center, and other She has been an active member of the PAS community, serving organizations on issues on the program’s executive committee and as coordinator of the concerning governance Seminar (Afrisem). reforms, elections, Riedl received her PhD from Princeton University in 2008. democratic representa- Her research focuses on institutional development in new tion, and identity poli- African democracies, local governance, and decentralization; tics. Most recently she authoritarian regime legacies; and the interface of religion and served with the Carter politics. She analyzes why more than 20 African nations still Center Election Monitoring Mission in Liberia. maintain democratic constitutions despite conditions that chal- In her new capacity as PAS director, Riedl looks forward to lenge democracy, such as low levels of economic development, continuing her work with the PAS community in Evanston and ethnic heterogeneity, and weak state institutions. She is author the greater Chicago area as well as with PAS alumni and longtime of the award-winning book Authoritarian Origins of Democratic collaborators around the world. Party Systems in Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and many articles in academic journals, including the Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, African Affairs, and Studies in Comparative International Development. “It’s an exciting time to serve as director Prior to coming of PAS, in large part because of the to Northwestern, Riedl held fellowships at the strength and dynamism of our faculty Inside University of Notre engaged in research pertaining to Dame’s Kellogg Institute Africa, the University’s global vision, PAStories 4 for International Studies and the Yale Program on and the program’s notable historic and ISITA news 9 Democracy, and she was a Library news 12 Faculty Fulbright Scholar contemporary foundations.” Viewpoint 16 at the research center Les —Rachel Beatty Riedl Afriques dans le Monde Community news 18 at Sciences Po Bordeaux. Reflections on my six years as PAS director

by Will Reno

As the summer ended, I handed off the directorship of faculty, Chris Udry (economics) and Dean Karlan (eco- the Program of African Studies to Rachel Beatty Riedl, my nomics and finance), have established research labs that esteemed colleague in the political science department. mentor undergraduate and graduate students engaged in I am pleased that Rachel is inheriting the gains from important research at Northwestern and in Africa. Noelle many triumphs during my six-year tenure as director: con- Sullivan (anthropology and global health studies), Jeff Rice siderable growth in faculty; increases in external funding (political science), and the incoming PAS director herself through the Title VI, Young African Leaders Initiative, and are among the many faculty who have helped create student Fulbright programs, among others; a revitalized Swahili research and experiential-learning opportunities in count- program; and a growing culture of outside donations. Since less ways. PAS funds both graduate and undergraduate stu- 2012 PAS has enjoyed a healthy flow of graduate students dents through Panofsky, Goodman, and African Leadership from the African continent (despite funding decreases) Awards, but our faculty are pivotal in encouraging and advis- and regular extended visits by African Fulbright scholars. ing our students. This past spring we were honored to host the emir of Kano, Last year, Zekeria Ahmed Salem joined us from a world-renowned traditional and economic leader, with as the new director of ISITA. During his first year, historic family links to PAS. he arranged a series of new book Meanwhile, our Africanist presentations by global scholars graduate students, including “It has been an honor and a privilege on the topic of and Africa many from the continent, to serve as director. But after six and also arranged the visit of have continued to carry out Muhammad Sanusi II, the current Melville Herskovits’s original years, it is time for the fresh per- emir of Kano and previously the dream of developing research spective and different interests a governor of the Central Bank of collaborations and building Nigeria, who spoke to large audi- linkages between African and new leader brings.” ences at the Kellogg Global Hub US scholars and institutions. and Harris Hall. PAS hopes to The key to these and continue to work with the emir other accomplishments has been PAS’s excellent staff: asso- on future projects. ciate director Meagan Keefe and her predecessor, Kate Klein; From my vantage point as outgoing director, I see future Rebecca Shereikis, associate director of the Institute for the energy and opportunities for African studies in health and Study of Islamic Thought in Africa; business coordinator law. The growing interaction between PAS and two schools Kelly Coffey; program assistant Tiffany Williams-Cobleigh on Northwestern’s Chicago campus—the Feinberg School and her predecessor, Matt Pietrus; publications editor LaRay of Medicine and Pritzker School of Law—complements the Denzer; and outreach coordinator Amy Settergren. All have University’s strategic plan as well as the interests of student kept PAS activities running smoothly. and faculty scholars. In my own field of political science, I am proud to state that in the last six years North­ there is a new dynamism in the study of urbanization and western has hired at least a dozen new faculty members— the social impact of rapid economic change, divergences across several schools and the Block Museum—who offer in consolidated democracies, and, in some instances, the courses or pursue research on Africa. Two of these new challenges of state collapse. Projects focusing on Islam in

Continued on page 17

2 On reading alumnus Fola Soremekun’s story by LaRay Denzer

Fola Soremekun was one of three students in South Africa, the Congo crisis, and to obtain PhDs in African from the US civil rights movement. Beyond Northwestern University in 1965. The other PAS, Soremekun was attracted to the two were Samuel Nwankwo Nwabara, speeches of Malcolm X, the writings who became director of the Institute of James Baldwin, and jazz (he wrote of African Studies at the University of program notes for a record company). Nigeria in Nsukka, and Joseph E. Harris, A staunch Methodist, he decided to who pioneered the study of the African conduct his dissertation research on diaspora. Only two Northwestern alumni the missionary movement in Angola had worked on African topics before them: after the Portuguese colonial govern- Hannah Abeodu Bowen Jones (1962) and ment expelled Protestant missionaries, John Eric Peterson (1963). many of them Methodist, from Angola. Born in Abeokuta in western Nigeria His PhD in hand by 1965, he taught in 1934, Soremekun developed an admira- for two years in American universi- tion for the United States as a secondary ties before joining John Omer-Cooper, school student who loved jazz, cowboy historian of South Africa, in the history movies, and the nationalist ideas of Nnamdi Azikiwe, department at the newly established University of Zambia. founder of the West African Pilot, a Nigerian newspaper. On the way to central Africa, he and his African American Wishing to follow Azikiwe’s example of studying in the US, wife, Elizabeth, visited England for the first time. He wasn’t Soremekun built a network of friends and relatives—many impressed: “London was dark and grimy, and it was always of whom were Methodists (his uncle was the bishop of the raining. The streets were narrow and congested. Everything Nigerian Methodist Church)—who helped him secure admis- was so tight. . . . So, this was once the center of the empire sion to Tabor College, an obscure Mennonite Brethren college on which the sun never set?” From there they proceeded to in Hillsboro, Kansas. In 1956 he embarked for the US on a Nigeria for a family reunion and then to Lusaka, where he cargo boat. taught for seven years. He returned to Nigeria in 1974 to pur- After a year in Kansas, Soremekun transferred to Illinois sue better opportunities at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Wesleyan University, then matriculated as a graduate stu- Awolowo University). dent in Northwestern’s history department in 1960. He For the next decade Soremekun flourished as Nigerian remarked that at Northwestern “there existed no overarch- and other scholars developed an assertive African orienta- ing context with regard to the approach to African history. tion in their disciplines. He published Angola: The Road to There was not even an acceptable history book regarding Independence (University of Ife Press, 1983) and furthered Africa.” At that time Africa was taught from the perspec- Ife’s linkage with Bahia (Brazil) and Pierre Verger, the tive of European imperialism by Franklin Scott or by visit- French scholar and practitioner of Yoruba religion. He ing professors Roland Oliver (1961–62) and Jan Vansina became a founding member of the Lusophone (1962–63). Plenty of African orientation, however, was offered Association. Economic conditions in Nigeria led to his deci- by Melville J. Herskovits and the Program of African Studies, sion in 1983 to relocate to the US. Ironically, he left Ife just as and Soremekun and his colleagues participated in many another Northwestern alumnus, Wande Abimbola (MA lin- stimulating discussions about African nationalism, apartheid guistics 1966), became the university’s vice chancellor.

Continued on page 15

3 PAStories

PAS hosts YALI fellows for fifth consecutive summer by Tiffany Williams-Cobleigh

For the fifth summer in a row, PAS implemented the Mandela Y.O.U.’s summer program impressed the fellows with their Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of the US motivation and entrepreneurial spirit; the students, in turn, State Department’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). used feedback from the fellows to develop and present busi- Fellows are African leaders aged 25–35 who are competitively ness ideas in a competition with cash prizes. selected to receive intensive professional development in the Many fellows reported that before they received their United States. This past summer, 700 Mandela Washington YALI acceptance letters, they were familiar with the Kellogg fellows, divided into 25-member cohorts, were hosted at US name but had never heard of Northwestern. By the end of universities across the country. their six weeks here, however, all 25 fellows proudly pro- The Northwestern cohort completed six weeks of aca- claimed that “purple blood” now runs in their veins. demic coursework and participated in company site visits, networking, cultural activities, and community service. For the second year, PAS partnered with the Kellogg School of Management in administer- ing the fellowship’s academic component. The 25 fellows were business owners and entrepreneurs notable for the high caliber of their efforts to promote positive change in their home countries. Fellows had launched social impact ventures that are increasing mental health aware- ness and support in Uganda, assisting low-income poultry farmers in Kenya, and deploying drones to deliver medical testing and supplies to remote villages in Malawi. Others were running for-profit ventures that supply renewable energy in Uganda and emissions testing in Zimbabwe. The fellows devoted the first Saturday of their stay to the Chicago Cares Serve-a-thon. Over the weeks that followed, they provided mentor- ing to high school students in Evanston’s Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.) youth entrepreneur- ship summer program. In all, the fellows com- pleted Evanston- and Chicago-based community service totaling nearly 450 hours. While the Mandela Washington fellows are physically at Northwestern for only six weeks, the impact they leave behind—and the impact Northwestern and Chicago leave on them—is sub- stantial. For instance, the high school students in

4 Outreach program expands community interest in Africa by Amy Settergren

The PAS outreach program, sponsored by a Department of In April PAS sponsored a two-week residency by the Education Title VI National Resource Center grant, worked South African poetry and performance group Lingua Franca, with Northwestern and community partners to host field coordinated by PAS and English graduate student Susanna trips, seminars, and workshops for Chicago-area K–12 teach- Sacks. In addition to many on-campus activities with ers and students during the spring and summer. Northwestern students and two major public performances, In March PAS joined with Northwestern’s the group partnered with the PAS outreach program to visit and North African Studies Program to bring three Evanston area schools. They visited a South African history seminar at Township High School classes to campus for a day of learn- Columbia College Chicago and performed for middle school ing about social justice and global education. Presenters students at Gale Elementary School in nearby Rogers Park. included history graduate student Bright Gyamfi and MENA They also spent a day touring the West Side of Chicago, col- founder and director Brian Edwards. On April 12 three dozen laborating on the development of resources to teach South students and teachers from Skokie’s Niles North High School Africa and Chicago comparative history. spent the day exploring the Herskovits Library and partici- Also in April, history professor Jonathon Glassman pating in interactive lectures by English graduate student gave a three-hour seminar, “The Swahili Coast and the Delali Kumavie and global health studies faculty member Indian Ocean: Some Lessons in World History” for 25 area Noelle Sullivan. The students, mostly sophomores, learned high school teachers as part of Chicago’s Newberry Library about career opportunities and urban culture on the conti- Teacher Consortium Seminar series. Glassman’s history nent and grappled with the ethics of voluntourism and the department colleague Sean Hanretta and English depart- structural forces that support it. ment faculty member Evan Mwangi will give seminars in Fifth-grade teacher Andrea Bell-Myers of Brass 2018–19. Community School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, led the final field This summer PAS participated in Northeastern Illinois trip of the spring, bringing 25 10-year-olds to Northwestern University’s African Summer Institute for Teachers (AFSI) to learn about the Herskovits Library’s Manuscripts for the fourth year. As before, the teachers spent one day from collection. Bell-Myers taught her students of the three-week institute on Northwestern’s campus about the long history of scholarship and writing in Africa exploring the Herskovits Library with Florence Mugambi. (including in Arabic and Ajami), dispelling stereotypes of This year the AFSI teachers also visited the Block Museum, Africa as a place without education or writing. The fifth- where curatorial affairs associate director Kathleen Bickford graders’ visit included a campus tour led by University archi- Berzock spoke on the upcoming Caravans of exhibit vist Kevin Leonard. Herskovits librarian Florence Mugambi and the centrality of Africa and the trans-Saharan trade to spoke about growing up and going to school in Kenya, and the global medieval world. Also making presentations were ISITA associate director Rebecca Shereikis spoke on the his- PAS outreach coordinator Amy Settergren and anthropology tory of Islam and Arabic in West Africa. Arabic professor lecturer and associate director of fellowships Stephen Hill. Ragy Mikhaeel offered a mini Arabic lesson, which gave the The institute ended with the 21 teachers presenting African students practice in writing and speaking Arabic greetings. studies lesson plans for use in classes this coming year. PAS The day culminated in the class viewing West African Arabic is now collecting and editing these materials to disseminate manuscripts from the library’s collection and presenting to a wider audience. their own homemade manuscript to the library. Each student had created a page, writing messages with a quill pen and ink. The library has added this special gift to its collection of rare materials. 5 PAStories

Fulbright predeparture orientation held at Northwestern

PAS and Northwestern’s Office of a third-year doctoral student in the the Vice President for International Department of History, is one of 58 The Fulbright Program Relations cohosted a July 10–13 State Fulbright student researchers who par- In 1945, US senator J. William Department–sponsored predeparture ticipated in the orientation, alongside Fulbright (D-Arkansas) intro- orientation for more than 150 schol- 62 Fulbright scholars—typically college duced a bill that called for the ars, students, and English teaching and university faculty and administra- use of surplus war property to assistants (ETAs) who have received tors, professionals, artists, journalists, fund the “promotion of inter- Fulbright grants for study in sub- scientists, lawyers, and independent national good will through the Saharan Africa. This year marks the scholars—and 26 Fulbright alumni. The exchange of students in . . . edu- first time that orientations were held group also included 28 Africa-bound cation, culture, and science.” outside of Washington, DC, in partner- ETAs, who arrived two days early to On August 1, 1946, President ship with universities. take part in an intensive teacher train- Harry S. Truman signed the bill “Hosting the orientation is an ing workshop as well. into law, and Congress created opportunity for Northwestern to Monroe is one of hundreds of the Fulbright Program. engage a broader academic commu- Northwestern students and alumni The program fosters bilat- nity, to make connections with the with Fulbright awards to their names. eral relationships in which citi- next generation of scholars working For more than a decade, Northwestern zens and governments of other on international issues, and to draw has been among a handful of universi- countries work with the US to attention to the important resources ties to appear on every “top producing” set joint priorities. The world available here,” said Kim Rapp, assis- Fulbright US Student Program list has been transformed since the tant vice president for international published by the Chronicle of Higher program was founded, but the relations. In addition to administra- Education. The Fulbright competi- principle of international part- tive details related to their grants, the tion at Northwestern is administered nership remains at the core of orientation gave participants practical through the Office of Fellowships. the Fulbright mission. information about living, teaching, and researching in Africa. Caitlin Monroe,

Sudans Studies Association meets at PAS

PAS hosted the Sudans Studies urbanization; riparian geopolitics of alumna Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, whose Association’s 37th annual conference the Nile waters; new regionalism and address,“Melville Herskovits and the last May, providing a forum for SSA civil war; Islam and the state; and Place of the Two Sudan(s) in African members to explore the conference new scholarship on the 1924 revolt Studies and the ,” theme: “The Conflicts in the Sudans: of the White Flag Society. Attendees will be published as part of the PAS Regional Contexts and Beyond.” included SSA president Souad T. Ali, Working Papers Series. Also present- Eleven panels examined aspects of president-elect and program chair ing a keynote was Benaiah Yongo-Bure North and South Sudanese history, Lako Tongun, executive director (Kettering University), “Poor Economic language, music, identity, and educa- Abdullahi A. Gallab, secretary Bakry Policies and the Wars in the Sudan(s).” tion; information technology and Elmendi, cofounder Richard Lobban, development; war crimes; forced and past president and Northwestern

6 In memoriam

Ron worked widely with stu- Ronald Cohen dents both in and outside anthropol- (1930–2018) ogy. Although known for his work in political anthropology, he also encour- Ronald Cohen, former professor of aged new currents in anthropology, anthropology at Northwestern, died including gender studies. His book May 25 in Micanopy, Florida. The fol- Dominance and Defiance, on marriage lowing remembrance was composed among the Bornu, was animated by the by his former student Dolores Koenig question of how a society could remain (PhD 1977), professor emerita of anthro- stable despite high divorce rates. The pology at the American University in research led him to consider both men Washington, DC, in collaboration with and women as actors with culturally constructed perspectives on marriage her fellow alumnae Deborah Pellow contemporary bureaucracies, has been and divorce. (PhD 1974), professor of anthropology at especially helpful to me as a develop- Able to nurture talent and encour- Syracuse University, and Della McMillan ment anthropologist. age students to believe in themselves, (PhD 1983), associate research scientist Another major strength was his Ron mentored his women students in anthropology at the University of commitment to rigorous and system- effectively. I wrote my dissertation Florida, Gainesville. atic methodology in anthropological on women and work in Cameroon, research and analysis, clearly seen in and Deborah wrote hers on women A native of Canada, Ronald Cohen his Handbook of Method in Cultural in Accra. She recalls that no matter joined Northwestern in 1963 and spent Anthropology. Deborah remembers where he was, Ron would read gradu- nearly two decades on the faculty, that Ron spoke proudly of himself as ate student work carefully and respond pursuing his interests in political an unreconstructed positivist. He also with comments. Though somewhat anthropology and publishing exten- encouraged his students to do com- overwhelmed by his comments on sively. From 1982 to 1994 he was a parative work, with the goal of build- my dissertation, I followed his recom- prominent member of both the anthro- ing anthropological theory. My own mendations and realized that my work pology department and the Center for approach to anthropology and African became better. Della thanks him for African Studies at the University of studies remains strongly influenced being a firm guide and gentle editor. Florida, Gainesville. His major works by his insistence on strong and clear Ron’s interest in the political was included The Kanuri of Bornu (1967) methodology. linked to an interest in the changes he and Dominance and Defiance (1971). He In 1982, a few years after I fin- saw within African societies as they also coedited many volumes, includ- ished my PhD and even before Della met the challenges of independence. ing Comparative Political Systems did, Ron moved to the University of He encouraged his students to study (with J. Middleton, 1967), From Tribe Florida, where he spent the remainder these societies and the people in them to Nation in Africa (with J. Middleton, of his academic life and guided a new as they were; this included developing 1971), Handbook of Method in Cultural generation of students. Those of us at new understandings of ethnicity and Anthropology (with R. Narroll, 1971), Northwestern remember a wonder- moving from villages to urban areas Hierarchy and Society (with G. Britan, ful man who cherished his Canadian for research on workplaces and formal 1980), State Formation and Political roots and his beloved Pointe au Baril organizations. Hierarchy and Society, Legitimacy (with J. Toland, 1988), and community there, as well as a great which turned to political and economic Human Rights and Governance in scholar who encouraged a generation anthropology to help understand Africa (with G. Hyden, 1993). of Africanist researchers and teachers.

7 PAStories

In memoriam

Barbara Harrell-Bond (1932–2018) The following remembrance of Barbara Harrell-Bond, who died in Oxford, England, in July, was submitted by Galya Ben-Arieh, founding director of Northwestern’s Center for Forced Migration Studies (CFMS). Harrell-Bond had become Ben-Arieh’s adviser, mentor, and close friend following the 2011 Northwestern University conference “Human Rights in Transit: Issues of Forced Migration,” at which Harrell-Bond was the keynote presenter.

Refugees Annual Consultations with NGOs, and we traveled together to regional meetings such as the Asian Pacific Refugee Rights Network. A pioneer in the field of refugee and forced migration studies, Barbara founded the Refugee Studies Center at the University of Oxford in 1982 and directed it until 1996. In 2005 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for “services to refugee and forced migration studies.” In her work and scholarship as a refugee advocate and legal anthropologist, she contributed to a rights-based approach to refugee protection with the belief that no one can empower people, only they can empower them- Barbara Harrell-Bond (second from left) and Galya Ben-Arieh (far left) with “Human Rights in Transit” selves. She founded the International conference participants Molly Barstow and Fiona McKinnon in 2011 Association for the Study of Forced Migration and the Southern Refugee When I met Barbara, she was, as she liked to say, in Legal Aid Network; contributed to the founding of refugee her “third retirement,” directing the Fahamu Refugee and forced migration centers and projects in Uganda, , Programme and fighting the cessation of refugee status for South Africa, and the UK; and inspired a generation of schol- Rwandan refugees. Over the next seven years she was an ars, practitioners, and refugees to question the “humanitar- integral part of the CFMS, coleading the Summer Institute, ian industry” and advocate for rights-based protection. Her participating in workshops, and collaborating across the ongoing legacies include the refugeelegalaidinformation.org globe on advocacy for the rights and dignity of refugees. website and the legal aid–focused newsletter Rights in Exile, Each year she and I met with a group of CFMS interns to which expand the capacity of legal assistance for refugees work together at the United Nations High Commissioner for around the world.

8 ISITA News

Conference highlights global dimensions of

By Rebecca Shereikis

Scholars from across the US and “Islamic Authority in Global Africa.” be African and Muslim in a variety of around the world convened at His reflections were grounded in the contexts. A panel on Islamic education Northwestern on April 23–24 for daily challenges and opportunities he included papers on early-20th-century ISITA’s conference “Islam in Global faces as an Islamic authority in mul- Franco-Muslim médersas in : African in the World, ticultural, multireligious Nigeria. He and West Africa (Samuel Anderson, Muslim Worlds in Africa.” The high- addressed the relationship between UCLA); the intellectual networks light was a keynote address by Emir economic development and Muslim linking Sudanese jurists with legal Muhammad Sanusi II of Kano, one of family law, the undervaluing of literacy institutions across the Islamic world Africa’s most influential Muslim lead- in Arabic and Hausa by Nigeria’s edu- (Matthew Steele, Harvard University); ers and former governor of the Central cational sector, the importance of girls’ and the contributions of Islamic NGOs Bank of Nigeria. education, and the difficulties that to higher education in contemporary Bringing Sanusi to campus sup- arise when Western governments and Ghana (Mohammed Hafiz, University ported ISITA’s mission of engaging NGOs impose their agendas on north- of Ghana). influential African Muslim thinkers ern Nigerian society. “If I seek to bring A second panel considered the and practitioners, according to ISITA change,” Sanusi concluded, “if I seek to experiences of diaspora communi- director Zekeria Ahmed Salem (politi- get people to question…tradition, it has ties, including American youth of cal science). Sanusi’s unique combi- to be within the framework of seeking Senegalese origin who are sent back nation of expertise—in the economic change while maintaining authenticity, to Senegal for religious education sector and as a religious authority— however it is defined.” (Hannah Hoechner, University of created ample opportunities for ISITA Sanusi also toured the Melville J. Antwerp); Senegalese migrant women to collaborate with other campus units. Herskovits Library of African Studies. in who insinuate themselves Sanusi spoke to Kellogg School “I feel at home here,” he remarked, into, and transform, historically male of Management faculty and stu- referencing his father’s and grand­ networks of Sufi pilgrimage and dents about Africa’s economic pros- father’s visits to Northwestern in the transnational brotherhood (Emma pects, with a discussion moderated early 1960s as members of official McGlennen, Johns Hopkins University); by Kellogg faculty member Kara delegations from northern Nigeria. and leaders of the Nigerian Islamic Palamountain. The Africa Business Photographs of those visits were on Association of Chicago who have estab- Club organized the event as part of display as part of a special exhibit lished rituals, ceremonies, and services Mosaic Week, a celebration of Kellogg’s on the Kano emirate prepared by the to meet the sociocultural and religious diversity, and hosted a private lun- Herskovits staff. Sanusi said he was needs of their members (Misbahudeen cheon and discussion with Sanusi after “proud to be following in those foot- Ahmed-Rufai, Malcolm X College). the talk, which was held in the Kellogg steps and that tradition.” How local and global dynamics Global Hub. Over two days of panels, the con- shape politics was the third panel’s Later that day, before a packed ference explored how local, regional, focus, with papers exploring how house in Harris Hall, Sanusi deliv- and global encounters, narratives, and biographies of Muslim women anti- ered the conference keynote address, exchanges shape what it means to apartheid activists in South Africa Continued on next page 9 ISITA News

Emir Muhammad Sanusi II of Kano (center) toured the Herskovits Library during his visit to Northwestern to attend last April’s ISITA conference on “Islam in Global Africa.” Pictured with the emir are (from left) Hassan Mahmud, Rebecca Shereikis, LaRay Denzer, Gene Kannenberg Jr., Sadiyya Sanusi, Zekeria Ahmed Salem, Adrian Randolph, Florence Mugambi, Crystal Martin, Amy Settergren, and Esmeralda Kale.

Perspectives symposium series resumes

The ISITA Perspectives symposium series resumes on November 26, with two reveal the complex relationship unbeliever) discourse used by con- authors in conversation between the “ideal” (or normative temporary West African jihādi-salafī about their recent books on doctrine) and the “real” (or everyday movements in the context of debates the intersection of Islamic practice) (Gadija Ahjum, University over who was a Muslim in 19th- and education, youth, class, and of Cape Town); the efforts of Ghana’s 20th-century Hausaland and Bornu gender in different con- national chief imam to promote reli- (Abdulbasit Kassim, Rice University); texts. Join us for a dialog gious coexistence at the local and how the presence of an Indian Muslim between Hannah Hoechner global levels (Ousman Kobo, Ohio State movement—the Ahmadiyya—in (University of Antwerp), University); how the minority Muslim Nigeria fostered transnational debates author of Quranic Schools population in Angola articulates its about the nature of political author- in Northern Nigeria: religious faith in a global context of ity in the era of Nigeria’s decoloniza- Everyday Experiences of increasing Islamophobia (Kim Searcy, tion (Shobana Shankar, Stony Brook Youth, Faith, and Poverty Loyola University Chicago); and the University); and the global spread of (International African process of “brokerage” by which East the Tijaniyya sufi order through digital Library, 2018) and Shenila African Muslim preachers negotiate technologies and how this challenges Khoja-Moolji (Bowdoin universalist claims in specific social one of the most enduring practices of College), author of Forging environments (Felicitas Becker, Gent Sufism throughout history: the train- the Ideal Educated Girl: The University). ing of disciples in the physical pres- Production of Desirable The final panel probed further the ence of the shaykh (Zachary Wright, Subjects in Muslim South relationship between global currents Northwestern University in Qatar). (University of and local contexts, with papers on Both the conference and the California Press, 2018). Sunni Muslims’ use of Hausa religious keynote were well attended by poetry to combat the spread of Shia Northwestern faculty and students, as Islam in Kano since the 1979 Iranian well as by scholars from other Chicago- Revolution (Kabiru Haruna Isa, Bayero area institutions and members of University); historicizing the takfīr Chicago’s Muslim community. (pronouncement that someone is an

10 ISITA commissions original calligraphic art

Recent publications

Selected papers from the 2016 ISITA conference “Sacred Words, the Changing Meanings in Textual Cultures of Islamic Africa,” organized in honor of John O. Hunwick, have been published in the journal Islamic Africa.

“’Ajamization of Islam in Africa,” Mauritanian calligrapher Mohameden A self-taught calligrapher and a special issue of Islamic Africa Ahmed Salem Ahmedou has designed Arabic manuscript researcher based (volume 8, nos. 1–2) edited by and presented to ISITA an original in Noukachott, Ahmedou also helps Fallou Ngom and Mustapha artwork (above) featuring ISITA’s oversee his family’s distinctive col- Hashim Kurfi, includes papers by full name in Arabic. The letters are lection of manuscripts—the Library Mustapha Hashim Kurfi, Nikolai handwritten in the Sūqī script tradi- of Muhammadin ‘Abd as-Samad—in Dobronravin, Alfa Mamadou tionally used by Tuareg writers and Trarza, Mauritania. He has completed Diallo Lélouma, Bernard Salvaing, by other groups in the eastern Middle several decorated copies of the Holy Darya Ogorodnikova, Sara Fani, Niger region. The unique style of wall Qur’an, including the Mauritanian and Adday Hernández. decoration found in the Mauritanian Mushaf (the first Mauritanian printed town of Oulata inspired the design of copy of Qur’an), with a cover and “From Texts to Meanings: Close the border. Oualatan women, exclu- extensive decorations inventively Reading of the Textual Cultures sively, paint exterior and interior walls adapted from wall art. of Islamic Africa,” a special issue with natural clay colors mixed with Committed to reviving the cal- of Islamic Africa (volume 9, no. 1) Arabic gum in designs that include ligraphic traditions of West Africa, edited by Charles Stewart and nets, wreaths, crowns, and decorative Ahmedou and other calligraphers Amir Syed, includes papers by ribbons. have founded the Mauritanian Stephanie Zehnle, Paul Naylor, Ahmedou adapts motifs from wall Association of Arabic Calligraphy Jeremy Dell, and Zachary Wright decoration for use in books, art panels, and Ornamentation to promote and a report by Erin Pettigrew and other domains to revive these these arts—the first of its kind in on ISITA’s August 2017 workshop motifs and give them wider exposure. Mauritania. “Working with African Arabic “I try to combine decorative elements Ahmedou was one of the cura- Script Manuscripts.” in new ways that look different from tors who took part in ISITA’s August what was customary, without losing 2017 workshop “Working with African the essence and the special appear- Arabic Script Manuscripts,” where he ance that distinguishes the Oulata also offered instruction in calligraphy. decorations,” says Ahmedou.

11 Herskovits Library

Exhibit highlights noteworthy women of PAS The 10 highly accomplished Program of African Studies alumnae profiled below were the focus of a spring exhibit in the Herskovits Library curated by librarian Florence Mugambi with research and media assistant Gene Kannenberg Jr. and PAS publications editor LaRay Denzer.

Mabel Murphy Smythe-Haith (1918–2006) (MA economics Jean Fox O’Barr (PhD political science 1970) founded and 1940) earned her PhD in labor economics at the University directed the Women’s Studies Program at Duke University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1942. After a varied career in (1983–2001) and cofounded Duke’s Sallie Bingham Center for higher education and civil rights work, she was appointed Women’s History and Culture. She was an editor for SIGNS: US ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea in 1977, Women in Culture and Society, a leading international journal becoming only the second African American woman to be in women’s studies, and has written or cowritten nearly a named a US ambassador. In 1981 she began a four-year stint hundred books, book chapters, and articles. In 2000, a year on the Northwestern faculty, holding the Melville J. Herskovits before her retirement from full-time service on the faculty, Chair in African Studies and serving as associate direc- the Lee/Ewing Foundation established the Jean Fox O’Barr tor of PAS. She and her husband, Hugh H. Smythe, a 1945 Professorship in Women’s Studies at Duke in her honor. Northwestern alumnus and also an ambassador, coauthored The New Nigerian Elite (1960). Her many distinctions included Cheryl Johnson-Odim (PhD history 1978) is a historian, the Northwestern Alumna of the Year Award (1983) and the poet, and activist who has taught at several universities: American Bicentennial Presidential Inaugural Award (1989). Northwestern, where she was assistant director of PAS from 1980 to 1985; Columbia College Chicago, where she rose Ruth Simms Hamilton (1937–2003) (PhD sociology 1966) to the rank of dean; and Dominican University, where she began a 35-year teaching career at Michigan State University was provost until recently. She has served on many local in 1968. Founder and core faculty member of MSU’s African and national boards of directors, including the board of the Studies Center, she pioneered the study of African urbaniza- African Studies Association, and currently chairs the Higher tion and was a founder, and later director, of MSU’s multi- Learning Commission, headquartered in Chicago. Among disciplinary African Diaspora Research Project. She was the her many publications is the 1997 biography For Women and coauthor (with Tony Hodges) of African Affairs Institutions the Nation: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti of Nigeria, which she and Public Education in the United States: A Report to the Ford coauthored with Nina Emma Mba, a pioneer in the field of Foundation (1984) and editor of Routes of Passage: Rethinking Nigerian women’s history. the African Diaspora (2003). Michigan State University Press established the Ruth Simms Hamilton African Diaspora Sandra Elaine Greene (PhD history 1981) is the Stephen ’59 Series in her honor. and Madeline ’60 Anbinder Professor of African History at Cornell University. Her research has ranged from the study Johnnetta Betsch Cole (PhD anthropology 1967) taught of gender and ethnic relations in West Africa to the role of at various universities before becoming Spelman College’s religious beliefs, warfare, and the experience of slavery in the first African American woman president (1987–97). She later lives of 18th- and 19th-century Ghanaians. She was president became president of Bennett College for Women (2002–07) of the African Studies Association in 1998. Her most recent and most recently was director of the National Museum of book is Slave Owners of West Africa: Decision-making in the African Art in Washington, DC (2009–17). As of this fall, her Age of Abolition (2017). many accolades—among them 40 honorary degrees and numerous awards—include a 2018 Northwestern Alumni Service Medal.

12 Celebrating 70 Years of the Program of African Studies Noteworthy Women of PAS

Jean E. Ensminger (PhD economics 1984), the Edie and Lew Wasserman Professor of Social Science at the California Institute of Technology, is known for her scholarship at the interface of economics, political science, development, and anthropology. She is a past president of the Society for Economic Anthropology and was coprincipal investigator (with human evolutionary biologist Joseph Henrich) on the Roots of Human Sociality, a multiyear project that examined the coevolution of market institutions and prosocial norms of fairness, trust, and cooperation. Her current research analyzes corruption in development and decentralized governments.

Jean Allman (PhD history 1987) is the J. H. Hexter Professor of History and director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis and is the current presi-

Spring Quarter 2018 Exhibit dent of the African Studies Association. She is the coauthor Curated by Florence Mugambi with LaRay Denzer (with John Parker) of The History of a West African God and Gene Kannenberg, Jr. (2005) and (with Victoria Tashjian) of “I Will Not Eat Stone”:

A Woman’s History of Colonial Asante (2000). Top row from left: Aili Mari Tripp, Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Cheryl Johnson- Odim; center row from left: Ilda Nathalie Joelle Etoké, Sandra Elaine Greene, Jean Allman; bottom row from left: Jean Fox O’Barr, Jean E. Ensminger Aili Mari Tripp (PhD political science 1990) is the Wangari Maathai Professor of Political Science and Gender and Women’s Studies and chair of the gender and women’s stud- Ilda Nathalie Joelle Etoké (PhD French 2006) is associate ies department at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She professor of French and and chair of the was president of the African Studies Association in 2012 and French department at Connecticut College. She special- vice president of the American Political Science Association. izes in Africana film, literature, and philosophy. Her book Her publications have focused on women’s movements in Melancholia africana, l’indispensable dépassement de la Africa, transnational feminism, and African politics (espe- condition noire (2010) won the Caribbean Philosophical cially in Uganda and Tanzania). Her numerous awards Association’s 2012 Franz Fanon Prize. She is producer of the and honors include the African Studies Association Public documentary film Afro Diasporic French Identities, which Service Award (2014). examines race, ethnicity, and citizenship in France.

13 Herskovits Library

Notes on recent donations by Esmeralda Kale, George and Mary LeCron Foster Curator of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies

When Northwestern Pritzker School of Law professor Juliet Sorensen presented her gift to the Herskovits Library earlier this year, I was almost lost for words. The gift was a never- before-seen eight-page document titled “Notes for History,” written by her late father, Ted Sorensen. The document con- tains her father’s reflections on his meetings with Nelson Mandela in 1993 and 1994 and offers insight into the array of topics uppermost on the South African political land- scape at that time. Ted Sorensen was a longtime adviser to and speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy who later cochaired the South Africa Free Election Fund, an organiza- tion that raised more than $6.5 for South African voter edu- cation. Northwestern alumna Maudlyne Ihejrika (MSJ 1987) wrote about the gift of the Sorensen manuscript in the July 22 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Last spring, when Sonjia Luhman Olstad called and then emailed me to inquire if her Aunt Lydia’s souvenirs of a trip to Africa might be of interest to the Herskovits Library, my curiosity was piqued. A day trip to Caledonia, Illinois, would be required. When I arrived at Sonjia’s home, on the kitchen table was a zebra-skin scrapbook that she and her husband, Jim, had newly found among her late mother’s possessions. It was the type of primary source material that any librarian would love: a fully documented account of Lydia Luhman Pederson’s 1953 trip from Cape Town to Cairo, including a complete itinerary, ticket stubs, receipts, postcards, letters, and photographs. Pederson, who died in 1993, was an inde- pendent businesswoman who traveled extensively through Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In addition to the scrap- book, I left Caledonia with artifacts that Sonjia and Jim had brought back from their 1967 travels in Nigeria.

14 Soremekun’s story continued from page 3

Life back in the US proved more difficult than anticipated. Like other economic immigrants, Soremekun endured a long spell of part-time employment and adjunct teaching to make ends meet. Finally, in 1992 he was hired full-time at Citrus College, a community college in Glendora, California, where he remained until his retire- ment 20 years later. During those years in Glendora, Soremekun and his family dreamed of setting up a model Lydia Luhman Pederson’s scrapbook of her 1953 travels through Africa school in Gembu, a remote town on Nigeria’s Mandilla Plateau in Taraba State. With the help of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, Other recent donations include an expansive collection of relatives at home and abroad, and Soremekun’s Cameroonian posters, government documents, and seri- Citrus College colleagues and friends, land was als, deposited by Mark W. Delancey (University of South acquired, blueprints were prepared, construc- Carolina); two framed silkscreened prints of drawings by tion materials bought, and curricula developed. archeologist John Cavallo that depict some of the world’s old- In 2005 the foundation stone of the Highlands est spiritual images—ancient rock paintings created by the Education International School was laid, and Sandawe shamans of central Tanzania and the San shamans after 2012 the Soremekuns moved to Gembu to of Southern Africa—deposited by 1966 alumnus Robert Avery; supervise the school. the East African research archive of 1971 alumnus Edward The subtitle of Soremekun’s autobiography, Steinhart (Texas Tech University), containing field interview American Boy: A Life Inspired by American Ideals transcripts and tapes, Mau Mau ephemera and police photos, (Westbow Press, 2018), speaks to Soremekun’s maps, slides, papers on hunting and conservation in Kenya, abiding belief in core American values and and more; and an archive of materials on Ghana—including opportunity. However, it is also a life inspired by Ewe-language materials, bibliographies, photographs, and Nigerian ideals and Yoruba values, resonating with interviews—donated by 1981 alumna Sandra Elaine Greene the long tradition of Nigerian Christian and edu- (Cornell University). cational activities harking back to the founding of his hometown, Abeokuta, in 1830.

15 VIEWPOINT

The importance of the Fulbright experience

by Cheryl Johnson-Odim

As part of a safari that I recently took, I visited the Serengeti the military. The program was meant to put that interper- and the Ngongoro Caldera, some of the most beautiful places sonal interaction—historically solely in the hands of the gov- in the world. There I saw an ecosystem that inspired an ernment and the military—into the hands of the American epiphany about the interconnectedness of living things. I people. It was the people who were meant to represent them- observed how the free animals—as different as they were— selves in various areas of the world. the waters, and the vegetation were all interdependent. And I Because we have so little interaction with “others,” how began to appreciate the interdependence of the whole world we imagine who they are is often based on what we are told in not just an intellectual but a visceral way. by our political leadership, what the media report (with “oth- ers” getting coverage only when there’s a problem), or what we see on screens. Among the great privileges of receiving a “The [Fulbright] program was meant Fulbright grant is the opportunity to travel and get to know to put that interpersonal interaction— people who are different from you, through their own lens. I know from experience that nothing will give you as historically solely in the hands of the much insight into yourself as getting to know people who government and the military—into are in some ways different from you. Even more important is the cultural interaction that allows us to see how similar the hands of the American people. we are, at a human level, to those we think of as different It was the people who were meant from us. Although we may look different, speak different lan- guages, or worship differently, we are all basically the same to represent themselves in various as human beings. For instance, people everywhere construct areas of the world.” living abodes for pretty much the same purposes: finding shelter, gathering as a family, preparing food, storing meager or many possessions, deriving aesthetic pleasure. People on When I came back I had a conversation with a friend every continent engage in artistic practices, designing, paint- who had returned from an international conference in ing, and decorating their living abodes, even in the poorest Uruguay. She said that one of the speakers commented on of places. People everywhere reproduce themselves: They the US presidential election, saying, “Everyone in the world love their children, sacrifice for them, and try to make their should be able to vote for president of the United States.” The children’s lives better, however they define that better. People audience laughed, of course, but it was a laughter riddled everywhere strive to educate their children in their own tra- with irony that acknowledged how the US president has an ditions as well as in whatever knowledge they think will give incredible effect on the entire world. their children a better life. People everywhere design and I share these two stories to set the stage for why, in this create activities to entertain themselves, whether through historical moment, the Fulbright program is so important. storytelling, music, dance, or other ways. People everywhere From its founding, the program was intended to create have humor, things that make them smile or laugh out loud. people-to-people interaction across countries, cultures, People everywhere love each other, operating by rules that religions, and so-called races through the deployment of show that love. academics, artists, journalists, and other educational and While we may implement them differently, the funda- cultural workers—interaction that augments the general mentals of life are the same. Wherever you go, keep your channels of ambassadors, other government workers, and eyes, minds, and hearts open: Look for those fundamental

16 things we share as human beings, and try to recognize them in what may seem strange to you. I am not saying that every- Reflections continued from page 2 thing is relative and fine as long as it is a justified cultural practice. We do eventually judge some things. But we must Africa—a major research area—reach back understand the roots of cultural practices, their underlying almost to the very foundation of PAS, with rationale, even to make change. We must be able to see these collaborative programs in universities in the practices as they are seen by the people who live them. We Sudan and Nigeria; these are at the center of cannot march in and make change without their permission, PAS today. Popular culture in and emanat- their participation—and, in fact, their leadership. ing from Africa is another area that engages The Fulbright program is meant to facilitate not only our faculty and students. It is impossible to making connections but also grasping the global inter­ list the full range of research being done at dependence of everything on Earth. We may pretend that we Northwestern, but these are some highlights. can coexist without intermingling—but we cannot. At vari- As director I was able to help build rela- ous times in history, our country has attempted to practice tionships with Africa-based colleagues and isolationism. But it has never, ever worked to our advantage— institutions, especially with CODESRIA, the never! Without working with the rest of the world on today’s Centre for Basic Research in Kampala, and most pressing issues—such as climate change, nuclear pro- the Institute for Advanced Research in Addis liferation, and resource utilization—and seemingly intrac- Ababa. I was fortunate to hood 19 PhD stu- table problems—like those between Palestine and Israel—the dents and to continue publishing. United States can be neither safe nor prosperous. In sum, it has been an honor and a privi- This is where Fulbrighters come in. The program pro- lege to serve as director. But after six years, it motes engaging the world in a healthy dialogue through is time for the fresh perspective and different which we can work together to secure peace, security, and interests a new leader brings. I look forward prosperity; make exchanges for the common good; and to working with—and learning from—Rachel achieve understanding and knowledge that can be widely as my involvement with PAS continues. shared and passed on from one generation to the next. Fulbrighters are charged to go forth, to help us to develop a citizenry that understands the need for international coop- eration. That, I think, is what the Fulbright experience is meant to be.

Cheryl Johnson-Odim is provost emerita of Dominican University and a former associate director of PAS (1980–85). For a brief overview of her career, see page 12.

17 Community news

PAS welcomes new Swahili instructor, two visiting scholars

Peter Mwangi Visiting scholar Visiting scholar joins the African Matthew Rarey Naaborko studies faculty is an assistant Sackeyfio- as instructor of professor of Lenoch is an Swahili. He holds art history at associate profes- a BA in Swahili Oberlin College sor at Dartmouth from Kenya’s whose research College who Moi University focuses on specializes in and three the impact of 20th-century advanced degrees—an MEd in edu- African artists and ideas in diasporic Ghanaian and West African his- cational administration, an MA in contexts. He is especially interested in tory. She is author of The Politics of applied linguistics, and a PhD in higher assemblage and ephemeral aesthetics, Chieftaincy: Authority and Property in education and student affairs—from conceptions of enslavement and its Colonial Ghana, 1920–50 (Rochester, Ohio University. His current research visual representation, and the develop- 2014), as well as many articles pub- examines the impact of LCTLs—less ment of Afro-Atlantic religious arts. lished in the International Journal commonly taught languages—on the He has contributed chapters to the of African History Studies, History in internationalization of higher educa- edited volumes African Heritage and Africa, International Review of Social tion in the US. Previously, Mwangi Memories of Slavery in Brazil and the History, and the Journal of West African taught Swahili at the University of South Atlantic World (Cambria Press, History, among others. Sackeyfio- Kansas, Ohio University, Indiana 2015) and Theorizing Visual Studies Lenoch has been awarded a Frederick University, the University of Oregon, (Routledge, 2012). While at PAS he Burkhart Residential Fellowship by the and the University of Virginia. will continue work on a book manu- American Council of Learned Societies script that investigates the history of for the 2018–19 year. While at PAS she bolsas de mandinga, small protective will continue writing a book manu- pouches with cross-cultural origins in script about the history of Ghana’s role West Africa that took on new forms in the global and cultural politics of the and as they spread across the Cold War and independence eras. black Atlantic world over the past four centuries. Among his other projects is a study of the relationship between cartography and maroon settlements in 18th-century Brazil.

Send your news updates to [email protected] so that PAS can share word with the Africanist community at Northwestern and beyond.

18 Karen Alter (political science and law) Former visiting Fulbright scholar Former PAS artist in residence Femi wrote a recent Washington Post Monkey Etiido Effiong Inyang (graphic design Odugbemi accepted an invitation to Cage blog post, “Trump’s tariffs aren’t and visual communication, University join the Hollywood-based Academy of the biggest trade problem. Will China of Port Harcourt) published “Echoes Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. step up to protect the WTO?” of Secession: The Hero, the Rebel, and Jessica Pouchet expects to spend the the Rhetoric of Might in Nigerian Civil Former ISITA preceptor and visiting academic year at Northwestern after War Pictorial Propaganda” in African scholar Margot Badran edited the completing her PhD in anthropology Studies Quarterly 17(3), 2017: 1–20. May 2018 special issue of Samyukto: this fall. She received a National Science A Journal of Gender and Culture on Alumnus Buddhika Jayamaha was Foundation postdoctoral research Islamic feminism. one of five coauthors of “Combat High: fellowship for “A Spatial-Historical America’s Addiction to War,” a forum Analysis of Agricultural and Protected Adia Benton (anthropology) received discussion published in the June issue Land,” a project in connection with her a 2018 W Award (Weinberg College of Harper’s Magazine. He and alumnus research on Tanzania. Next year she Research Innovation Grant) that Jahara “Franky” Matisek cowrote the will take up an appointment as the C. provides seed funding for her proj- article “Hybrid War: Attacking the Graydon and Mary E. Rogers Faculty ect “Predicting Crises: Ebola and ‘Civil’ in Civil Society” that ran in April Fellow at Bucknell University. the Culture(s) of Epidemiological in WAR ROOM, the online journal of Modeling.” Her opinion piece “Why we Will Reno (political science) published the United States Army War College. should be cautious about the ‘game- the article “The Politics of Security Jayamaha’s spy thriller Glasshouse: changer’ Ebola vaccine” was published Assistance in the Horn of Africa” in A Novel was released by Skyhorse online by Al Jazeera in May. Defence Studies 18:3 (2018), 1–16. Publishing in 2016. Alumnus Marco Bocchese published Rachel Beatty Riedl (political sci- Robert Launay (anthropology) spent the article “Jus Pro Bello: The Impact ence and PAS director) contributed much of the spring and summer in of International Prosecutions on the chapter “Institutional Legacies: . He was at London’s School of War Continuation” in Washington Understanding Multiparty Politics in Oriental and African Studies in April International Law Journal 27 (2018): Historical Perspective” in Institutions as a discussant on a panel examining 645–682. and Democracy in Africa: How the Belgian scholar Hannah Hoechner’s Rules of the Game Shape Political PAS alumna Johnnetta Betsch Cole new book Quranic Schools in Northern Development, edited by Nic Cheeseman received a 2018 Northwestern Alumni Nigeria: Everyday Experiences of Youth, (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Medal in recognition of her career Faith, and Poverty. In May he gave achievements and public service (see the lecture “Contextualizing Piety Zekeria Ahmed Salem (political sci- profile on page 12). Movements: Islam in West Africa ence and ISITA director) contributed and Beyond” at the Bologna-based the chapter “Politics of the Former PAS visiting scholar Kayode Foundation for Religious Sciences Social Movement in Mauritania Fayemi was recently elected governor in Italy. In Germany in June and July, (1978–2014)” in the recently pub- of Ekiti State, Nigeria, for a second he gave a talk on Islamic educa- lished volume Social Currents in North time, having run as a candidate of the tion in Africa, “Writing Boards and Africa: Culture and Governance after ruling All Progressives Party. He last Blackboards,” at the University of the Arab Spring, edited by Osama held the office in 2010–14. Bayreuth and was a discussant and Abi-Mershed. He gave an invited pre- Karen Tranberg Hansen (anthro- presented a paper at the University of sentation in Paris at last February’s pology emerita) presented the paper Gottingen’s “Private Pieties” conference. French Development Agency confer- “Fashion Practices and Livelihoods: ence, “Gouverner l’Afrique saharo- Alumnus Jahara “Franky” Matisek Perspectives from Zambia” at sahélienne,” and was a panelist at and Will Reno (political science) last April’s Africa: Development + the Chai Wai Series presentation coauthored the article “A New Era of Architecture + Design seminar series at “Recent Instances of Political Violence Insurgent Recruitment: Have ‘New’ the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in West Africa,” organized by the Civil Wars Changed the Dynamic?” in in Copenhagen. Civil Wars 20:2 (2018), 1–21. Continued on back page 19 International and Area Studies Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Graduate students awarded support for research Champaign in April. and training Noelle Sullivan (anthropology and global health studies) was named Recipients of the Hans E. Panofsky Morris Goodman Awards, pro- a Charles Deering McCormick Predissertation Research Awards, viding up to $3,000 for the study Distinguished Lecturer by the Office which provide up to $2,000 for of an African language not taught of the Provost in recognition of her short-term visits to prospective at Northwestern, were granted to commitment to undergraduate teach- field sites and research institutions Bright Gyamfi (history), Rita Dela ing and research. She has supervised in Africa, were Eddine Bouyahi Kuma (anthropology), Lamin Keita numerous honors theses and inde- (political science), Mitch Edwards (political science), Moussa Seck pendent research projects, served as (history), Bright Gyamfi (history), (French and Italian), and Gorgui a mentor for GlobeMed and Project Lamin Keita (political science), Ibou Tall (French and Italian). Rishi, and invited students into her Andrew Wooyoung Kim (anthropol- A PAS travel grant was awarded own research projects. ogy), Rita Dela Kuma (anthropology), to Scott Newman (comparative lit- F. Delali Yawa Kumavie (English), Helen Tilley (history) organized “Global erary studies). Isaac Ginsberg Miller (African Medical Cultures, Properties, and Laws,” ), Julissa Muñiz an international workshop that featured (human development and social papers under consideration for publica- policy), Moritz Nagel (history), and tion in a special issue of the History of Salih Nur (political science). Science Society’s journal, Osiris.

PAS congratulates new PhDs

Six students in African studies suc- Schoenbrun, adviser). Jimenez cessfully defended their dissertations has accepted a tenure-track posi- (titles and advisers noted) and were tion in the history department at awarded doctoral degrees in 2017–18. Susquehanna University.

Marco Bocchese, “Justice Jahara “Franky” Matisek, “The Cooperatives: Explaining State Development of Strong Militaries Attitudes toward the International in Africa: The Role of History and Criminal Court” (Will Reno, adviser). Institutions” (Will Reno, adviser). Bocchese is an adjunct professor of Matisek is an assistant professor Program of African Studies political science at the University of in the military and strategic stud- 620 Library Place Illinois at Chicago. ies department at the US Air Force Evanston, Illinois 60208-4110 USA Academy. Buddhika Jayamaha, “Combatants Phone 847-491-7323 Inside and Out” (Will Reno, adviser). Leila Tayeb,“Sonic Upheavals: Fax 847-491-3739 Jayamaha is a postdoctoral fellow Music in Libya, 2011–17” (D. Soyini [email protected] www.northwestern.edu/african-studies in the College of Agricultural and Madison, adviser). Tayeb has been Life Sciences at the University of appointed Stanford H. Taylor Rachel Beatty Riedl, PAS Director Wisconsin–Madison and is pursuing Postdoctoral Associate in Music and Meagan Keefe, PAS Associate Director research on food security, big data, and Islam in the Contemporary World at Zekeria Ahmed Salem, ISITA Director the detection of network disruptions. Cornell University. Rebecca Shereikis, ISITA Associate Director Kelly Coffey, Business Coordinator Raevin Jimenez, “Rites of Rachel Taylor, “Crafting Cosmo- LaRay Denzer, Newsletter Editor Reproduction: Tradition, Political politanism: Nyamwezi Male Labor, Amy Settergren, Outreach Coordinator Ethics, Gender, and Generation Acquisition, and Honor, c. 1750–1914” Tiffany Williams-Cobleigh, Program Assistant among Nguni-Speakers of Southern (David Schoenbrun, adviser). ©2018 Northwestern University. All rights reserved. Produced by Global Marketing and Communications. Africa, 8th–19th Century CE” (David 10-18/125/RM-VL/2733