People

The 2011-2012 Standing Committee

Chair

Caroline M. Elkins

Chair of the Committee on African Studies; Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.2568
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Research Interests: Mau Mau Emergency and comparative reconciliation processes, late colonial empire, Kenya   Download CV

 

Executive Committee

Emmanuel K. Akyeampong

Harvard College Professor and Professor of History and of African and African American Studies (FAS); Senior Advisor for African Studies to the Vice Provost for International Affairs
History
Center for Government and International Studies, South Building Room S433, 1730 Cambridge St.
Harvard University,  MA  02138

Research Interests: History of sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa. Download CV

Robert H. Bates

Eaton Professor of the Science of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Government
Department of Government, 1737 Cambridge Street
Cambridge,  MA  02138
Work Phone: 617.496.8237
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Research Interests: Politics, economic development, poverty and political transition, agricultural development and political violence. Download CV

Suzanne Blier

Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Art and Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
History of Art and Architecture, African and African American Studies
Department of History of Art & Architecture Sackler Museum Harvard University 485 Broadway
Cambridge,  MA  02138
Work Phone: 617.495.2377
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Research Interests: West African art, Yoruba art, African architecture, Picasso and African societies. Download CV

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research; Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. University Professor (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.496.5468
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Research Interests: African literature and theory, African cultural criticism. Download CV

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham

Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies; Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and Professor of African and Africa American Studies (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.7828
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Research Interests: Civil Rights History, social engagement, law and history.

Jennifer Leaning

Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights (HSPH); Associate Professor of Medicine (HMS)
Work Phone: 617.384.5661
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Research Interests: Public health, medical ethics, early warning in response to war and disaster, human rights and international humanitarian law in crisis settings, and problems of human security in the context of forced migration and conflict. Download CV

John M. Mugane

Director of the African Language Program; Professor of the Practice of African Languages and Cultures (FAS), Director of the Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program
Work Phone: 617.496.4995
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Research Interests: African languages and linguistics

Lucie White

Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law (HLS)
Work Phone: 617.495.4633
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Research Interests: Economic development with a focus on poverty alleviation and gender equity in sub-Saharan region; activist and social movement strategies for growth with equity; Right to Health, health finance, and social health insurance in sub-Saharan region with an emphasis on Ghana, where she has worked with students for the last decade. Download CV

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Marylyn Martina Addo

Assistant Professor of Medicine (MGH)
Massachusetts General Hospital
Medicine
Work Phone: 617.724.3170
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Research Interests:  Understanding the correlates of spontaneous control of HIV-1 infection in HIV-1 long-term non-progressors. Download CV

Leila N. Ahmed

Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity (HDS)
Women's Studies in Religion
Harvard Divinity School 45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge,  MA  02138
Work Phone: 617.496.5316
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Research Interests: Women and gender in Islam, feminism and Islam in America, and feminism and post-colonial thought. Download CV
Professor Ahmed's latest book , A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence from the Middle East to America, is now available.

Ali Asani

Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion, Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program
Chair of Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Cultures, Committee on the Study of Religion
Barker Center 305, 12 Quincy St.
Cambridge,  MA  02138
Work Phone: 617.495.5755
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Research Interests: Swahili language and literature, Islamic societies, devotional literature, Muslim literatures, arts in Africa. Download CV

Theresa Betancourt

Assistant Professor of Child Health and Human Rights (HSPH)
Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights
Global Health and Development
651 Huntington Avenue FXB Building 7th Floor
Boston,  MA  02115
Work Phone: 617.432.5003
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Research Interests: The developmental and psychosocial consequences of concentrated adversity on children and families, resilience and protective processes in child development, child health and human rights, and applied cross-cultural mental health research. Download CV

Jacqueline Bhabha

Director, Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies; Lecturer on Law, Lecturer on Social Studies (HLS)
Harvard's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights
Law
Work Phone: 617.384.7743
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Research Interests: Human Rights, childhood, and globalization
David Bloom

Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography (HSPH)
Global Health and Population
665 Huntington Avenue
Boston,  MA  02115
Work Phone: 617.432.0866
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Research Interests: Health, economics, demography, HIV/AIDS. Download CV

Lawrence D. Bobo

W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences (FAS)
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race
Sociology, African and African American Studies
William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street Rm. 1370
Cambridge,  MA  02138
Work Phone: 617.495.3812
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Research Interests: Intersection of social inequality, politics, and race
Thomas Burke

Chief, Division of Global Health and Human Rights, Department of Emergency Medicine, MGH; Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Founder and President, African Institute of Innovation and Technology; Chair, Ujenzi Charitable Trust
Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, MGH; Division of General Pediatrics, Childrens' Hospital Boston; Harvard Medical School
Zero Emerson Place, Suite 104
Boston,  MA  02114
Catherine S. M. Duggan

Assistant Professor of Business Administration (HBS)
Business Administration
Morgan Hall 15 Harvard Way
Boston,  MA  02163
Work Phone: 617.496.8612
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Research Interests: Financial-sector regulation and contract enforcement in developing countries, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa
Christopher Duggan

Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition (HSPH); Associate Professor of Pediatrics (HMS)
Nutrition
Division of GI/Nutrition Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue
Boston,  MA  02115
Work Phone: 617.355.7612
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Research Interests: The nutritional management of acute and persistent diarrhea; micronutrient trials in developing countries to prevent diarrhea and respiratory Infections; general aspects of energy and protein metabolism in catabolic Diseases; the role of maternal and child nutrition on neurodevelopment outcomes. Download CV

Myron (Max) Essex

Chair of the Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership; Chair of the Harvard AIDS Initiative; Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences (HSPH)
Work Phone: 617.432.2334
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Research Interests: Human retroviruses, virus evolution, vaccine design, drug resistance, and molecular determinants of transmission efficiency Download CV

Wafaie W. Fawzi

Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology (HSPH)
Work Phone: 617.432.2086
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Research Interests: International nutrition and epidemiology, Sudan and Tanzania. Download CV

Deborah D. Foster

Director of Studies for Special Concentrations; Senior Lecturer on Folklore and Mythology (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.8056
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Research Interests: Oral narrative performance especially among the Swahili, interface between oral and literary forms, dance traditions. Download CV

Allan G. Hill

Andelot Professor of Demography (HSPH)
Work Phone: 617.432.4075
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Research Interests: Male fertility, mortality and the changing family in Africa, West Africa and Francophone countries of the Sahel
Nahomi Ichino

Assistant Professor of Government (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.384.7231
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The politics and political economy of sub-Saharan Africa; the development and organization of political parties and electoral politics in Africa, with a particular focus on electoral fraud and the use and impact of violence in elections; voter behavior, ethnic politics; Ghana, Nigeria; field experiments.

Bassey E. Irele

Librarian for Sub-Saharan Africa, Collection Development Department
Harvard College Library - Widener Library
Work Phone: 617.495.3559
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Collection development of library resources on sub-Saharan Africa in Humanities and Social Sciences

Biodun Jeyifo

Professor of African and African American Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.384.9418
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Research Interests: African "Anglophone" literatures, theatrical theory and dramatic literature
Matthew Jukes

Associate Professor of International Education (HGSE)
Work Phone: 617.495.8142
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Research Interests: Children's learning in developing countries, the impact of health, culture, and home environment on children's learning, interventions to improve literacy development, school health programs. Download CV

Calestous Juma

Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Professor of the Practice of International Development (HKS)
Work Phone: 617.496.8127
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Research Interests: Science, technology, and innovation policy; innovation and sustainability; biotechnology and public policy; and agricultural innovation. Download CV

Michael Kremer

Gates Professor of Developing Countries and Professor of Economics (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.9145
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Research Interests: education and health, water, and agriculture in developing countries. Download CV

Ingrid Monson

Acting Dean of Humanities (2010-2011); Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music, Supported by the Time Warner Endowment (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.2791
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Research Interests: Music of the African Diaspora, jazz, African American Music, music of Mali, cultural theory and ethnomusicology
Nawal Nour

Associate Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Medicine (HMS)
Work Phone: 617.732.4740
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Research Interests: female circumcision/female genital cutting, global women's health, general obstetrics and gynecology, African immigrant and refugee. Download bio

Jacob K. Olupona

Professor of African Religious Traditions (HDS); Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.496.0354
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Research Interests: African spirituality and ritual practices, spirit possession, Pentecostalism, Yoruba festivals, animal symbolism, icons, phenomenology, and religious pluralism in Africa and the America

Kay Kaufman Shelemay

G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies (FAS)
Work Phone: 617.495.4008
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Research Interests: Ethnomusicology, musical  ethnography, Ethiopia and Ethiopian diaspora. Download CV

Michael VanRooyen

Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Population (HSPH), Associate Professor of Medicine (HMS)
Research Interests: Problems of international human rights and humanitarian law, humanitarian crises, and medical ethics in practical settings of disasters and emergencies.

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