Tamba M'bayo | West Virginia University (original) (raw)

Papers by Tamba M'bayo

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2024

Laamb, indigenous wrestling in Senegal, has its roots in the wrestling tradition of the Sereer pe... more Laamb, indigenous wrestling in Senegal, has its roots in the wrestling tradition of the Sereer people of west-central Senegal traceable way back to the far-off pre-colonial era. During this early period, the sport was popular in rural communities and attracted diverse groups of spectators, including men, women, and children. Most of the wrestlers were young men of different age groups who participated in laamb as a recreational sport to mark the end of the harvest season in agricultural areas or to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the month-long fasting period for Muslims. Even as an amateur sport without the lure of huge prize money, wrestling matches generated excitement, rivalry, and passionate debates among fans and wrestlers alike. With its initial increase in popularity spanning the colonial period, Senegalese wrestling attracted more spectators in Dakar, the capital city, in the early 1900s and continued flourishing as a major spectator sport and cultural event in the country from the second half of the 1900s onward. Over the years, laamb attracted a larger fan base in Senegal and became more monetized, with commercial enterprises using it to promote their goods and services as prize monies increased exponentially for the topmost wrestlers. Consequently, laamb has become one of the most popular sports in the country and is surpassed only by soccer/football, though some observers suggest that the former is the dominant sport. Notwithstanding its popularity in Senegal, however, the country's predominantly Muslim population frowns upon women wrestlers participating publicly in laamb. Hence, unlike their male counterparts, women have very few to no opportunities to become professional wrestlers.

History in Africa, Dec 17, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time. Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Scott's Run has a rich history as a tight-knit, coal-built community in the heart of rural Appala... more Scott's Run has a rich history as a tight-knit, coal-built community in the heart of rural Appalachia. To learn more about the lives of the community members during the Depression Era, an interdisciplinary research team from five departments at a major university in the state conducted an oral history project focused on historical photos of the community. Individuals who grew up in the area reviewed photographs taken early in the 20 th century and provided information and shared stories related to the time and place of the images for context. The interviews uncovered key themes that told a much more positive story of the area than previously recorded in histories: progressive race relations, the remarkable sense of "family" among community members, and the importance of a social service organization, shared experiences of mining, and surviving many floods to the development of that sense of family among members of the Scott's Run community. Also, as a result of the interviews, more accurate descriptions or "tags" of the photos were provided. This project involved students from social work and other disciplines and also informed content throughout a macro HBSE course.

History in Africa, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time.

Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from around the World., 2023

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers a... more The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

History in Africa, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time.

Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from Around the World, Mar 15, 2023

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers a... more The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

Football (Soccer) in Africa: Origins, Contributions, and Contradictions, 2022

With a long history dating as far back as the early colonial period, soccer or football is by far... more With a long history dating as far back as the early colonial period, soccer or football is by far the most popular sport in Senegal today. Senegalese soccer reached its peak when the national team, Les Lions de la Teranga (The Lions of Hospitality), qualified for the FIFA World Cup of 2002 and defeated the former colonial power, France, in the opening match of the tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan. Under a French manager, Bruno Metsu (1954-2013), Les Lions advanced to the quarterfinal stage of the tournament (One of only three African countries, together with Cameroon and Ghana, to have done so). Until Les Lions qualified again for the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia, however, Senegalese soccer had experienced a checkered phase since its glorious adventure at the 2002 tournament. Since then, Les Lions have performed better and reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and hosted by Egypt in 2019. Despite losing to Algeria by a single goal, Les Lions reaffirmed their credentials as one of Africa’s best soccer teams. And nowadays in Senegal, it is common for various private and commercial enterprises to compete for sponsorship of soccer, expecting to attract its increasing fan base to their products and services. Through the lens of soccer, this chapter engages broader issues about the intersection of national identity/nationalism and sports, the commercialization of sports, the media and its
impact on spectatorship, and the lure of sports vis-à-vis poverty and acquisition of wealth in West Africa. Thus it argues that sports, in this case, soccer, offers a path to illuminate disparities in political, social, and economic capital that exist between various groups in Senegalese society.

African Studies Quarterly, 2014

Vivian Seton, Konrad Tuchscherer, and Arthur Abraham, eds. 2013. The Autobiography of an African ... more Vivian Seton, Konrad Tuchscherer, and Arthur Abraham, eds. 2013. The Autobiography of an African Princess: Fatima Massaquoi. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 274 pp. Autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs from some of Africa's leading writers and public figures have continued enriching a literary tradition that has a long history on the continent dating centuries back. From Olaudah Equiano, the eighteenth-century ex-slave/anti-slavery campaigner, to Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, Chinua Achebe, Nigeria's pioneer novelist, and Wole Soyinka, Africa's first laureate, we have seen the literary production of extraordinary life stories from childhood through adulthood that exemplify timelessness in their distinctiveness, richness, and diversity. While The Autobiography of an African Princess may not have come from the pen of one of Africa's well-known literati, Fatima Massaquoi's lived experiences in Africa, Europe, and America, which she doc...

African Studies Quarterly, 2015

Sharon Alane Abramowitz. 2014. Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War. Philadelphia... more Sharon Alane Abramowitz. 2014. Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 268 pp. In recent decades, scholarship on post-conflict states in Africa has expanded exponentially as scholars voraciously document the recovery efforts of countries despoiled by wars, among them Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and South Sudan, to name only a few. In the case of the West African states of Liberia and Sierra Leone, the recent Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic that hit both countries with thousands of deaths after it originated and spread from neighboring Guinea in December 2013 has only compounded the challenges of post-conflict recovery. The epidemic, just like the postwar reconstruction effort in Liberia following its thirteen-year civil war, caught the attention of the international community, the World Health Organization (WHO), Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Internat...

African American Studies Center, 2010

Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2018

The Journal of African American History, 2019

During the nineteenth century, Muslim habitants/originaires in Saint-Louis, Senegal, used Algeria... more During the nineteenth century, Muslim habitants/originaires in Saint-Louis, Senegal, used Algeria as an example to demand the same legal guarantees Algerians then had from the French government. At the core of their petition was the creation of a Muslim tribunal to implement Islamic law and adjudicate civil cases concerning, among other issues, marriage and inheritance. Muslim interpreters such as Hamat Ndiaye Ann (1813-1879) and Bou El Mogdad Seck (1826-1880) were important voices in the controversy because they worked for the French while advocating for an autonomous judicial body for Saint-Louisian Muslims. The dispute spurned by the demands of the Muslims was a litmus test for the French policy of assimilation insofar as issues about civil and legal rights, citizenship, and loyalty to the French Empire were under question. Using French colonial archival sources, this paper contends that the creation of the Muslim Tribunal by Governor Louis Faidherbe in 1857 brought as much relie...

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2024

Laamb, indigenous wrestling in Senegal, has its roots in the wrestling tradition of the Sereer pe... more Laamb, indigenous wrestling in Senegal, has its roots in the wrestling tradition of the Sereer people of west-central Senegal traceable way back to the far-off pre-colonial era. During this early period, the sport was popular in rural communities and attracted diverse groups of spectators, including men, women, and children. Most of the wrestlers were young men of different age groups who participated in laamb as a recreational sport to mark the end of the harvest season in agricultural areas or to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the month-long fasting period for Muslims. Even as an amateur sport without the lure of huge prize money, wrestling matches generated excitement, rivalry, and passionate debates among fans and wrestlers alike. With its initial increase in popularity spanning the colonial period, Senegalese wrestling attracted more spectators in Dakar, the capital city, in the early 1900s and continued flourishing as a major spectator sport and cultural event in the country from the second half of the 1900s onward. Over the years, laamb attracted a larger fan base in Senegal and became more monetized, with commercial enterprises using it to promote their goods and services as prize monies increased exponentially for the topmost wrestlers. Consequently, laamb has become one of the most popular sports in the country and is surpassed only by soccer/football, though some observers suggest that the former is the dominant sport. Notwithstanding its popularity in Senegal, however, the country's predominantly Muslim population frowns upon women wrestlers participating publicly in laamb. Hence, unlike their male counterparts, women have very few to no opportunities to become professional wrestlers.

History in Africa, Dec 17, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time. Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Scott's Run has a rich history as a tight-knit, coal-built community in the heart of rural Appala... more Scott's Run has a rich history as a tight-knit, coal-built community in the heart of rural Appalachia. To learn more about the lives of the community members during the Depression Era, an interdisciplinary research team from five departments at a major university in the state conducted an oral history project focused on historical photos of the community. Individuals who grew up in the area reviewed photographs taken early in the 20 th century and provided information and shared stories related to the time and place of the images for context. The interviews uncovered key themes that told a much more positive story of the area than previously recorded in histories: progressive race relations, the remarkable sense of "family" among community members, and the importance of a social service organization, shared experiences of mining, and surviving many floods to the development of that sense of family among members of the Scott's Run community. Also, as a result of the interviews, more accurate descriptions or "tags" of the photos were provided. This project involved students from social work and other disciplines and also informed content throughout a macro HBSE course.

History in Africa, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time.

Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from around the World., 2023

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers a... more The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

History in Africa, 2023

This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coron... more This article provides a narrative about archival research experience in Sierra Leone as the coronavirus outbreak spread globally in early 2020. Coincidentally, the research concerned the country's history of epidemics since 1787, when Freetown, its first city, accommodated freed Blacks repatriated from Britain and the Americas. As Sierra Leone prepared for another disease outbreak after Ebola in 2014, leaving or staying in Freetown (after seven months into a ten-month Fulbright US Scholar term) had health and research outcomes at stake. Historicizing the pandemic while engaging personal/social memory in historical accounts, the article highlights containment measures adopted against epidemics/pandemics across time.

Résumé: Cet article présente une expérience de recherche archivistique en Sierra Leone au moment où l'épidémie de coronavirus se propageait à l'échelle mondiale au début de 2020. Par coïncidence, la recherche a porté sur l'histoire des épidémies dans ce pays depuis 1787 lorsque Freetown, la première ville du pays, a accueilli les Noirs affranchis rapatriés de Grande-Bretagne et des Amériques. Alors que la Sierra Leone se préparait à une nouvelle épidémie après celle d'Ebola en 2014, la question de quitter ou rester à Freetown (après sept mois d'un séjour de dix mois en tant que boursier américain Fulbright) représentait un enjeu sur le plan de la santé et de la recherche. Tout en se penchant sur l'histoire des pandémies et en utilisant les concepts de mémoire personnelle et sociale, cet article met en lumière les mesures d'endiguement adoptées contre les épidémies/pandémies à travers le temps.

Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting: Voices from Around the World, Mar 15, 2023

The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers a... more The complex cultural matrix within which Muslim interpreters mediated between French colonizers and colonized Africans offers a window through which we see how both unequal relations of power and cultural capital shaped the intercessions of indigenous intermediaries in colonial Senegal. Despite their subordinate position in the French colonial administration, the interpreters held sway over information/knowledge conveyed to their kinfolk, which could influence perceptions about the dynamics of power relations between the French authorities and Africans. Drawing on the mediations of Muslim interpreters in colonial Senegal from 1850 to 1920, this chapter engages broader issues about the provenance of sources, retrieving indigenous voices in historical reconstruction, and producing knowledge and counternarratives in African history.

Football (Soccer) in Africa: Origins, Contributions, and Contradictions, 2022

With a long history dating as far back as the early colonial period, soccer or football is by far... more With a long history dating as far back as the early colonial period, soccer or football is by far the most popular sport in Senegal today. Senegalese soccer reached its peak when the national team, Les Lions de la Teranga (The Lions of Hospitality), qualified for the FIFA World Cup of 2002 and defeated the former colonial power, France, in the opening match of the tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan. Under a French manager, Bruno Metsu (1954-2013), Les Lions advanced to the quarterfinal stage of the tournament (One of only three African countries, together with Cameroon and Ghana, to have done so). Until Les Lions qualified again for the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia, however, Senegalese soccer had experienced a checkered phase since its glorious adventure at the 2002 tournament. Since then, Les Lions have performed better and reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and hosted by Egypt in 2019. Despite losing to Algeria by a single goal, Les Lions reaffirmed their credentials as one of Africa’s best soccer teams. And nowadays in Senegal, it is common for various private and commercial enterprises to compete for sponsorship of soccer, expecting to attract its increasing fan base to their products and services. Through the lens of soccer, this chapter engages broader issues about the intersection of national identity/nationalism and sports, the commercialization of sports, the media and its
impact on spectatorship, and the lure of sports vis-à-vis poverty and acquisition of wealth in West Africa. Thus it argues that sports, in this case, soccer, offers a path to illuminate disparities in political, social, and economic capital that exist between various groups in Senegalese society.

African Studies Quarterly, 2014

Vivian Seton, Konrad Tuchscherer, and Arthur Abraham, eds. 2013. The Autobiography of an African ... more Vivian Seton, Konrad Tuchscherer, and Arthur Abraham, eds. 2013. The Autobiography of an African Princess: Fatima Massaquoi. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 274 pp. Autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs from some of Africa's leading writers and public figures have continued enriching a literary tradition that has a long history on the continent dating centuries back. From Olaudah Equiano, the eighteenth-century ex-slave/anti-slavery campaigner, to Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, Chinua Achebe, Nigeria's pioneer novelist, and Wole Soyinka, Africa's first laureate, we have seen the literary production of extraordinary life stories from childhood through adulthood that exemplify timelessness in their distinctiveness, richness, and diversity. While The Autobiography of an African Princess may not have come from the pen of one of Africa's well-known literati, Fatima Massaquoi's lived experiences in Africa, Europe, and America, which she doc...

African Studies Quarterly, 2015

Sharon Alane Abramowitz. 2014. Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War. Philadelphia... more Sharon Alane Abramowitz. 2014. Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 268 pp. In recent decades, scholarship on post-conflict states in Africa has expanded exponentially as scholars voraciously document the recovery efforts of countries despoiled by wars, among them Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and South Sudan, to name only a few. In the case of the West African states of Liberia and Sierra Leone, the recent Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic that hit both countries with thousands of deaths after it originated and spread from neighboring Guinea in December 2013 has only compounded the challenges of post-conflict recovery. The epidemic, just like the postwar reconstruction effort in Liberia following its thirteen-year civil war, caught the attention of the international community, the World Health Organization (WHO), Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Internat...

African American Studies Center, 2010

Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2018

The Journal of African American History, 2019

During the nineteenth century, Muslim habitants/originaires in Saint-Louis, Senegal, used Algeria... more During the nineteenth century, Muslim habitants/originaires in Saint-Louis, Senegal, used Algeria as an example to demand the same legal guarantees Algerians then had from the French government. At the core of their petition was the creation of a Muslim tribunal to implement Islamic law and adjudicate civil cases concerning, among other issues, marriage and inheritance. Muslim interpreters such as Hamat Ndiaye Ann (1813-1879) and Bou El Mogdad Seck (1826-1880) were important voices in the controversy because they worked for the French while advocating for an autonomous judicial body for Saint-Louisian Muslims. The dispute spurned by the demands of the Muslims was a litmus test for the French policy of assimilation insofar as issues about civil and legal rights, citizenship, and loyalty to the French Empire were under question. Using French colonial archival sources, this paper contends that the creation of the Muslim Tribunal by Governor Louis Faidherbe in 1857 brought as much relie...