Amy Niang is a scholar of African Political History and Political Thought whose work interrogates the historical foundations of statehood, sovereignty, and Africa's place in global politics. She brings a distinctive perspective to questions of international order, one that places African thinkers, actors, and political traditions at the center of the study of world politics. Her research has been published in journals including International Relations; Alternatives; Politics; Journal of International Studies; African Studies; African Economic History; Journal of Ritual Studies; and in numerous edited collections. She currently serves as a Special Issue Editor for Pluriversal International Relations and contributes to several editorial and advisory boards, including Security Dialogue; Millennium: Journal of International Studies; Canadian Journal of African Studies; International Politics; Journal of Law Society and Development; The Feminist Journal of International Politics; and the Observatory for the Analysis of International Systems.
Prior to joining The Africa Institute as Associate Professor of Political Science, Niang taught at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (Rabat), and held visiting positions and fellowships across Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America. She also served as Senior Programme Officer and Head of Research at CODESRIA. She earned her BA in International Relations (2005) and MA in Political Economy (2007) from the University of Tsukuba, and her Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Edinburgh (2011).
Niang's research sits at the intersection of political history, international theory, and African intellectual traditions. Her work traces how states are made and unmade, how sovereignty is performed and contested, and how Africa's engagement with global politics has been shaped or distorted by colonial and post-colonial structures. She is particularly interested in recovering and centering African political thought as a resource for reimagining international relations. She welcomes supervision inquiries in these and related areas.
Email me