THE AFRICA INSTITUTE, SHARJAH, ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW SENIOR & POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM
New Fellowships Named in Honor of Okwui Enwezor, Ali A. Mazrui, and Fatema Mernissi Awarded to Surafel Wondimu Abebe, Elizabeth W. Giorgis, and Nidhi Mahajan, with Additional Senior Fellowship Awarded to Dagmawi Woubshet
Date: 20/01/2021

Sharjah, UAE – The Africa Institute, a globally oriented center for research,
documentation, study and teaching of Africa and its diaspora in the humanities
and social sciences, today announces the inaugural group of fellowships awarded
through its new Research Fellowships Program. Conceived as a research-based
think-tank and a postgraduate studies institution, the Institute offers both
masters and PhD programs dedicated to training a new generation of critical
thinkers in African and African diaspora studies and evolving a new model for
academic research, teaching and documentation in the field.
In advancement of these goals, The Africa Institute has inaugurated a senior
fellowship named in honor of the esteemed late professor of African studies
Ali
A. Mazrui as well as two postdoctoral fellowships named for scholar,
curator and
art critic Okwui Enwezor and for world-renowned Moroccan scholar
Fatema
Mernissi.
The inaugural cohort of fellows consists of:
• Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellow in Visual Culture, Performance Studies
and
Critical Humanities: Surafel Wondimu Abebe, Assistant Professor, Centre
for
African Studies and College of Performing and Visual Arts at Addis Ababa
University
• Fatema Mernissi Postdoctoral Fellow in Social and Cultural Studies: Nidhi
Mahajan, Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the University of
California,
Santa Cruz
• Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies: Elizabeth W.
Giorgis,
Associate Professor of Art History, Criticism and Theory in the College of
Performing and Visual Art and the Center for African and Asian Studies at
University of Addis Ababa
• Senior Fellow: Dagmawi Woubshet, Ahuja Family Presidential Associate
Professor
of English at the University of Pennsylvania
The Africa Institute Research Fellowships Program provides the opportunity for
both junior and senior scholars of African and African diaspora studies to focus
on a research project and participate in ongoing scholarly and intellectual
activities during their term at the Institute. The inaugural cohort includes two senior fellows and two postdoctoral fellows, and will offer fellows the opportunity to interact with scholars and academics in their area of research with the aim of enriching their scholarly experiences and future projects.
The Africa Institute welcomes interested scholars to apply by July 15, 2021 for fellowships commencing in September 2021. Applications should include a CV and cover letter indicating the proposed research project, in addition to a writing sample or publication, directed to applications@theafricainstitute.org.
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