The Michigan State University African Studies Center has close to a hundred Core Faculty with experience on Africa, probably one of the largest in the nation. The Center features many scholars in social science, agricultural economics, African languages, the arts and humanities, education, health and medicine and many other fields.
The faculty members are listed alphabetically by college and departmental affiliation, noting geographical areas of Africa experience, and teaching and research interests.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the African Studies Center's Core Faculty, please fill out the Membership Request form.
Masako Fujita
Department: Anthropology Social Science
Countries/Research: Kenya
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Biography: Masako Fujita is a biological anthropologist specializing in contemporary human variation in micronutrient storage and metabolism. Masako's research focuses on the health and evolutionary implications of mother and offspring nutrition. Masako's research is a combination of epidemiological, biomarker and ethnographic methods to investigate biocultural pathways to malnutrition, particularly clarifying why some nutritional deficiencies and health issues persist today despite public health intervention efforts. Masako's work also evaluates the applicability of clinical nutrition and health research methods to anthropological studies in resource-poor, non-clinical settings.
Stephen P. Gasteyer
Department: Sociology
Countries/Research: Mali
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Biography: Dr. Stephen P. Gasteyer is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. Dr. Gasteyer’s research focuses on the nexus between water, land, community development. Specifically, his research currently addresses: 1) community capacity development and civic engagement through leadership training; 2) the political and social processes that enable or hinder community access to water and land resources, specifically (but not exclusively) in rural communities; 3) the class and race effects of access to basic services (water, sanitation, food, health care); 4) community capacity, community resilience and water systems management; 5) the impacts of greening in economically depressed small cities; 6) the community aspects of bioenergy development; 7) international social movements and community rights to basic services; and 8) facilitating cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships to address water and land resources management.
Peter Glendinning
Department: Department of Art, Art History, & Design
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Rob Glew
Department: CASID (Director)
Countries/Research: Burkina Faso; China; Ghana; Malawi; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Tanzania; Senegal and South Africa
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Biography: Robert Glew is the director of the Center for Advanced Study of International Development and associate professor at Michigan State University. Dr. Glew has 25 years of experience working in African societies on issues of international development in the areas of coping and livelihood strategies, health, political and social change, education, and identity politics. He has taught courses on international development, cultural change, and socio-cultural diversity.
Michael D. Gottfried
Department: MSU Museum
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Biography: Michael Gottfried has been at MSU since 1997, and is currently an Associate Professor of Geological Sciences and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the MSU Museum. Mike has also served as Director of MSU's Center for Integrative Studies in General Science since 2006. His research focuses on marine fish evolution in high-latitude southern hemisphere settings, the paleobiology of the giant fossil 'megatoothed' sharks, and the evolution and biogeographical relationships of vertebrate faunas from the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana. Mike has conducted field expeditions in Madagascar, Tanzania, South Africa, and New Zealand, and at many sites in the USA, in connection with his research. His work on the evolution of giant fossil sharks has led to involvement in several documentary films, including segments on the Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week' programming, and most recently as part of the 'Prehistoric Predators' series on National Geographic Television.
Michael Green
Department: African Studies Center
Countries/Research: Senegal
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Maji Hailemariam
Department: Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology
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Salah Hassan
Department: English
Countries/Research: Morocco; Mali
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Biography: In addition to his position in English, Salah Hassan is core faculty in the Muslim Studies Program and in Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities at MSU. His areas of research and teaching include postcolonial literature and theory, mid-20th century anticolonial intellectual movements, literatures of empire, and Arab and Muslim North American studies. His research projects have recently been oriented around the representation of Arabs and Muslims in the media and also projects of Arab and Muslim self-representation. He is the founder of the Muslim Subjects website and blog (muslimsubjects.org), and coordinator of the following projects on that site: "Migrations of Islam," "American Halal," and "Journal/Islam." Muslim Subjects was established with grant that he received from the Social Science Research Council in 2011. He co-curated RASHID & ROSETTA, an international online art exhibit on the theme of the Rosetta Stone, and is co-editor of a special issue of MELUS (Winter 2006) on Arab American literature. He co-produced the short documentary film, "Death of an Imam" and is currently producing a series of documentary films on Muslims in the US.
Walter Hawthorne III
Department: History
Countries/Research: Guinea-Bissau
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Biography: Walter Hawthorne III is a Professor of African History and Chair of the History Department. His areas of research specialization are Upper Guinea, the Atlantic, and Brazil. He is particularly interested in the history of slavery and the slave trade. Much of his research has focused on African agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and family structures in the Old and New Worlds. His first book, Planting Rice and Harvesting Slaves: Transformations along the Guinea-Bissau Coast, 1400–1900 (Heinemann: 2003), explores the impact of interactions with the Atlantic, and particularly slave trading, on small-scale, decentralized societies. His most recent book, From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade 1600-1830 (Cambridge: 2010), examines the slave trade from Upper Guinea to Amazonia Brazil. He has published in a range of scholarly journals such as Journal of African History, Luso-Brazilian Review, Slavery and Abolition, Africa, Journal of Global History, and American Historical Review.
Marcy Hessling- O'Neil
Department: Anthropological Social Science
Countries/Research: Benin
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Biography: Dr. Marcy Hessling O’Neil is assistant professor of anthropology and advisor for the Peace and Justice Studies program at Michigan State University. O’Neil has taught several of the core courses in Peace and Justice, including ANP 236 “Slacktivists, Activists, and Social Entrepreneurs.” She has conducted ethnographic research among students and their families in Benin, West Africa for nine years. Her research focuses on the social impact of higher education on the extended family, and on the role of international development on the educational system. O’Neil is a Fulbright alumna, McNair Scholar, and former President of the National Association of Student Anthropologists. She has served on various committees with the American Anthropological Association, including the Mentorship Task Force. Most recently, O’Neil was a reader for the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. O’Neil earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from Michigan State University.