Sakah S. Mahmud

(Political Science, Transylvania University and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame): Biographical Statement

My academic activities (research and teaching) have focused on issues of African development in international and comparative perspectives. Since my undergraduate days at Ahmadu BeIIo University, Zaria - Nigeria (B. Sc. Government), I have been fascinated with the question: Why do some countries develop and others stagnate? This question led to my Ph. D. dissertation, "State, Class and Underdevelopment: A Contrast of Nigeria and Early Meiji Japan," in 1992.

After receiving my Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, I taught at various colleges including the University of Denver, University of Colorado at Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Japanese Teikyo Loretto Heights University, before taking up my current position at Transylvania University (a liberal arts college) where I teach Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa; African History; Politics of the Middle East; Politics and Society of Japan, and Politics of Human Rights: the Developing World.

My publications include State, Class and Underdevelopment in Nigeria and Early Meiji Japan, (Macmillan, and St. Martin's Press, 1996), an attempt to understand the social and political transformations necessary for development in the early stages during which the state played a major role. I also published a specialized monograph, Can the Nigerian Democracy Succeed? Stoke Phelps Foundation, NY (1998). My other publications on human rights, development and democracy in Africa have appeared in Human Rights Quarterly (August 1993) and Africa Today. My collaborative works have appeared as chapters in K. Dunn and T. Shaw eds. Africa's Challenge to International Relations Theory. London: Palgrave, 2001 (chapter 9); Shepherd and Sonko, eds. Economic justice in Africa: Adjustment and the Right to Development, Greenwood Press, 1994: (chapters); and forthcoming (2004), "The Search for Meaning in Islam: Between Violence and Non-violence," in Odell-Scott, ed. Democracy and Religion: Free Exercise and Diverse Visions. Kent State University Press.

From 1995 to 1997, I edited Africa Today including the following special issues with introductions: "Africa's International Relations and Human Rights," Vol.44, no. 1 (January-March 1997); "Reassessing Democratic Transitions in Africa," vol. 43, no. 4, (October-December 1996); "Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Africa," vol. 43, no.2, (April-June, 1996); "Southern Africa in the Post-apartheid Era," vol. 43, no. 1 (January-March, 1996) and 'The Politics of Economic Integration in Africa," vol. 42, no. 4, (1995). I have also contributed to African Studies as a member of the Board of Africa Today Associates since 2002.

Professionally, I was an NEH Visiting Scholar at the University of Chicago (2002) and currently a Rockefeller Visiting Fellow on Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding (Islamic Activism in Nigeria and Senegal). From 1999 to the present I have received various grants for field research in Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. In addition to the ASA I hold memberships in the American Political Science Association, Association for Asian Studies, International Studies Association and the West African Research Association (WARA). In May 2003 I was awarded the Transylvania University's "Faculty Member of the Year" for outstanding teaching.

Sakah S. Mahmud: Statement of Candidacy

I am greatly honored to be selected for election to the Board of Directors of the African Studies Association (ASA). Of the professional organizations that I belong, it is the ASA that I call my academic home. My first annual meeting was in 1985 as a graduate student, and I have since looked forward to every meeting both for intellectual rejuvenation and as a social reunion. The ASA is unique for its interdisciplinary focus and the diversity of its membership. These are strengths that should be maintained and built upon. Over the years the ASA has shown visible improvements in its administration with more efficient dispatch of information and the organization of its annual meetings. However, like other professional associations the ASA also faces challenges. The future hinges on our collective responses to these challenges. Following are few issues that I would like to see the ASA address and where I can contribute as a member of the Board of Directors.

First, the future of the Association would depend on continuing student interest in African studies, and successful teaching is a major determinant of student interest. The ASA could contribute to faculty development by organizing and including panels or workshops on teaching during the annual meetings. Faculty members with innovative approaches to teaching African studies can share their experiences and techniques with new faculty members. Even issues such as successful grant writing can enhance faculty performance. In the competitive field of area studies especially in small liberal arts colleges, student interest through faculty success would provide a quality pool of graduate students and future faculty in African studies. I would personally participate in such undertakings.