Grad Students
Madina Thiam
Curriculum VitaeI work on the social and intellectual history of Mali and the West African Sahel, with an emphasis on Islam. My dissertation is a study on mobility, self-determination, and connectedness in this region, during the 19th and 20th centuries.
In addition, since 2018, I have been part of a multi-disciplinary working-group on contemporary migration policy in southern Africa, under the direction of E. Tendayi Achiume.
Lastly in 2019, I joined the Projet Archives des Femmes in Bamako. We are collecting, safeguarding, and creating a public archive of personnal papers of Malian women involved in the movement for independence, and in post-colonial sociopolitical struggles.
In 2016-2018, I served as co-editor-in-chief of Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies.
Prospective students: feel free to email me if you have any questions!
Field of Study
Africa
Subfield
- Mali, the Sahel, and West Africa
- Islam
- African Women
- Race and Capitalism
- Freedom and Slavery
- Travel and Migration
Research
My dissertation, entitled "Footprints of Freedom: Connectedness, Mobility, and Self-Determination in the West African Sahel, c. 1790-1968" is centered around the geographical and intellectual trajectories of a set of itinerant Muslim figures from present-day Mali. It draws on archival and oral research I conducted in Mali, Senegal, France, England, Ireland, and Jamaica.
Publications
Peer-reviewed Articles
- "The History of Mali," with Gregory Mann, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History --- manuscript in preparation
- “Women in Mali," in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History --- manuscript under review
Book Contribution
- 2019 "Nicholas Said, étonnant voyageur," in Sophie Caratini, Charles Grémont, Céline Lesourd et Olivier Schinz (eds.), Sahara, mondes connectés (Paris: Gallimard)
Reviews
- 2018 “Review: Mali Blues,” in Research Africa Reviews 2:2
- 2018 "Review: Etre Etudiant au Mali," Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies 40:2
Public History Essays and Interviews
- 2019 "Le Mali ne doit pas devenir un fonds de commerce..." Op-ed, Le Monde and Benbere (with Bokar Sangaré, et al.)
- 2018 “De Tombouctou à la Jamaïque : les voyages d’Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq,” interview with Libération
- 2018 “Dakar, 1968,” Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies 40.2 (with Janice Levi)
- 2018 “History, Policy and Politics at the UNESCO,” Luskin Center for History and Policy
- 2018 “Editorial,” Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies 40.1 (with Janice Levi)
- 2016 “The 1960s and the Groove,” Ufahamu: a Journal of African Studies 39.2
- 2015 "Mali and the Empire State of Mind,” Africa is a Country
Grants and Awards
- 2019 Weber and Hoxie Awards, Department of History, UCLA
- 2018-2019 Innovation Grant, Luskin Center for History and Policy
- 2018-2019 Mellon-IDRF Fellow, Social Science Research Council
- 2017 Short-Term Fellow, Luskin Center for History and Policy
- 2017 // 2016 Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Award
- 2016-2017 Hans Rogger International Student Fund in History
- 2016 Student Travel Award, African Studies Association - Royal Air Maroc
- 2016 Kurnitz Creative Writing Award
- 2015 Five-Year Fellow, UCLA Department of History
- 2012 George Washington University Special Honors in History
Conference Presentations
Invited Lectures
- 2019 UWI-Mona Staff/Graduate Seminar, “Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and the Muslim Sahel in Translation” (May 24, Kingston, Jamaica)
- 2018 UCLA HIST 166A, "West African Islamic Intellectual History" (Nov. 9, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Academic Conferences and Workshops
- 2020 American Historical Association Meeting: “'Absolutely and utterly free.' Kinship, Muslim Education and Emancipation between Jamaica and the Middle Niger, c. 1790-1853" (Jan. 3-6, 2020)
- 2019 Africa, Globalization and The Muslim Worlds Conference: “‘Beyond Timbuktu’: Sahelian Networks and Texts in Pre-Emancipation Jamaica” (Sept. 19-21, 2019)
- 2019 Forum Transregionale Studien "Rethinking Refuge" Workshop: "Continuities of Statelessness in Southern Africa” (Jun. 6-7, Berlin, Germany)
- 2019 Luskin Center for History and Policy Fellows Seminar: "Developing a New Approach to Migration and Policy-Making in Africa" (May 15. Los Angeles, CA, USA)
- 2018 Global Africa and Ethnographies of Interconnection Workshop: "Using 19th-century Sahelian Narratives to Write Global History" (Apr. 20-21, Cornell, NY, USA)
- 2017 International Conference of the Dakar Institute of African Studies: "African Men of Letters, Atlantic Slavery, and the Intellectual History of the Sahel, 19th and 20th c." (Jul. 7-8, 2017, Dakar, Senegal)
- 2017 ULCA HGSA Conference: "Empire State of Mind: Best of Intentions, Unsolicited Interventions, and the 2012 Crisis in Mali" (Apr. 14, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
- 2016 African Studies Association Conference: "A Trail of Scented Salams: Migrating and Settling along the Tarīq-al-Sūdān in the 19th and 20th centuries" (Dec. 1-3, Washington DC, USA)
- 2016 University of Bern 'Transpositions' Summer School: "Westerners along the Nile: West African Muslims in Sudan in the 19th and 20th centuries" (Sept. 4-7, Kandersteg, Switzerland)
Public History Talks and Interviews
- 2019 Le Monde Documentary Feature: 'PANAFRICAIN.E.S: Cheikh Anta Diop, l'historien révolutionnaire' with Coumba Kane, (July 2019, Paris, France)
- 2019 NationWide FM Radio Interview: ‘Talking History’ with Prof. Verene Shepherd (May 25, Kingston, Jamaica)
- 2017 UNESCO World Heritage Young Professionals Forum: “Memory: Lost and Recovered Heritage” (Jun. 25 - Jul. 4, Warsaw & Krakow, Poland) [Photos] [Video] [Video]
- 2016 UCLA Futures of History Conference: "The Futures of History: What Do We See and Envision?" (Feb. 25-26, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Advisors
Degrees
C. Phil., History, UCLA, 2018
M.A., History, UCLA, 2017
B.A., History and International Affairs, Economics Minor, George Washington University, 2012