The African Studies Program supports students across the university, IU’s community of scholars engaged with Africa and African colleagues, and is a resource for teachers, businesses, and the public.
The Program’s faculty listed below concentrate on providing students with essential language and cultural understanding, as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate courses focused on African Studies as a field of knowledge production. Our outstanding affiliate faculty are specialists in their disciplines, offering breadth and depth of expertise through the more than 250 African Studies courses they offer in the College and IU's professional schools.
Associate Director, African Studies Program
Outreach Coordinator, African Studies Program
FLAS Advisor, African Studies Program
Adjunct faculty, African Studies Program
Research + Teaching Interests
Fulbhe and Bamana arts, artists and aesthetic systems; African textiles; artists as activists; African film and photography; post-colonial theory; museum studies; teaching pedagogies and research methodologies
Regional Expertise
Ghana; Guinea; Mali; Nigeria; Senegal; Tanzania; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Visiting Lecturer, Yoruba Language & Culture, African Studies Program
Research + Teaching Interests
Linguistics; language pedagogy/best practices in language teaching; Yoruba translation
Regional Expertise
Nigeria
Assistant Professor, African Studies Program
Director of Undergraduate Studies, African Studies Program
Assistant Professor, African American and African Diaspora Studies
Associate Editor, Africa Today Journal
Akan Language and West African Cultures
Research + Teaching Interests
African American & African Diaspora Literature; African Popular Music and Cultures; Gender Roles and Representations; African Language Pedagogy (Akan/Twi); Globalization and Post Colonialism
Regional Expertise
Ghana; West Africa
Professor, African Studies
Executive Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor, History
Research + Teaching Interests
Religious imagination and social initiatives of Muslims in western Africa; Sufi movements in nineteenth century Mali and Senegal; historical transformations in Africa (pre-colonial and colonial); historical methods
Regional Expertise
Ghana; Senegal; Mali
Bongeka BuhlebaMashasha Hlengwa-Selepe
Lecturer, Zulu Language and Culture, African Studies Program
Research + Teaching Interests
IsiZulu as an additional language; Applied Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Translation and Interpreting; Onomastics; Language policy implementation; Language in education policy; Development and promotion of indigenous languages; Terminology Development
Regional Expertise
South Africa
Visiting Professor, Akan Language & Culture, African Studies Program
Research + Teaching Interests
All areas of Linguistics (example: Phonology, Syntax, Morphophonology, Morphosyntax, Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics, Semantics; Applied Linguistics (with focus on Akan instruction and learning); West African Language and Culture; Language Instructional Material Development; Language and Health; Translation; Akan/West African Literature
Regional Expertise
Ghana
Lecturer, Swahili Language & Culture
Assistant African Languages Coordinator, African Studies Program
Research + Teaching Interests
phonology; morphology; morphology-phonology interface; African languages and linguistics, with more focus on Swahili and Dholuo language and linguistics; multilingualism and language contact; language acquisition; second language (L2) and foreign language pedagogy; language testing and evaluation; the role of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages in the teaching and learning of Swahili
Regional Expertise
Kenya; East Africa
Clinical Professor, Kiswahili, African Studies Program
African Languages Coordinator, African Studies Program
Director, National African Languages Resource Center (NALRC)
Research + Teaching Interests
Kiswahili language and culture; pragmatics; second language acquisition
Regional Expertise
Tanzania
Director, African Studies Program
On Sabbatical Spring 2025
Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), African Studies Program
Editor, Africa Today journal
Associate Professor, Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, School of Education
Research + Teaching Interests
language awareness and the flows of English literacy practices across global boundaries; literacy theory; language learning and cross-cultural experience in non-Western contexts
Regional Expertise
Democratic Republic of Congo; Rwanda
Adjunct Lecturer, African Studies Program
Associate Director, National African Languages Resource Center
Research + Teaching Interests
social, cultural, and linguistic implications of language study abroad in a multilingual West African setting. Teaching: courses focused Africa and the Global, including ex., Africa's power, agency, and influence in global affairs and the overall world systems, and African multilingualism and the global economy.
Regional Expertise
Nigeria
Senior Lecturer, Bamana, African Studies
Research + Teaching Interests
Bamana language; culture in Mali; political leadership
Regional Expertise
Mali
Emily Stratton
Adjunct Faculty, African Studies
Academic Advisor, Advising & Major Exploration Services (AMES)
President, IU Bloomington Academic Advising Council (IUBAAC)
Business Pathways Transitions Specialist, Kelley School of Business
Research + Teaching
African Studies, Ghana Studies, West African Studies, Urban Studies, Visual Culture, African Pop Culture, Economic Anthropology, Religious Studies
Regional Expertise
Ghana
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