Congratulations to African Cultural Studies Ph.D. student Jibril Gabid, the inaugural winner of the Aliko Songolo Summer Research Award!
The award, created in honor of Emeritus Professor Aliko Songolo for his many years of dedicated teaching and service to the Department of African Cultural Studies, is a new $2,500 annual summer research award given to a full-time graduate student in the ACS Department. The award’s funding is intended for research on African expressive cultures in Africa and/or archives outside of the United States.
Jibril was selected for the award based on the following criteria:
- Excellence of research proposal
- Demonstrated commitment to researching African expressive cultures
- General academic record
- Strong recommendations from faculty
- Timing of the proposed research in relation to degree requirements
Jibril’s research seeks to explore ways of (re)imagining Islamic West Africa, foregrounding West Africa Muslim scholarship by shifting the gaze of Islamic knowledge production from an Arabo-centric one to one that privileges and affirms the contributions of Black West African Muslim intellectuals.
Congratulations, Jibril!