Meet Assistant Professor Dauda Abubakar
Assistant Professor Dauda Abubakar is one of the committee members for AFRICA WEEK, a celebration taking place at UM-Flint the first week of February. All events are free and open to the public! Visit the AFRICA WEEK website for more information.
Name: Dauda Abubakar
Title: Assistant Professor
Departments: Africana Studies & Political Science
Classes I teach: I teach a broad range of courses in the fields of Comparative Politics, International Relations and African Studies. These include POL 190 – Introduction to Comparative Politics; POL 340 – African Politics; AFA/POL 304 –Black Social and Political Movements; POL 355 – Nationalism & Ethnic Conflicts; AFA 351 – US Foreign Policy Towards Africa; and AFA/POL 333/334 – Human Rights in Africa. More recently, I designed a new course POL 347 – Middle East Politics, which I plan to teach in Fall 2015. I also teach UNV 100 – Never Again? Holocaust and Genocide in the 20th and 21st Centuries, which examines the challenges of mass murder.
Professional Interests, Activities, Publications: As a member of the African Studies Association, I have presented several scholarly papers and chaired panels at professional conferences. I am a member of the International Studies Association (ISA) and have made several presentations and served as panel discussant at its annual conferences. I also serve as peer manuscript reviewer for leading academic Journals such as African Studies Review and Review of African Political Economy. My most recent scholarly publications include a book Chapter “Africa in World Politics and the Political Economy of Postcoloniality” in Omeje, K (ed),The Crisis of Postcoloniality; “Perils of Identity Politics and the Crisis of the African State” in Dlakwa, H.D. et.al (eds) Peace, Security, Human Rights and Development in 21st Century. Vol. 1. Kaduna Nigeria Pyla-Mak Press,. 2010; and a Journal article “The Legal and Constitutional Framework of the 2011 Elections in Nigeria.” Journal of African Elections. Vol 11. No. 1 (June 2012): 8-30.
Research or Specific Areas of Interest: My area of research is at the intersection of Identity Politics and the processes of democratic transition in the global south, especially African postcolonial state. I am working on a book manuscript titled: Identity Politics and the Crisis of the African State. I am also completing a Chapter contribution to an edited volume on “Humanitarianism and the New Landscape of Intervention in African Conflicts” in which I unpack the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a Trojan horse that could undermine the principle of state sovereignty, with implications for global peace and security.
Awards: Over the years, I have received several Fellowships, travel grants and awards including UM-Flint Office of Research (RCAC Grant, 2010) to conduct archival research at the Colonial Archives, London, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). I have also received travel grants to present papers at professional conferences, including a 2014 grant to present at the World International Studies Conference (WISC), Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. My panel presentation centered on a paper titled: “Humanitarian Intervention and the Challenges of Sovereignty in Postcolonial Africa”; and is under review for publication.
Degree(s)/Education: I completed my B.Sc (Political Science – Upper Division) at Ahmadu Bello University, Samaru-Zaria (Nigeria). I received my M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Memberships: I am a member of the African Studies Association, International Studies Association, American Political Science Association, and the World International Studies Association.
How I fell in love with my field: My interest in Political Science began while I was an undergraduate student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (Nigeria) when the country was in the grip of military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. Regular public lectures presented on campus by leading scholars increased my awareness about issues of civil and political rights, and the imperatives of a vibrant civil society for the protection of human rights. Although our several street protests could not bring the military regime down, it nevertheless facilitated subsequent opposition groups’ successes in the return to civil rule. My graduate studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison further deepened my interest in the field of Political Science, particularly Comparative Politics and International Relations.
What I hope for my time at UM-Flint: As I continue to teach, and engage in research activities at UM-Flint, I hope that I can increase awareness amongst students who take my courses, about Africa, its peoples/cultures and its deep historical relations with US. Furthermore, I hope that my students will be intellectually grounded to draw the linkages between US and other regions of the world.
What I hope for students in my field: That my students will have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the interdependence between the US and other regions of the world, especially Africa. Also, I hope they will have a coherent understanding of how liberal arts education in fields such as Political Science and African Studies provide them with the skills to understand how global events in far away places affect their lives/communities; and the imperatives of participatory citizenship.
Three things you should know about me: I love to play table tennis; soccer and engage in intellectually driven conversations with students and colleagues over a cup of tea/coffee.
Visit the websites of Political Science and Africana Studies to learn more about these departments.
