Mamadou Diouf is the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies, the Director of Institute for African Studies, and a professor of Western African history at Columbia University. He also serves as director of the Institute of African Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (SIPA) and has been instrumental in its recent reorganization. Diouf holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Prior to teaching at Columbia, he taught at the University of Michigan and before that at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. Diouf also serves on the editorial board of several academic journals, including the Journal of African History, , and Public Culture. His research interests include the urban, political, social, and intellectual his