ISSUE

ISSUE 1 (April 2026)

ISSN 2575-6990

Highlights:  Islam and slavery in America; Senegalese community and resilience; Sacred geography and Sufi diplomacy in Fez; Saharanism and desert imaginations; North African Jewish literary culture; Imperial archives and the struggle for Kenya's history.


REVIEWS

Mbaye Lo and Carl W. Ernst, I Cannot Write My Life: Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar Ibn Said's America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2023, 218 pages. ISBN: 9781469674667.

The Solitary Writing of Omar ibn Said

A Review Essay by: Amy Niang, Associate Professor of Political Science, Global Studies University, Al Manakh, Sharjah. 


Senegal's Fading Generations: Reflections on Community, Resilience, and Belonging

Written by: Mbaye Lo, Duke University.


Spiritual Diplomacy and Sacred Geography: The Tijani Tomb in Fez as a Nexus of Enduring Influence

Written by: Dr. Youssef ZIZI,  Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at the University of Mohammedia, Morocco.

__________________________________________________________________

Brahim El Guabli, Desert Imaginations: A History of Saharanism and its Radical Consequences. Publisher: University of California Press, Oakland, 2025, 330 pages. ISBN: 9780520401785.

Reviewed by: Eric Ross, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco.


Noam Sienna, Jewish Books in North Africa: between the Early Modern and Modern Worlds. Indiana, Indiana University Press, 2025, pp. 321. ISBN: 9780253073082.

Reviewed by: Dr. Samwel Mhajida, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Political Science and Development Studies, University of Dar es Salaam.


Noam Sienna, Jewish Books in North Africa: between the Early Modern and Modern Worlds. Indiana, Indiana University Press, 2025, 321 pages. ISBN: 9780253073082.

Reviewed by: Bourouayah Mohamed, Professor of Religions, former vice-rector of Emir Abdelkader University, Constantine, Algeria.


Riley Linebaugh, Curating the Colonial Past: The “Migrated Archives” and the Struggle for Kenya’s History. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025, 342 pages. ISBN: 1009525417. 

Reviewed by: Dr. John Mwangi Githigaro, National Intelligence and Research University, Kenya. 


REVIEW TEAM

Editor-In-Chief

Muhammed Haron, Former Professor of Religious Studies: University of Botswana & Associate Researcher: Stellenbosch University, South Africa. (haronm@mopipi.ub.bw) & (haronm@hotmail.com).

 Associate Editors

Alinah SegobyeProfessor, Northwest University, South Africa & Botswana, (alinah.segobye@gmail.com).

Aman Nadhiri, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Arts and Humanities, Johnson C. Smith University, USA, (anadhiri@jcsu.edu).

Hamdy Hassan, Professor of political science, Cairo University, Egypt & Zayd University, UAE, (hamdy.hassan@zu.ac.ae).

Wendy Wilson-Fall, Professor and Chair, Africana Studies Program Oeschle Center for International Education, Lafayette College (wilsonfw@lafayette.edu) & 

Wendell H. Marsh, Associate Professor of African Literature and Philosophy, Institute of Advanced Studies, Université Mohammed VI - Polytechnique, Morocco.

Mbaye Lo, Professor of the Practice, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies & International Comparative Studies, Duke University (mbayelo@duke.edu).

 

RESEARCH AFRICA

Copyright © 2026 by Research Africa, (research_africa-editor@duke.edu), all rights reserved. RA allows for copy and redistribution of the material in any medium or format, provided that full and accurate credit is given to the author, the date of publication, and the location of the review on the RA website. You may not distribute the modified material. RA reserves the right to withdraw permission for republication of individual reviews at any time and for any specific case. For any other proposed uses, contact RA’s Editor-in-Chief. The opinions represented in the reviews and published on the RA Reviews website are not necessarily those held by RA and its Review editorial team.