CAS Lindsay Fellows Embark on Summer Research in African Countries

This summer, the 2025 Lindsay Fellows are embarking on a wide array of research projects spanning the African continent. The twelve graduate students in this year’s cohort come from a variety of disciplines, including History, Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Public Health, and African Studies. Their work exemplifies the Council on African Studies’ commitment to rigorous, innovative scholarship rooted in the lived realities of Africa.

Historical and Political Inquiries
Bayan Abubakr is examining the politics of race and slavery in Ottoman-Egyptian Sudan, focusing on how local and imperial actors fought for control over labor and trade. Patience Neshiwa is studying how colonial Zimbabwe managed drought relief, showing how aid became a tool of governance during environmental crisis.

Urban Landscapes and Environmental Challenges
Several fellows are focusing on urban environments. Rita Nwanze is researching dumpsites in Ghana, linking environmental pollution to colonial zoning laws and current waste management challenges. Mikhail Moosa studies how people in Johannesburg created a sense of place and identity through interactions with their urban landscape.

Ecology and Public Health
Environmental science and health are key themes for many projects. Dylan Morse will track how large herbivores in Botswana respond to different water quality levels during the dry season. Emmanuel Oduro Takyi explores how bark traits in Ghanaian forests and savannas vary across fire and drought zones. In Uganda, Jack Carew is studying malaria transmission and drug resistance, while Yumi Yang is working with Ugandan market vendors to assess cardiovascular health risks and barriers to care.

On social systems and public policy, Charlotte Bednarski is exploring how citizens in Mali and Uganda make claims about political leaders and hold them accountable through social expectations and reciprocal relationships. Siu Yu Lo is researching how Ethiopia's informal community savings groups (equbs) interact with the government’s national health insurance system.

Religion and Housing
Marouen Jedoui focuses on Moroccan Sufism, analyzing how a contemporary religious order engages with classical texts to create new theological ideas. Siwei Lu investigates a large-scale housing project in Senegal, analyzing how it transforms everyday life and community structures/dynamics for low-income residents.

The Council on African Studies is proud to support this dynamic group of scholars. Their fieldwork addresses pressing contemporary issues — we believe they are tackling present-day challenges and doing work that matters — and we look forward to following their progress throughout the summer.