Faculty-James F. Searing

James F. Searing
Curriculum Vitae

Personal:

Current Position:: Professor and Chair, Department of History

Address:

University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Department of History
1020 University Hall (M/C 198)
601 South Morgan Street
Chicago, IL 60607-7109

Phone: (312) 413-9354
Fax: (312) 996-6377
E-mail: jsearing@uic.edu

Education:

Ph.D., African History, Princeton University, 1979-1985
M.A., Africa and Modern France
B.A., English and German Literature, Fairhaven College, Western Washington State University, 1971-1975

Professional Experience:

University of Illinois at Chicago, Professor, 2003 -
University of Illinois at Chicago, Associate Professor, 1992 - 2003
University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of History, Associate Chair, 1994-1997
Princeton University, Lecturer, 1990-1992
Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal, Fulbright Lecturer, 1988-1990
Princeton University, Lecturer, 1986-1988
Franklin and Marshall College, Visiting Assistant Professor, 1985-1986

Publications:

Dissertation:

Accommodation and Resistance: Chiefs, Muslim Leaders and Politicians in Colonial Senegal, 1890-1934, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1985.

Books:

West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce: The Senegal River Valley, 1700-1860 (Cambridge University Press, 1993). Volume 77 in the Cambridge African Studies Series

"God Alone Is King": Islam and Emancipation in Senegal. The Wolof Kingdoms of Kajoor and Bawol, 1859-1915 (Heinemann Social History of Africa Series, 2001)

Articles:

"Blancs" et "Noirs" à la frontière du désert mauritanien. Notes critiques sur le livre de James Webb, Desert Frontier (1995), Annuaire de l'Afrique du Nord 39, (2000-2001):379-397
Conversion to Islam: Military Recruitment and Generational Conflict in a Sereer-Safèn village (Bandia), 1920-1938," Journal of African History 44 (2003): 73-94
"No Kings, No Lords, No Slaves': Ethnicity and Religion among the Sereer-Safèn of Western Bawol (Senegal), 1700-1914," Journal of African History 43 (2002): 407-29
"Aristocrats, Slaves, and Peasants: Power and Dependency in the Wolof States, 1700-1850," International Journal of African Historical Studies 21, 3 (1988): 475-503
James Searing and Robert Tignor, "Colonial Africa," Trends in History 3, 1, (1982): 1-17
Kassim Shehim and James Searing, "Djibouti and the Question of Afar Nationalism," African Affairs 79, 315 (1980): 209-26

Chapters in Books:

“The Time of Conversion: Christian and Muslims among the Sereer-Safèn of Senegal, 1914-1950s,” Chapter 5 in Benjamin F. Soares (ed.), Muslim-Christian Encounters in Africa, Brill "Islam in Africa" series, volume 6, (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006).
Joseph Roger de Benoist, Abdoulaye Camara, James Searing, " Le temps des compagnies à monpole (1677-1758), " in Abdoulaye Camara & Joseph Roger de Benoist, Histoire de Gorée (Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris : 2003), 31-42
Joseph Roger de Benoist, Abdoulaye Camara, James Searing, " Du monopole au commerce libre (1758-1848), " in Abdoulaye Camara & Joseph Roger de Benoist, Histoire de Gorée (Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris : 2003), 43-57
James Searing, "Aristocrates, Eslaves et Paysans: Pouvoir et Dépendance dans les États Wolof, 1700-1850," in Mariella Villasante-de Beauvais, ed., Groupes Serviles au Sahara: Approche comparative à partir du cas des arabophones de Mauritanie (CNRS, Paris, 2000), 25-57

Other Publications:

"Gorée," The World Book Encyclopedia 2006 ed., vol. 8, p. 274. World Book, Inc., Chicago, 2006.
“Senegal: Colonial Period: Four Communes: Dakar, Saint-Louis, Gorée, and Rufisque,” in Kevin Shillington (editor), Encyclopedia of African History, (New York, 2005): 3 Volumes, 3, 1334-35.
“Senegal: Colonial Period: Economy,” in Kevin Shillington (editor), Encyclopedia of African History, (New York, 2005): 3 Volumes, 3, 1338-39.
“Wolof and Jolof Empires,” in Kevin Shillington (editor), Encyclopedia of African History, (New York, 2005): 3 Volumes, 3, 1659-60.
"Goreé: Door of No Return," Faces, Vol. 10, No. 7, March 1994, 21-24
"African Slave Trade," in Peter N. Stearns (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social History (Garland Publishing Inc., 1994)

Book Reviews:

Trevor R. Getz, SLAVERY AND REFORM IN WEST AFRICA: TOWARD EMANCIPATION IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY SENEGAL AND THE GOLD COAST, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 12, 1 (Spring 2006): 132-35.
Michael D. Callahan, A SACRED TRUST: THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND AFRICA, 1929-1946, The International History Review, 27, 4 (December 2005): 870-71.
Gareth Austin, LABOUR, LAND AND CAPITAL IN GHANA: FROM SLAVERY TO FREE LABOUR IN ASANTE, 1807-1956, Journal of Agrarian Change, 5, 4 (October 2005), 585-588.
Dennis C. Galvan, THE STATE MUST BE OUR MASTER OF FIRE: HOW PEASANTS CRAFT CULTURALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SENEGAL, Journal of African History, 46, 2 (2005): 367-69.
Walter Hawthorne, PLANTING RICE AND HARVESTING SLAVES: TRANSFORMATIONS ALONG THE GUINEA-BISSAU COAST, 1400-1900, American Historical Review, 109, 5 (December 2004): 1686-87.
George E. Brooks, EURAFRICANS IN WESTERN AFRICA: COMMERCE, SOCIAL STATUS, GENDER, AND RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE FROM THE SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, Journal of African History 45, 2 (2004): 322-24
Myron Echenberg, BLACK DEATH, WHITE MEDICINE: BUBONIC PLAGUE AND THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN COLONIAL SENEGAL, 1914-1945, Journal of African History 44, 2 (2003): 361-62
Mungo Park, TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR DISTRICTS OF AFRICA, edited and with an introduction by Kate Ferguson Marsters, International Journal of African Historical Studies 34, 1 (2001), 234-35
David Eltis, THE RISE OF AFRICAN SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS, Journal of African History 42, 2 (2001): 317-18
David Eltis, et. al. THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: A DATABASE ON CD-ROM, American Historical Review 106, 3 (June 2001): 923-24
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, L'AFRIQUE ET LES AFRICAINS AU XIXE SIÈCLE, International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, 2 (2000): 469-70
Michael D. Callahan, MANDATES AND EMPIRE: THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND AFRICA, 1914-1931, The International History Review 23, 1 (March 2001): 88-89
Andrew F. Clark, FROM FRONTIER TO BACKWATER: ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE UPPER SENEGAL VALLEY (WEST AFRICA), 1850-1920, International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, 1 (2000):134-35
Robert M. Baum, SHRINES OF THE SLAVE TRADE: DIOLA RELIGION AND SOCIETY IN PRECOLONIAL SENEGAMBIA, American Historical Review June 2000: 1053-54
John H. Hanson, MIGRATION, JIHAD, AND MUSLIM AUTHORITY IN WEST AFRICA: THE FUTANKE COLONIES IN KARTA, American Historical Review, Dec. 1997: 1540-41
Paul E. Lovejoy and A. S. Kanya-Forstner (eds.), SLAVERY AND ITS ABOLITION IN FRENCH WEST AFRICA, International Review of African Historical Studies 29, 1 (1996): 196-98
Michael A. Gomez, PRAGMATISM IN THE AGE OF JIHAD: THE PRECOLONIAL STATE OF BUNDU, International Journal of African Historical Studies 27, 2 (1994): 377-78
J. F. Ade Ajayi and J. D. Y. Peel (eds.), PEOPLE AND EMPIRES IN AFRICAN HISTORY: ESSAYS IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL CROWDER, The Historian 65, 3 (1994): 543-44

Papers:

“Signares and Sailors in Senegal’s Atlantic Port Cities: Saint-Louis and Gorée, 1750-1850,” paper presented at the 48th Annual Meeting, African Studies Association, Washington D.C., Nov. 17, 2005.
“Funerals and History in a Small Scale Society (West Africa): The Safen of Senegal,” September 17, 2005, Princeton, at The Empire and its Discontents: A Conference in Honor of Robert L. Tignor, Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, September 16-17, 2005.
“Rhythms of Senegal's Atlantic Islands: Signares, Sailors, and Musical Métissage on Saint-Louis and Gorée,” March 18, 2005, Ann Arbor, at Rhythms of the Atlantic World: Rituals and Remembrances: The Annual Conference of the Atlantic Studies Initiative, University of Michigan, March 16-19, 2005.
Chair, Panel VII-C5, “Education, Conversion and Reform: New Research on Islam in West Africa, African Studies Association, New Orleans, November 13, 2004.
“Looking Back on Tradition: Safèn Muslims on Conversion,” African Studies Association, New Orleans, November 13, 2004.
"The Time of Conversion: Youthful Rebels among the Sereer-Safèn of Senegal," presented Oct. 30, 2003, African Studies Association Annual Conference, Boston, Oct. 30, 2003
"The Time of Conversion: Christians and Muslims among the Sereer-Safen of Senegal, 1914-1950s," presented May 23, 2003, Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA), Third International Colloquium, "Muslim/Christian Encounters in Africa", 22-24 May 2003, Northwestern University
"Islam, Capitalism, and Emancipation in Senegal," presented Feb. 20 2003, Colloquium: From Slavery to the African Diaspora", Brigham Young University
"Changing the Narrative: From Islamic Policy to Wolof History," presented Nov. 2201, African Studies Association Annual Conference, Houston
"God Alone is King: Reconceptualizing Murid Islam, 1880-1895," presented Nov. 16, 2000, African Studies Association Annual Conference, Nov. 16, 2000
"After the Great War: Global and Local Identities in Colonial Senegal (French West Africa)", Chair, Panel VA7, African Studies Association, November 12, 1999
"Conversion to Islam: Military Recruitment and Generational Conflict in a Sereer-Safen Village (Bandia), 1925-35," Presented November 12, 1999, African Studies Association Annual Conference, Philadephia
"`God Alone is King': Amadu Bamba and Lat Joor in Wolof Memory," Seminar in African Studies, University of Chicago, December 2, 1997
"`God Alone is King': Remembering the End of Wolof Monarchy," Public Lecture, Institute for the Humanities, UIC, November 11, 1997

"Islam and Politics in Senegal," sponsored by the Office of Social Science Research, UIC, Feb. 9, 1994
"Islam in Africa," lecture sponsored by the Field Museum and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, November 1, 1993
"The Master's Household and the Slave Family: Runaway slaves in Senegal, 1870-1905," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian African Studies Association, May 14, 1993, Toronto
"Maritime Labor in the Senegal River Valley: Merchants, Free Migrants, and Slaves, 1700-1850," paper presented at the African Studies Association annual meeting, Saint Louis, November 24, 1991
"Les Ouvriers de la Traite Atlantique: travail libre et travail servile à Saint Louis (1700-1800), paper presented April 24, 1989 at "Colloque: La Révolution française de 1789 et l'Afrique," Saint-Louis--Dakar, April 23-29, 1989, forthcoming in La Révolution Française de 1789 et l'Afrique
"La Terre promise: une mythologie de la libération," paper presented at VII Colloque des études americaines, Dakar, Senegal, March, 1989, published in Le Rêve Americain: Mythes et réalites (Paris, 1990, U.S. Government Printing Office)
"Slavery in the Wolof States, 1700-1850," paper presented at the Canadian African Studies Annual Meeting, May 11-14, 1988, Kingston, Ontario
"Rural Society and the Great Depression: Senegal's Peanut Basin (1929-39)," paper presented at School of Advanced International Studies, The John's Hopkins University, Conference on "The Political Economy of Contemporary Senegal," April 10-11, 1987

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships:

Fulbright Senior Lecturing/ Research Grant to Senegal, Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and Historical Museum, Gorée Island, December 2001-August 2002
Fellow, Institute for the Humanities, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1997-1998
Social Science Research Council, Senior Scholars Program, African Area Research Grant, Summer 1995
Fulbright Professor, U.S. and African History, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal: 1988-1989, 1989-1990
Princeton University summer research grant, 1988.
Research Fellowship, Department of History, Princeton University, Fall 1986
Rollins Prize, Department of History, Princeton University, 1983-1984
Fulbright Dissertation Research Grant to Senegal, 1983-1984
Princeton University Graduate Fellowship, 1979-1984

Languages

French
Wolof
German

Department of History