News & Events

March 2009

DI Faculty Partner with African Studies on $50,000 Grant

The Center for African Studies recently received a $50,000 grant to conduct research and to produce a documentary film, in partnership with the Documentary Institute, on Muslim societies in Africa. DI faculty members Cindy Hill and Cara Pilson collaborated with the Center for African Studies on the grant application to the Social Sciences Research Center.

The SSRC grant will allow the Center for African Studies faculty to work with DI student filmmakers to develop a film aimed at increasing public understanding of Muslim Africa. Specifically, the grant will be used to produce a documentary focused on two major Muslim societies of sub-Saharan Africa, the Hausa-speaking region of northern Nigeria and the Swahili coast. Hlll and Pilson will serve as advisors on the documentary project. “We are very excited by the prospect of both learning from the DI faculty and students, and of helping a student team develop a project that focus on some fascinating, but very little known in the US, African Muslim societies,” said Leonardo Villalón, Director of the Center for African Studies.

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