About Sahel Blog
Sahel Blog analyzes news about religion and politics in the Sahel (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea) and the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan). The blog pays particular attention to elections, protests, violent movements, and religious debates.
About Alexander Thurston
I specialize in the study of Islam and politics. Since 2019, I have been Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. Previously I taught at Georgetown University and Miami University. During 2013-2014, I was an International Affairs Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations. In that capacity I served as a Desk Officer for Nigeria at the U.S. Department of State. I received my Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Religious Studies in 2013, and my M.A. from Georgetown in Arab Studies in 2009.
My first book, Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2016. My second book, Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement, was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. My academic writing has also appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, African Affairs, Islamic Law & Society, the Journal of Religion in Africa, Islamic Africa, and elsewhere. I have written reports for the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the RESOLVE Network, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. My analyses have also appeared in Foreign Policy, World Politics Review, The Maydan, the International Peace Institute’s Global Observatory, and other venues. My CV is here.
You can reach me at alexander.thurston@uc.edu. I am always happy to hear from readers.
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