African Studies MA program welcomes new chair

Historian Ghislaine Lydon takes over from sociocultural anthropologist Allen Roberts.

"The African Studies Center and the African Studies interdepartmental program are. . . beacons of African Studies [in the United States]."

by Catherine Schuknecht (UCLA 2015) 

International Institute, February 11, 2015 — Ghislaine Lydon has replaced World Arts and Cultures Professor Allen Roberts as the new chair of UCLA's African Studies MA Program.

Appointed in July 2014, Lydon has been charged with preserving UCLA’s African Studies Program against a recent tide of budgetary cuts and faculty retirements. "It's not my first rodeo," she explained, having previously served as chair from 2009 to 2011.

Lydon is associate professor of Western African history at UCLA. She received a BA in African Studies from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and a PhD in history from Michigan State University. Her scholarly publications include "On Trans-Saharan Trails: Islamic Law, Trade Networks and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Nineteenth-Century Western Africa" (Cambridge 2012).

She is currently finishing a book that maps the impact of commercial and legal literacy on the organization of long-distance trade in Northwest Africa from the 9th to the 18th century, within the context of the spread of Islam. Lydon's next research project will look into the evolution of the Saharan caravan trade system during the colonial period.

African Studies MA Program

The master’s degree program in African Studies offers UCLA graduate students opportunities to enroll in interdisciplinary courses on Africa, as well as to study and conduct research abroad. Lydon works directly with students to select their degree concentrations and to develop ideas for their MA theses.

The UCLA African Studies Center was the second center of its kind founded in North America and has been a leader in the field for several decades. "The African Studies Center and the African Studies interdepartmental program are. . . beacons of African Studies [in the United States]," remarked Lydon.

The program boasts 214 graduates to date, many of whom have gone on to pursue PhDs and careers in public service and international development — in the United States, Africa and beyond.

Notable MA graduates include Haskell S. Ward (MA 1967), who became the first African-American member of the State Department Policy Planning staff during the Carter administration; Azeb Tadesse (MA 1998), the sitting deputy director of the UCLA African Studies Center; and Wendy Belcher (MA 1992), who teaches African literature in the comparative literature department and in the Center for African-American Studies at Princeton University.

Students in the program can concurrently pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH). "The MA program is very flexible," noted Lydon, who plans to make it more amenable to these types of joint degrees. She is currently working to develop a concurrent program with public policy.

The MA program currently has eight students, three of whom are completing their degrees this year. One student, Mary Ann Braubach, recently returned from conducting research in South Africa and will complete a thesis on art and representations at the end of this academic year.

Lydon also teaches an African Studies graduate seminar — African Studies 201: Africa and Disciplines — which attracts students from a diverse range of disciplines. Some are pursuing MAs in African Studies, others, PhDs in other departments with a focus on Africa.

The seminar is presented in conjunction with the African Studies Lecture Series and features readings from different disciplines, including education, public health, political science and history.

The historian also coordinated the Monday African Studies Seminar during fall quarter 2014. The lecture series invited experts to speak on issues related to East African history — a field not currently taught at UCLA.

Challenges ahead

Historically, UCLA has been a major center of African Studies in the United States, housing the most important research library for Africa west of the Mississippi. Lydon plans to maintain UCLA’s status as a leader in the field and hopes to expand the MA program.

Despite efforts to highlight African Studies at UCLA, however, Lydon is concerned that the program is in danger of erosion due to recent budgetary crises and faculty retirements in the history, political science and language departments.

In particular, UCLA has recently lost several of its East African history specialists. "I'm trying to create all kinds of opportunities for students to interact with specialists in East Africa in order to remedy this hopefully temporary gap in faculty specialization," remarked Lydon.

Published: Wednesday, February 11, 2015