In a collaborative effort with Rahmane Idrissa and Mamadou Bodian, two of his former Ph.D. students from West Africa, and a team of colleagues from six countries in the region, Dean Leonardo A. Villalón recently published two books: Between Knowledge and Worship: Activism and Religious Movements in the Universities of the Sahel and Democratic Struggle, and Institutional Reform, and State Resilience in the African Sahel.
Between Knowledge and Worship: Activism and Religious Movements in the Universities of the Sahel
Entre le Savoir et le Culte presents original studies and documents that update the evolution of Islam and Christianity among university students in Sahelian countries. It reveals the cracks and conflicts between the groups, and analyzes their oral, written and dress modes of display and performance.
Democratic Struggle, Institutional Reform, and State Resilience in the African Sahel
Long on the periphery of both academic research and international attention, the countries of the West African Sahel currently find themselves at the center of global concerns over security, terrorism, migration, and conflict. Since the early 1990s the Sahelian states have also been engaged in political struggles over the construction of democratic institutions.