Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA)

The Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) is the first research center in the United States devoted entirely to the study of Islam and Africa. ISITA sponsors and facilitates collaborative interdisciplinary scholarship on the Islamic tradition of learning in Africa and promotes broader awareness of the role of Islam in African societies, past and present. ISITA was founded in 2000 by John O. Hunwick of Northwestern University and R. Séan O’Fahey of the University of Bergen, under sponsorship from the Ford Foundation. It is currently directed by M. Sani Umar of the Department of Religious Studies and supported by a cohort of faculty and graduate students with interests in Islam and Africa.

By sponsoring field research, conferences, visiting scholars, and publications, ISITA encourages intellectual exchange, especially with Africa-based scholars, and produces new knowledge on Islamic thought in Africa.  ISITA collaborates with Northwestern University Press to produce Islamic Africa, a peer reviewed multi-disciplinary journal, and with the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies to maintain and enhance its collection of Arabic manuscripts from West Africa.

For more information, visit the ISITA website: www.isita.northwestern.edu