Professor
Ifi Amadiume joined the Religion Department in July 1993 as Associate Professor of Religion and African Studies. She was promoted to full Professor of Religion in July 2000. She teaches courses on indigenous religions of Africa and women in African religions. Professor Amadiume has a joint appointment with the African and African American Studies program and also teaches courses in African Studies. She has a B.A. (Honours 1978) in Social Anthropology and Hausa (African language) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and a University of London Ph.D. (1983) in Social Anthropology. She has taught in African Studies at the University of Nigeria, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, United Kingdom; has done field work in Africa; and has written many essays and books with special interest in gender analysis. Her publications include Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society (London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1987, 6th impression 1997); African Matriarchal Foundations: The Igbo Case (London: Karnak House, 1987); Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture (London and New Jersey: Zed Books and St. Martin's Press, 1997); Daughters of the Goddess, Daughters of Imperialism (Zed Books 2000) and The Politics of Memory: Truth, Healing and Social Justice, co-edited with Abdullahi An Na'im (Zed Books 2000). She has published three award-winning poetry books: Passion Waves (London: Karnak House, 1985, winner of a Commonwealth Poetry Prize nomination); Ecstasy (Longman Nigeria, 1995, winner of the Association of Nigerian Authors 1992 Cadbury Literary Award for Poetry); Circles of Love (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2006, winner of the 2006 Flora Nwapa Society Award, African Literature Association, USA, for outstanding achievement in African Religions and African Women and Gender Studies), Her latest book of poetry, Voices Draped in Black (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2007), has just been published. Amadiume's poems deal with love of people, nature, Sufism and struggle, and celebrate activism and activists.
Professor Amadiume is an honorary member Phi Beta Kappa, Dartmouth Chapter, and in May 2004 was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Dartmouth College.
Her research interests include African Goddesses and Matriarchy; Spirit Possession; Gender, Society and Culture; Women's Organizations; Social Movements; Religion, Culture and the State; Religion and Literature; Human Rights and Social Justice; Gender Ideology/Philosophy in Indigenous Religions of Africa and the African Diaspora; and Women in African Islam.
2009 Fall
2010 Winter
2010 Spring
