Ousseina D. Alidou (born March 29, 1963) is an Africanist scholar focusing on

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

women, and a professor in the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literature at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. She received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

at the Université Abdou Moumouni in

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital di ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesapplied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, communication rese ...

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

where she also obtained a theoretical linguistics

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

. She was a member of the

Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa The Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa (CAFA) was an organisation set up in light of the struggles in the universities consequent to the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The organisation was founded by Silvia Feder ...

and the 2022 president of the

African Studies Association The African Studies Association (ASA) is a US-based association of scholars, students, practitioners, and institutions with an interest in the continent of Africa. Founded in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North ...

. Her twin sister

Hassana Alidou Hassana Alidou (29 March 1963 − 10 June 2023) was a Nigerien diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States and Canada from 2015 to 2019. She then became the first scholar in residence for the Union Institute and University Institute fo ...

was Niger's ambassador to the United States from 2015 to 2019.

Awards

* 2006

Board of Trustees Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence * 2007 Runner-up, Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize, Women's Caucus of the African Studies Association for ''Engaging Modernity'' * 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award of the

Africa-America Institute The Africa-America Institute (AAI) is an international education organization dedicated to advancing the continent's development through higher education and skills training, convening activities, and promoting greater engagement between Africa and ...

Publications

Alidou published many scholarly articles and books including: * ''A Thousand Flowers: Social struggles against structural adjustment in African universities'', co-edited with

Silvia Federici Silvia Federici (born in Parma, Italy, 1942) is a scholar, teacher, and feminist activist based in New York. She is a professor emerita and teaching fellow at Hofstra University in New York State, where she was a social science professor. She al ...

and

George Caffentzis __NOTOC__ George Caffentzis (born 1945) is an American political philosopher and an autonomist Marxist. He founded the Midnight Notes Collective, is a founder member of the co-ordinator of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and a professo ...

, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2000 * ''Engaging Modernity: Muslim Women and the Politics of Agency in Postcolonial Niger'', Madison:

University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...

, 2005. * ''Muslim Women in Postcolonial Kenya: Leadership, Representation, and Social Change'', Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alidou, Ousseina 1963 births Women academics Nigerien activists Nigerien women activists Living people Indiana University Bloomington alumni Nigerien academics Nigerien Africanists Rutgers University faculty Presidents of the African Studies Association Twin people