Research

My research in African religions initially focused on Divination. My dissertation was a comparative study of the dynamics of divination in the religious systems of West Africa. Postdoctoral fieldwork conducted in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire explored the multiple forms of divinatory practices that remain a vital part of contemporary urban life.

Most recently, my focused fieldwork and research has been on the subjugated history of African women’s power, and its moral foundation, which I consider an unwritten “matri-archive.”

  • Other research in Africa has focused on ethnographic history and ethnic identity; possession trance and occult powers; ritual and performance; witchcraft; illness and healing; religion and gender; and religion and media.