As part of its Fall 2025 Seminar Series, The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU), hosted Majid Hannoum, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, USA, and Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute, for a lecture titled Decolonizing Ibn Khaldûn: Towards an Epistemic Rupture.
Professor Hannoum, who has served as a Senior Fellow in Residence at The Africa Institute since 2024, delivered the session on Thursday, September 11, 2025, to an audience of students, faculty, and community members in The Africa Institute auditorium. The event was free and open to the public.
In his lecture, Professor Hannoum challenged conventional narratives about Ibn Khaldûn (1332–1406), the influential North African scholar known for his work on history and society. “Few thinkers from the middle-age world have had a more paradoxical afterlife than Ibn Khaldûn,” highlighting how Khaldun’s was claimed in the context of the colonization of Algeria. The translation of a portion of his work transformed his ideas to become political too to serve colonial and later postcolonial interests. He argued that truly decolonizing Ibn Khaldûn requires pursuing “an epistemic rupture with the frameworks that have long contained him,” questioning Eurocentric categories such as “civilization,” “tribe,” and “race,” and exploring alternative pathways for understanding history, society, and dynastical power.
The seminar was moderated by Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute (GSU), who facilitated a lively discussion with participants. By hosting lectures like this, The Africa Institute continues to reaffirm its role as a leading center for African and diaspora studies and its commitment to training a new generation of critical thinkers.
As part of its Fall 2025 Seminar Series, The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU), hosted Majid Hannoum, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, USA, and Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute, for a lecture titled Decolonizing Ibn Khaldûn: Towards an Epistemic Rupture.
As part of its Fall 2025 Seminar Series, The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU), hosted Majid Hannoum, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas, USA, and Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow in Global African Studies at The Africa Institute, for a lecture titled Decolonizing Ibn Khaldûn: Towards an Epistemic Rupture.
Professor Hannoum, who has served as a Senior Fellow in Residence at The Africa Institute since 2024, delivered the session on Thursday, September 11, 2025, to an audience of students, faculty, and community members in The Africa Institute auditorium. The event was free and open to the public.
In his lecture, Professor Hannoum challenged conventional narratives about Ibn Khaldûn (1332–1406), the influential North African scholar known for his work on history and society. “Few thinkers from the middle-age world have had a more paradoxical afterlife than Ibn Khaldûn,” highlighting how Khaldun’s was claimed in the context of the colonization of Algeria. The translation of a portion of his work transformed his ideas to become political too to serve colonial and later postcolonial interests. He argued that truly decolonizing Ibn Khaldûn requires pursuing “an epistemic rupture with the frameworks that have long contained him,” questioning Eurocentric categories such as “civilization,” “tribe,” and “race,” and exploring alternative pathways for understanding history, society, and dynastical power.
The seminar was moderated by Emery Kalema, Assistant Professor of History at The Africa Institute (GSU), who facilitated a lively discussion with participants. By hosting lectures like this, The Africa Institute continues to reaffirm its role as a leading center for African and diaspora studies and its commitment to training a new generation of critical thinkers.
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