Michael Gomez's Teaching and Research InterestsResearch Interests:
My current project examines the phenomenon of the "return" to Africa, in this instance of Africans and their descendants from Brazil and the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. The focus will be on that which unfolds on African soil and over generations. I am motivated by a fairly simple and straightforward desire to get beyond the theoretical, rhetorical, polemical, and speculative, and engage an actual historical project. Work has been slowed, however, by the responsibilities of chairing a department. I am also intrigued by the experience of Antonio Maceo, the famous Cuban general of African descent. Upon completion of this project, I fully intend to perform my own return to West Africa, where I will pick up my longstanding interest in the history of imperial Songhay. I continue to direct the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD). Having met in New York City in 2000, and at Northwestern University in 2003, ASWAD will hold its third biannual conference in October of 2005 in Rio de Janeiro.
Teaching Interests:
I teach graduate courses on West Africa, Islam in West Africa, the African diaspora (including an exploration the implications of various postmodern interventions for the African diaspora), and African culture and experience in North America. With respect to undergraduate offerings, surveys and seminars in African history and the intersections between African history and African literature have been my privilege. I also teach a multidisciplinary course on the African diaspora at the undergraduate level.
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