More than 220 African Studies scholars from all over the world have come together to pen a statement condemning Israel’s brutal attacks on Gaza.

Since October 7, the Israeli government has been conducting a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. We have shared the responses of many African writers as they have taken to social media over the past few months to raise awareness about the issue and call for a ceasefire.

Since then, a group of African Studies scholars have organized this attempt to bring together the community to form a statement critiquing this dangerous regime and showcasing support for the Palestinian people.

The statement includes at least 4 past presidents of the African Studies Association, a former president of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) and office bearers of the African Studies Association of Africa, and a number of other prominent academics, public intellectuals, literature scholars, and writers, including novelists Zoe Wicomb and CA Davids and the poets Shaida Ali, Gabeba Baderoon and Shabbir Banoobhai.

We have published the statement below and are in full support of the message.

Statement by African Studies Scholars on Israel’s Attacks on Gaza

We join people around the world in condemning the slaughter of civilians in Gaza after the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023. These deathscapes are connected by decades of dispossession, discrimination, and displacement of Palestinians.

Since October 7, and as of this writing, Israeli retaliatory warfare has killed nearly 20,000 people in Gaza at the time of writing. This is a genocide enabled by the billions of dollars of military aid that the United States government annually sends to Israel.

Military operations cannot resolve the deprivation and oppression that this terrible war has illuminated; they can only deepen suffering and misery. The destruction of Gaza and the slaughter of its people must stop!

Many of us have been active in the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS), an organization founded in 1977 to support anti-colonial movements for justice and peace on the African continent and oppose US militarization worldwide. And now, we all stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and those activists, scholars, and communities worldwide protesting and speaking out.

We call on African Studies scholars to add their voices to those calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and, ultimately, for freedom and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

Signatories

Jean Allman, Professor Emerita, African and African American Studies, Washington University in Saint Louis.

Judith Byfield, Professor, History, Cornell University

Allen Isaacman, Professor, History, University of Minnesota

David S. Wiley, Professor Emeritus Sociology, Director Emeritus African Studies Center, Michigan State University

Teresa Barnes, Professor, History and Gender & Women’s Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Timothy Scarnecchia, Professor, Department of History, Kent State University

Gabeba Baderoon, Associate Professor, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, African Studies and Comparative Literature, Pennsylvania State University

Sean Jacobs, Associate Professor, International Affairs, The New School

Judith Van Allen, Regional Scholar Affiliate, Institute for African Development, Cornell University

Boyce-Davies, Carole. Professor, Africana Studies and Literatures in English, Cornell University

Elizabeth Schmidt, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Loyola University Maryland

Derek R. Peterson, Ali Mazrui Professor of History and African Studies, University of Michigan

Chika Okeke-Agulu, Robert Schirmer Professor of Art, Archaeology and African American Studies, Princeton University

Andrew Apter, Professor, Departments of History and Anthropology, UCLA

Dennis Laumann, Professor, History, University of Memphis

Daniel Magaziner, Professor, Department of History, Yale University

Carina Ray, Associate Professor, History Department, University of Michigan

Nomusa Makhubu, Associate Professor, Art History, University of Cape Town

Jared Sacks, Teaching Fellow, Mesaas, Columbia University

Heidi Grunebaum, Associate Professor, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

Emma Daitz, Research Fellow, University of Cape Town

F. Fiona Moolla, Deputy Dean of Research, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of the Western Cape

Fatima Seedat, Associate Professor, African Feminist Studies, University of Cape Town

Mamadou Diallo, PhD Candidate, MESAAS, Columbia

Nimi Hoffmann, Lecturer, International Education, University of Sussex

Ruth Sacks, Lecturer, History of Art, University of Johannesburg

Anna Reumert, Postdoctoral Fellow, Zolberg Institute, The New School

Anna Selmeczi, Senior Lecturer, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town

Msia Kibona Clark, Associate Professor, African Studies, Howard University

Caroline Angle Maguire, PhD Candidate, History, University of Maryland

Katrina Daly Thompson, Evjue-Bascom Professor in the Humanities, U of Wisconsin-Madison

Susanne M. Klausen, Brill Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Pennsylvania State University

Scott Burnett, Assistant Professor of African Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Pennsylvania State University

Laura Nkula-Wenz, Lecturer, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town

Marissa Moorman, Professor, African Cultural Studies, UW Madison

Luís Madureira, Professor and Chair, African Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Catherine Ramey, PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo

Rama Salla Dieng, Lecturer in African Studies and International Development, University of Edinburgh

Laurian Bowles, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Davidson College

Amanda Swarr, Associate Professor, Dept of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, University of Washington-Seattle

Mandisa Haarhoff, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature. Penn State.

Michelle Sikes, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, African Studies and History, Penn State University

Wael Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, New York

Susan Arndt, Professor of English Literature, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Omid Safi, Professor, Middle Eastern Studies Department, Duke University

Siphokazi Magadla, Associate Professor, Political & International Studies, Rhodes University

Samar Al-Bulushi, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, UC Irvine

Belinda Dodson, Adjunct Professor, Geography, University of Western Ontario

Peter M. Wright, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, The Colorado College

Christopher J. Lee, Professor, The Africa Institute, Sharjah, UAE

Madina Thiam, Assistant Professor, History, New York University

Monica Inés Cejas, Profesora Investigadora Dep. De Política Y Cultura Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Mexico

Paul Ocobock, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame

Andrew Ivaska, Associate Professor, History, Concordia University

Peter Limb, emeritus, Michigan State University

Toby Leon Moorsom, Adjunct Professor, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University

Erik S McDuffie, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Corrie Decker, Professor, History, University of California, Davis

Ken Salo Clinical Professor Department of Urban and Regional Planning UIUC

Lynette A. Jackson, Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, Black Studies, and History, University of Illinois at Chicago

Elisa Scaraggi, Postdoctoral fellow, Institute for Contemporary History, Lisbon NOVA University and African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Babacar M’Baye, Professor, Pan-African Studies, Kent State University

Shobana Shankar, Professor, History/Africana Studies, Stony Brook University

Blair Rutherford, Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University

Katrin Jomaa, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Rhode Island

Matthew Swagler, Assistant Professor, History, Connecticut College

Naveeda Khan, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University

Rose Ndengue, Assistant Professor, History, York University

Premesh Lalu, Professor, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

Prexy Nesbitt, Independent Scholar and Activist

Catherine M. Grosso, Professor of Law, College of Law, Michigan State University

Wangui Kimari, Lecturer, American University- Nairobi

Neil O. Leighton, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, University of Michigan-Flint

William Martin, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, SUNY-Binghamton

Pamela Scully, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and African Studies. Emory University

Ray Bush, Professor Emeritus, African Studies and Development Politics, POLIS, University of Leeds

Habib Ayeb Emeritus Professor. Université Paris 8. Saint Denis. France

Wamuwi Mbao, Lecturer, English Department, Stellenbosch University

Mukoma Wa Ngugi. Professor, Dept of Literatures in English. Cornell University

Stephanie Newell, Professor, English, Yale University

Akosua Adomako Ampofo; Professor of African Studies, University of Ghana

Michael O. West, Professor, African American Studies, Penn State

Cecelia Lynch, Professor, Political Science, University of California, Irvine

Gyekye Tanoh, Researcher & Tutor, Centre for Regional Integration in Africa

Eunice Foster, Professor, Plant and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University

Mohammed Shamsudeen Shardow, PhD Candidate, Political Science Department, University of Ghana

Akua O Britwum, Associate Professor, Labor and Human Resource Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Marc Epprecht, Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen’s University

Bhakti Shringarpure, Associate Professor of English & WGSS, University of Connecticut and Radical Books Collective

Divine Fuh, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of Cape Town

Susan Levine, Professor and Head of Department, Anthropology, University of Cape Town

Kwame Karikari, Associate Professor (Retired), Dept. of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

Benedine Azanu, Ag. Head of Department, Journalism and Media, Ghana Institute of Journalism

Marla Jaksch, Professor, Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, The College of New Jersey

Maurits van Bever Donker, Associate Professor, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

David Ngong, Professor, Religion and Theology, Stillman College

Mjiba Frehiwot, Research Fellow, University of Ghana

A. Kayum Ahmed, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Columbia University

Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, Director, Christiansborg Archaeological Heritage Project.

Alicia C Decker, Associate Professor, Women’s, Gender, And Sexuality Studies, African Studies, And History, Pennsylvania State University

Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Associate Professor, History and AAAS, Dartmouth College

Kenneth Harrow, Emeritus Professor, English, Michigan State University

Abigail E Celis, Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Museum Studies, Université de Montréal

Oghenetoja Okoh, Assistant Professor of African History (Loyola University Maryland)

Amy Gilmore, PhD student, Political Science, University of California, Irvine

Gretchen Bauer, Professor, Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware

Anima Adjepong, Associate Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Cincinnati

Sylvia Bawa, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University

Grace Adeniyi, Associate Professor, Gender Studies/Geography &Planning, Queen’s University

Kanika Batra, Professor, English, Texas Tech University

Lisa Lindsay, Professor, History Department, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Amina Mama, Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of California, Davis

Anna Bigelow, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Stanford University

Ala Soofian, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Anouar El Younssi, Assistant Professor, Arabic & MESAS, Oxford College of Emory University

Amiel Bize, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Cornell University

James Kilgore, Research Scholar, Center for African Studies, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

Suren Pillay, Professor, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town

Lauren Taylor, Assistant Professor, Art History/African Studies, Penn State University

Jamie Monson, Professor, History Department, Michigan State University

Ebony Coletu, Independent Scholar, Accra/Hanoi

Anne Adams, Professor Emerita, Africana Studies, Cornell University

Catey Boyle, Ph.D. Candidate, History, Harvard University

Nura Sophia Liepsner, PhD Candidate, Religion Department, Princeton University

Cheikh Thiam, Professor, English and Black Studies, Amherst College

John L. Esposito, Distinguished University Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Stephan Miescher, Professor, History, University of California, Santa Barbara

Rose Sackeyfio, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Winston Salem State University

Wael Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

Jason Young, Associate Professor, History, University of Michigan

Hanseth Fondzenyuy, Researcher, History of international Relations, Bamenda, Cameroon

Nasiba Abass, Student, Political Science, University of Ghana

Samukezi Mrubula-Ngwenya, Senior Lecturer, Department of Cultural and Political Studies, University of Limpopo.

Sarah Runcie, Assistant Professor, History, Muhlenberg College

David Newbury, Professor of History Emeritus, History Department, Smith College

Catharine Newbury, Professor Emerita of Government, Smith College

Daniel Williford, Assistant Professor, History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mariah Bender, Graduate Student, Department of History, Rice University

Stéphane Robolin, Associate Professor, Literatures in English, Rutgers, New Brunswick

Jakob Myers, PhD Student, History, Indiana University

Martin Klein, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Toronto

Wendell Marsh, Assistant Professor, Africana Studies, Rutgers University

Abdoulaye Kane, associate Professor, Anthropology and Center for African Studies, University of Florida

Mark Drury, Visiting Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program, Colgate University

Hamza Abdulai, Teacher, Ghana Education Service.

Padraig Carmody, Associate Professor, Geography, Trinity College, Dublin

Keren Weitzberg, senior lecturer and IHSS fellow, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London

Nadir A. Nasidi, Lecturer I, Department of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

Marina Mecham, PhD Candidate, History, Indiana University

Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY

Hadiza Kere Abdulrahman , Senior Lecturer, Education, University of Lincoln

Mark LeVine, Professor of History, University of California-Irvine

Rahmane Idrissa, Senior Researcher, ASC Leiden University

Bruce Whitehouse, Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, Lehigh University

Fiona Mc Laughlin, Professor of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Florida

Ragui Assaad, Professor, Humphrey School of Public affairs, University of Minnesota

Peter Alegi, Professor, History, Michigan State University

Marie Fall, Professeure, Geography and International Cooperation, Université Du Québec at Chicoutimi

Nathalie Arnold Koenings, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Hampshire College

Wale Ghazal, Graduate Student, Cyber Security, University Of The West Of Scotland

Denise Dias Barros, Professor, Art History, Universidade de São Paulo

Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed, Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC), University of California Berkeley

Dawson McCall, Visiting Assistant Professor, History, Loyola University, New Orleans

Elsa Wiehe, African Studies Center Outreach Manager, Boston University

hugo ka canham, Professor, Institute of Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa

Brenda Randolph, Outreach Director, Center for African Studies, Howard University

Joseph Hill, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta

Devaka Premawardhana, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Emory University

Amidu Sanni, Professor of African and Middle Eastern Studies with the Fountain University, Osogbo, Nigeria

Sa’diyya Shaikh, Professor, Dept for the Study of Religions, University of Cape Town

Candice Jansen, Digital Curatorial Fellow, Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape

Tanvi Kapoor, PhD candidate, History, New York University

Elizabeth W Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute, Sharjah, UAE

Ismail Rashid, Professor, History, Vassar College

Grace A Musila, Associate Professor, African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand.

Alejandra Perez Rotondo, PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley

John Wakota, Senior Lecturer, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Taleb Belghazi. Academic Director. School For International Training

Jeanette Jouili, Associate Professor, Religion, Syracuse University

Khalida Mohammed Kamal. Student. Marine and Fisheries Department, University of Ghana Legon

Mohammad Shabangu, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Colby College

Alison Okuda, Associate Professor, Department of History and Political Science, Worcester State University

Michelle Moyd, Associate Professor, Department of History, Michigan State University

Musa U Abubakar, Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

Ruth Ramsden-Karelse, Fellow, Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry

Abdoulaye Niang, Esquire, Senior Lecturer, Arts and Culture, CRAC, Gaston Berger University

Marta Scaglioni, Postdoctoral Fellow, Philosophy And Cultural Heritage, Cà Foscari University Of Venice

Robert Trent Vinson, Professor, African American & African Studies, University of Virginia

Albert R. George, J.F. Carr Professor Emeritus, Systems, Cornell University

Shaista Aziz Patel, Assistant Professor, Critical Muslim Studies, University of California-San Diego

Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi, Assistant Professor, Architecture, Barnard College, Columbia University

Akin Adesokan, Associate Professor, Cinema and Media Studies (The Media School) and Comparative Literature, Indiana University

Marcus Walton, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Boston University

Salah Hashem, Professor, Development and Planning. Fayoum Universty, Egypt

Tracy Dobson, Professor Emerita, Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University

Zoliswa Mali, Senior Lecturer and Director, Afrcan Language Program, Boston University

Carol B. Thompson, Professor Emerita, Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University

Gabe Adugna, Subject/Liaison Librarian, African Studies, Boston University

Abdou Rahim Lema, Ph.D. Candidate, Political Science, University of Montreal

Julio César Dongmo, PhD student in political science, Université de Montréal.

Anneeth Kaur Hundle, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

Camilla Houeland, Researcher, Fafo and Associate Professor, Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway

Bayan Abubakr, PhD Candidate, History, Yale University

Jennifer Bajorek, Professor, Comparative Literature and Visual Studies, Hampshire College

Zachary Levenson, Assistant Professor, Global and Sociocultural Studies, Florida International University

Andries Du Toit, Professor and Director, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape

Kojo Amanor, Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana,

Parker Shipton, Professor of Anthropology and African Studies, Dept. of Anthropology, Boston University

Alex Thurston, Associate Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Cincinnati

Emily Jenan Riley, Assistant Professor and Researcher, Centro de Estudios de Asia y África, El Colegio de México

Kathryn Mathers Associate Professor of Practice, International Comparative Studies, Duke University

Jacquelin Kataneksza, Postdoctoral Fellow, The Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, The New School

Anneke Rautenbach, Graduate Student, Comparative Literature, New York University

Danai S Mupotsa, Senior Lecturer, Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand

Abosede George, Associate Professor, History, Barnard College

Maimouna Barro, Associate Director, Center for African Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Mauro Nobili, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

S Belette Bogale, CEO, USAFI, North America

Dorothy Driver, Visiting Research Fellow, Department of English, Creative Writing and Film, University of Adelaide

Zoë Wicomb, Professor Emerita, English, Strathclyde University

Zimitri Erasmus, Associate Professor Department of Anthropology University of the Witwatersrand

Shabbir Banoobhai, writer, South African

CA Davids, novelist, South Africa

Shaida Ali, novelist, South Africa

Ismael Montana, Associate Professor, History, Northern Illinois University

Mark LeVine, Professor, History, University of California-Irvine

Ann McDougall, Professor, Department of History, Classics and Religion, University of Alberta

Francesca Declich, Professor Department of Social Communication and International and Humanities Studies DISCUI, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo.

Jesse Salah Ovadia, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of Windsor.

Job Mwaura, Research Associate, Center for Journalism, Wits University.

Chammah J. Kaunda, Assistant Professor, World Religions, Yonsei University, South Korea and Professor Extraordinaire, Religion and Theology, University of Western Cape.

Ousmane Kane, Alwaleed Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University.

Mariame Iyane Sy, Senior Lecturer, African Languages and Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Columbia University.