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CAS Student Spotlight: Week of April 19th

Macodou Fall is a PhD Candidate and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He holds a BA and a Master’s degree in English from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Ohio University. Macodou’s research includes, among others, Islam in Africa, Sufism, Islamic ethics, and Islamic popular culture with a focus on the Mouride Sufi order, which was founded in Senegal at the end of the nineteenth century. Macodou is particularly interested in interpreting qasidas or praise poems and how the inter-relationality between Sufi texts and Sufi disciples contributes to framing decentered agency and voices in a way that differs from the traditional hierarchal structure that has long been predominant in many Muslim societies. Macodou has been affiliated with CAS since 2018 as a Summer AFLI language instructor of Wolof and French and as a research associate with the Islam in Africa Working Group and the Sahel Research Group.

Macodou aims to continue working in academia at the end of his program and use the knowledge he gained throughout his studies and research to help broaden the humanities curriculum with more inclusive teaching methods.