Mbaye Lo Named Director of Duke’s Islamic Studies Center and Middle East Studies Center

Mbaye Lo

Mbaye Lo has been appointed director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center and Duke University Middle East Studies Center, effective Aug. 1.

Lo, a professor of the practice of Asian and Middle Eastern studies and international comparative studies, will serve a two-year term. He succeeds Adam Mestyan, who in July joined the faculty at Harvard University.

Lo has written or edited nine books that examine the intersection of intellectual and social discourse of Arabic/Islamic and African cultures, including most recently “I Cannot Write My Life Islam, Arabic, and Slavery in Omar Ibn Said's America,” with Carl Ernst, (UNC Press, 2023) and “Sheikh Moussa Kamara's Islamic Critique of Jihadists” (Lexington Books, 2023). He has written widely on political Islam, Arabic literary traditions in West Africa, and ideas of civil society and governance.

A member of the Faculty Working Group for the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, Lo last year co-led a Bass Connections project team that aimed to increase tolerance for opposing viewpoints and mitigate suffering by engaging students in civil discourse around humanitarian crises in the Middle East and beyond. He is a recipient of a National Humanities Center fellowship; the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship on Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs; the DukeEngage Program Director Award; and the Duke University Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Originally from Senegal, Lo completed his undergraduate and graduate training in classical Arabic language and literature at the International University of Africa, Khartoum, and Khartoum International Institute for Arabic Language, Sudan. He earned an MA in American history from Cleveland State University and a PhD from Cleveland State’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. His dissertation was titled “Re-inventing Civil Society-Based Governance in Africa: Theories and Practices.”    

The Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC) is a diverse community of scholars and students engaged in interdisciplinary teaching, interactive learning, and cutting-edge research about Islam and Muslims. The Duke University Middle East Studies Center is a hub for research, policy, education, public events, and outreach about the Middle East.