Faculty

Lilian Dube is an associate professor and former chair of the Theology and Religious Studies Department at the University of San Francisco where she started in 2006 after a decade of teaching at universities in the USA and UK and the University of Zimbabwe, with tenure. In 1999, she made history as the first Black woman to earn a Doctor of Theology degree from Stellenbosch University.

She is the executive director of the film, USF in Zambia: HIV/AIDS and Social Justice, co-author of African...

Karen Bouwer, born and raised in South Africa, is Professor of French and African Studies and is also affiliated with the Honors College. After dedicating the first years of her career to questions of gender in twentieth century French poetry, she turned her attention to African literature and film. Her abiding interest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo culminated in the publication of her book Gender and Decolonization in the Congo: The Legacy of Patrice Lumumba (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)...

Brian Dowd-Uribe is an associate professor in the international studies department at the University of San Francisco. His current research explores the social, agro-ecological, and economic dimensions of food, agriculture, and water policy, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. Specifically Professor Dowd-Uribe’s research examines whether and to what extent transgenic crops benefit small farmers, the role of decentralized water governance committees in mitigating water-related...

Heather Hoag, PhD, specializes in African environmental history with an emphasis in river history, hydropower development, and development planning. Her teaching interests include African history (with a specialization in the colonial period), history of South Africa, environmental history, and food history.

Professor Hoag's research has focused on the changing values of African rivers. Her book, Developing the Rivers of East and West Africa: An Environmental History, examines from a...

Jeffrey Paller specializes in African politics and sustainable urban development. His current research examines 1) the contentious politics of African urbanization, 2) the building of sustainable neighborhoods in African cities, and 3) political change and local governance in emerging cities. His first book Democracy in Ghana: Everyday Politics in Urban Africa (Cambridge University Press) was published in 2019. He also curates the weekly news bulletin “This Week in Africa.”

Peter Claver Ajer holds a PhD in Biblical Studies (New Testament and Early Christianity) with an allied field in Political Science (Peace and Conflict Studies) and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. His book, The Death of Jesus and the Politics of Place in the Gospel of John, employs modern theories of political and social geography to determine John's construction of liberating spaces in the Fourth Gospel’s Passion Narrative. His present research methodologies include historical criticism...

Celia Stahr, PhD, developed a love of art and culture due to her many experiences traveling to Cuba, Mexico, East and Southern Africa, Western Europe, China, and every region of the United States. She has a background in modern and contemporary art history with a particular focus on issues of race and gender, as well as in African art and the diaspora. Stahr's research focuses on artists who cross cultural boundaries and the political, social, artistic, and psychological ramifications of such...

Pascal Bokar Thiam has earned his undergrad at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, a Master's Degree from Cambridge College, in Cambridge, MA, and a Doctorate Degree in Education with honors from the University of San Francisco, CA. Born in Paris, France, and raised in West Africa Mali/Senegal, Pascal Bokar is listed in the "Great Jazz Guitarists" book by Scott Yanov published by Hal Leonard. His CD "Guitar Balafonics" received Stars in 4 Downbeat Magazine and was selected as "One of the...