Cheikh Anta Babou

Cheikh Anta Babou is a Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of History, part of the School of Arts & Sciences. He specializes in the history of Islam in West Africa, particularly focusing on the Muridiyya Sufi brotherhood and its transnational diaspora. He holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University (2002) and has authored seminal works on Senegalese religious history, including Fighting the Greater Jihad (2007) and The Muridiyya on the Move (2021). His research bridges colonial and postcolonial dynamics, migration studies, and religious-political intersections.

• Education: B.A. to Ph.D. across University Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar) and Michigan State University

Research interests include Sufi brotherhoods, Muslim-Christian relations, and decolonization. His work critically examines hagiographic narratives to reveal the socio-political dimensions of Islamic movements in Senegal. He has contributed chapters to six edited volumes and co-authored Territoriality and Hospitality (2024).

Teaching spans undergraduate and graduate courses on African history, colonialism, religious encounters, and migration. He served as editor of the Journal of African History (2011–2016).

His 2021 book was a Fage-Oliver Prize finalist for outstanding African scholarship. Current projects likely extend his focus on diasporic religious communities and interfaith dynamics.