Ethiopian, East African, & Indian Ocean Research Network

(Photo of 2023 East Africa AADS study abroad led by Dr. Hewan Girma and Dr. David Aarons)

Established in 2019 to create a vibrant intellectual space for faculty and students to engage through research, coursework, conference panels, workshops, and public lectures in the histories, cultures, and societies of Ethiopia and East Africa as part of the Indian Ocean world within the global African Diaspora. A project of the African American & African Diaspora Studies Program and Lloyd International Honors College.

L to R: Dr. Omar Ali, Dr. Elizabeth Perrill, Dr. David Aarons, Dr. Becky Muich, Dr. Neelofer Qadir, Dr. Hewan Girma, Dr. Andrew Mbuvi

Dr. Neelofer Qadir and Dr. Omar Ali with colleagues from around the world at the “Global Africa meets Global Asia” workshop at NYU Abu Dhabi in 2023, co-convened by Dr. Shobana Shankar and Dr. David Ludden (center)

Dr. Sarah Derbew, Harvard Society of Fellows, lecture “Parsing Blackness in Greek Antiquity,” event co-sponsored with AADS, Classical Studies, and Lloyd International Honors College. (Photo: L to R, Dr. Omar Ali, Dr. Becky Much, Dr. Sarah Derbew, Prof. Michael Cauthen, and Dr. Hewan Girma).

(below) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, visit with AADS and Honors students from “Africans in the Greco-Roman World” AADS/Honors class with Dr. Muich and Dr. Ali and student from NC State University, through Mellon funding support

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Note on our logo: the green, yellow and red colors represent Ethiopian and other East African flag colors, with a little blue for Tanzania; green and some red are also part of Arabian Peninsular and South Asian flags; the brown and black are prominent to signify and center black and brown people; the dhow represents the mode of transportation that historically connected East Africa with South Asia through maritime trade and travels over the Indian Ocean. For us, it symbolizes the interdisciplinary connections we are making through this research network that enable us to stretch and learn from one another.