Naeema Hussein El Kout
I am writing to nominate myself for the positions of Treasurer and Executive Board Member of the IASG Executive Board. As a scholar, community leader, and advocate for advancing knowledge about Muslim societies and cultures in Africa, I am confident in my ability to contribute meaningfully to IASG.
I hold a Master of Science in Physiotherapy, a Master of Global Health, and have completed my PhD thesis in public health policy and rehabilitation, to be submitted in March 2025, in sha Allah. As a lecturer and researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, my work centers on public health, community development, and leadership—aligning with IASG’s mission. I was introduced to IASG by Prof Usmane Kane at the African Studies Association meeting in Chicago in 2025.
My Islamic studies background includes completing a three-year program at Rawdatul Ilm Institute in South Africa and participating in national Qira’ah competitions. I served on the executive committee of the Islamic Medical Association of South Africa (IMASA) and contribute to Awqaf South Africa and the World Muslim Communities Council (WMCC). These roles have sharpened my skills in financial oversight, project management, and community engagement.
I am eager to bring these strengths to IASG and help advance its vision.
Yunus Dumbe
My interest to take an executive position of Islam in Africa Study Group is borne out of a desire to network with colleagues and senior colleagues on matters of mutual benefits in academia. Islam in Africa represents a unique international platform for me as its mission sums up the foundation of my scholarship. I am a trained scholar in history of religion with specialization in Islamic Studies as my research and teaching discipline. While I have been teaching and researching on Islam in Africa, I yearn to network with colleagues in order to understand contemporary trends in the discipline. My areas of research include; Islamic revival and reform in Africa, religion and terrorism as well as violent extremism and the politics of Islamic humanitarianism. It is my believe that Islam in Africa Study Group will offer the unique space for academics based in Africa to enhance and develop the intellectual capacity of colleagues.
Yekatit Tsehayu
Yekatit Getachew Tsehayu, a scholar from Ethiopia, is a PhD candidate at the Department of Religion, University of Florida—poised to graduate in Spring 2025. Her research interests, which are both diverse and profound, include contemporary Islam and women in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, Islam and media, and Religion and migration. Her PhD dissertation, “Women in Muslim Revivalist Movement: ‘Yetemarech’ Ethiopian Muslim from Intersectional Victimhood to Agent of Change,” is a unique and timely exploration of the experiences and trajectories of university-educated Muslim women, as they strive to balance piety and professionalism, while negotiating competing expectations of the state, religion, and society in post-1991 Ethiopia.
She served as a board member of two local non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia:
- 2014-2017: Board member, Give Water, works to distribute clean water in the southern and eastern parts of rural Ethiopia)
- 2015-2019: Founding board member, Empathy for Life Integrated Development Association (ELiDA), works to prevent illegal young females’ labor immigration to the Middle East and Gulf countries