Slavery
Kim Searcy
Title/s: Associate Professor
Specialty Area: African Studies, Islamic Studies
Office #: Crown Center 531
Phone: 773.508.2239
Email: ksearcy@luc.edu
CV Link: Searcy CV
About
Kim Searcy (Ph.D., Indiana University, 2004; B.S., University of Indianapolis, 1989) is Associate Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago where he teaches courses on Islam, Islam in East Africa, African history, slavery in Muslim Africa, and Islam in the African American experience.
Prof. Searcy has written extensively on the Sudan and the historical impact of African slavery in the Sudan. His first book The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State: Symbols and Ceremony, 1882-1898 (Brill, 2010) is part of Brill’s “Islam in Africa” series. Prof. Searcy has examined Sufism, the Mahdi's attitudes on slavery, the slave trade, and emancipation, as well as the impact of charismatic authority on the Khalifa. His current research examines the Muslim Brotherhood in northern Africa, specifically comparing the evolution of the Brotherhood in Egypt and the Sudan in the second half of the twentieth century.
Prof. Searcy previously taught at Colorado College (1999-2000, 2003), the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (2000-01, 2002), Oberlin College (2001-2002, 2003) and Lehman College of the City University of New York (2003).
Research Interests
African studies, Near Eastern languages and cultures, Islamic revivalism in 19th century Africa, slavery in Muslim societies, the role of Islamic mysticism in African Islamic polities, Islam and the African Diaspora
Courses Taught
Islam in the Sudan and the Horn of Africa from the seventh century C.E. to the 19th century
Survey of Islam
African History Since 1600
Slavery in Muslim Africa
Islam in the African-American Experience
Selected Publications
The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State: Symbols and Ceremony, 1882-1898. New York: Brill, 2010.
“The Mahdi's Attitudes on Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Emancipation,” Journal of Islamic Africa, vol. 1, no. 1 (May 2010): 63-83.
“The Khalifa and the Routinization of Charismatic Authority,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 43, no. 3 (Dec. 2010): 1-13.