UF political science professor named Carnegie Scholar

May 1, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Leonardo A. Villalón, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida and director of its Center for African Studies, has been named a 2007 Carnegie Scholar for his work studying Islam.

The award marks the first time a UF faculty member has been named a Carnegie Scholar.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York recently announced this year’s class of 21 scholars, who will receive grants of up to $100,000 each to research themes relating to Islam and the modern world over the next two years. This is the third class of Carnegie Scholars to focus on Islam.

The Carnegie Corporation’s goal in emphasizing this topic is to build a body of thoughtful and original scholarship that will help to encourage the development and expansion of the study of Islam in the U.S.

The 2007 class reflects diverse professional, ethnic and geographical backgrounds. This year many scholars are studying the Muslim diaspora in Asia, Europe and Africa. The range of fields includes gender studies, law, religion, science, history, sociology, international relations, politics, anthropology, economics, human rights and art.

Villalón’s project is entitled “Negotiating Democracy in Muslim Contexts: Political Liberalization and Religious Mobilization in the West African Sahel.” The project grows out of his extensive previous research in the region. His research specialization is the field of African politics, where he focuses on issues of Islam and politics and on democratization in the Sahelian countries of Senegal, Mali and Niger. Villalón has written several books, including “Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal.” He taught for two years as a Fulbright senior scholar at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal.

Villalón’s said his project’s main goal is to help understand the varied roles Islam can play in politics. He notes that “studying how these three Muslim countries have — against all the odds — managed to create democratic political systems can tell us much about potential alternatives in the current debate about democracy in the Muslim world.” His work will result in a book that is intended to be accessible to the public, policymakers and the academic community.

Villalón holds a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin as well as degrees from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University and Louisiana State University.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” As a grant-making foundation, the corporation will invest more than $90 million this year to fulfill Carnegie’s mission, “to do real and permanent good in this world.”