Politics | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Nassim Abu Sarari

rebsl — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:18:30 +0000

Nassim Abu Sarari is pursuing a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture at 91��ɫ. Working across critical theory, performing arts, visual culture, Islamic, and African studies, his research investigates Afro-Arab aesthetics, Afro-Asian solidarities, and colonial and postcolonial archives across historical and contemporary contexts. He holds an MA in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies from 91��ɫ, where his thesis, “Staging Sovereignty: Sudanese Theatre and the Possibility of Arabo-African Modernity, 1880–1930” (2024), examined the convergence of African, Arab, and Islamic cultural forms in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. His work centres on non-Western modernities, social and racial justice, continental African histories, and global Black cultures across Southwest Asia and North and East Africa.

Keywords: Islam in Africa, Afro-Arab, Visual Culture, Art, Politics, Philosophy, Aesthetics 

Tka C. Pinnock

rebsl — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 01:43:03 +0000

Tka C. Pinnock is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at 91��ɫ. Her research interests lie at the intersection of feminist political economy, political ecology, globalization and critical development studies where she explores the everyday politics of life work. Her dissertation project explores the constructions of indigeneity among African-descended marginalized workers as a political-economic response to the conditions of economic development, using the tourism sector in Jamaica as a case study. Pinnock’s community work also gives rise to an interest in diaspora studies and community-based research.

Temitope Oriola

rebsl — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 01:40:24 +0000

Temitope Oriola is joint Editor-in-Chief of the African Security journal and associate professor at the University of Alberta. A recipient of the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal (first presented in 1873 by the Earl of Dufferin), Oriola’s book Criminal Resistance? The Politics of Kidnapping Oil Workers is one of a small number of book-length sociological investigations of political kidnapping in the English language. Professor Oriola’s research focuses on policing and use of force by police, terrorism studies and resource-related conflict (involving tactics like political kidnappings). Publications from his research appear in leading scholarly journals, such as Sociology (the flagship journal of the British Sociological Association), the British Journal of Criminology, African Affairs, African Security, Third World Quarterly, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Review of African Political Economy, and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, among others. Dr Oriola regularly contributes to public scholarship through public talks, op-eds, media interviews and expert opinions. A decorated researcher and teacher, Professor Oriola is a two-time Carnegie fellow and the 2020 recipient of the Kathleen W. Klawe Prize for teaching excellence. He is past-president of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS).

Keywords: Policing and use of force; terrorism studies; political kidnapping