2015 Ethno-Religious Mediation's Honorary Award, 2006 Outstanding Scholar Award, 2006 Excellence in Scholarship and Service Award, Distinguished Scholar Award, Middle Atlantic Writers Association, 1995.
Abdul Karim Bangura (Born August 26, 1953) is an academic with five PhDs in Political Science, Development Economics, Linguistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics.[1][2] He speaks up to 19 languages,[3] including Kiswahili, Spanish, Italian, French, Arabic, Swedish, Mende, and Kikuyu and has published and authored more than 100 books and written over 700 articles.[4] He has won over 50 service awards, including the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation's Honorary Award (2015)[5], Outstanding Scholar Award (2006), the Excellence in Scholarship and Service Award (2006), and the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Middle Atlantic Writers Association in 1995.[6][7][8]
Sourced as the most educated person in Africa,[9] and one of the most educated people in the world,[10] Bangura is currently Researcher-in-Residence of Abrahamic Connections at the American University's Center for Global Peace in Washington, D.C., and the Dean of the CODESRIA College of Mentors Institute for doctoral candidates, Dakar.[7]
Education
Bangura's educational background[11] includes an associate degree from Northern Virginia Community College (1978), a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from American University (1982), and a Master of Science from Stockholm University, Sweden (1983). Additionally, he earned a Master of Science in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1989 and a Diploma in Computer Programming from the Foley-Belsaw Institute in 1990. He holds the following doctoral degrees: Political Science from Howard University in 1987, Development Economics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1990, Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1992, Computer Science from Columbus University, New Orleans in 2001, and Mathematics from Columbus University.
Early life
Abdul Karim Bangura was born on August 26, 1953,[12] in Bo, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, to Alie Kunda Bangura and Fatmata Jalloh Bangura. His mother came from a ruling family in Futa Djallon, and his father, an ethnic Temne, was a scion of the Bangura Chiefs of Port Loko, Northern Sierra Leone, an engineer, and a founding member of the All People's Congress Party.[13][8]
Growing up in Sierra Leone, he attended Independence Primary and Secondary School in Freetown. Bangura's family background and his father's principled stance against injustice deeply inspired him throughout his life and work. Bangura moved to the United States in the early 1970s, where he completed most of his education and became a naturalisedcitizen.[13]
Career
Bangura began his professionalcareer in the United States in 1975, working as a services supervisor with the US Army and Air Force Exchange Services until 1979. Around this time, he also managed a McDonald's for one year (1979–1980).[14][15][8] From 1986 to 1990, Bangura served as an adjunct professor of business and marketing studies at Sojourner-Douglass College, and worked as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution (1986–1987) and from 1989 to 1992 was an adjunct professor as well as co-director of the Alcohol Intervention Institute.[8][14][15]
Between 1991 and 1994, he instructed business technologies and management at the National Education Center in Phoenix, Arizona. From 1993 to 2000, he was an assistant professor of political science at Bowie State University, Maryland.[8][14][15] He lectured as a professorial lecturer and professor at various universities including Howard University (adjunct professor 1989-92, professorial lecturer from 1998 onward), Georgetown University (Schiff Summer Program Professor, 1994–1996), American University (professorial lecturer 1999-2000, professor of international relations from 2000), and University of Maryland (co-director of International Communication and Negotiation Simulations Project in 2000).[8][14][15]
Bangura's roles also extended beyond academia into advisory and coordination positions. He served on the Intergovernmental Relations Task Force for the Mayor of Washington, D.C. (1994-1998), was a member of an advisory board at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone (2005 onward), and coordinated various lecture series and undergraduate research conferences, particularly at Howard University and American University.[8][14][15] He had held titles such as professor of Research Methodology and Public Policy at Howard University, researcher-in-residence at the Center for Global Peace at American University, coordinator for undergraduate research initiatives, faculty advisor to multiple student organisations, and director of The African Institution in Washington, D.C.[8][14][15]
Bangura is currently Researcher-in-Residence of Abrahamic Connections at the American University's Center for Global Peace in Washington, D.C., and the Dean of the CODESRIA College of Mentors Institute for doctoral candidates, Dakar.[7]
Personal life
In November 1979, Bangura married Diana Marie Kelly, and they have two daughters.[15]
Selected publications
The African Mother Tongue and Mathematical Ideas. Vernon Press, 2020. ISBN9781622738182
Culpability of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Multidisciplinary (Editor). ISBN9780761868354
African Mathematics: From Bones to Computers. University Press of America, 2011. ISBN0761853480
A Comprehensive Introduction to Research Methods (Volume 1): Quantitative Methods. Cognella Academic Publishing, 2011. ISBN9781609278540
Ebonics Is Good. Cognella Academic Publishing, 2010. ISBN9781609279011
Introduction to Islam: A Sociological Perspective. Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 2005. ISBN9780823917655
Computer Programming to Insure Project Accountability in Africa. iUniverse, 2001. ISBN059519642X
Research Methodology and African Studies, Vol. I. University Press of America, 1994. ISBN0819193933
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