Zubairu Wai

Last updated
Zubairu Wai
Zubairu Wai.jpg
OccupationAcademic
Education
Notable awardsAssociation of Third World Studies (ATWS) Toyin Falola Book Award 2013

Zubairu Wai (born 8 August 1973) is a Sierra-Leonean historian and political scientist. [1] [2] He is associate professor of political science and global development studies at University of Toronto. [1] [3] [4] In 2013, he received the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS) Toyin Falola Africa book award for his book Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone (2012). [5] He is a member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC). [6]

Contents

Education

Wai studied at the University of Sierra Leone, graduating with an Honours BA degree in history. [1] On full scholarship, he studied international relations at the International University of Japan, graduating top of his class with an MA in International Relations with high distinction in 2004. Under the supervision of Professor Ananya Mukherjee Reed at York University, Wai earned his PhD in political science in 2010, specialising in international relations and comparative politics, with research focus on Africa. His doctoral research was supported by the IDRC Doctoral Research Award, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and the Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship. [2]

Career

Wai held a postdoctoral fellowship at York University's International Secretariat for Human Development in 2010 and was awarded a SSHRC Postdoctoral fellowship in 2011 to study under Congolese philosopher V.Y. Mudimbe at Duke University, but opted for a faculty appointment at Lakehead University. [2] From 2010 to 2021, he taught in the Department of Political Science at Lakehead University. In 2021, he joined the Department of Global Development Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with graduate appointment in the Department of Political Science at the St George campus. [7]

Scholarship and research

According to his faculty profile, Wai's "research takes up epistemological questions regarding the nature, conditions, and limits of disciplinary knowledge and practices in International Relations, Development Studies, Conflict and Security Studies, and African Studies. Specifically, he focuses on how the intersections of power and coloniality frame the discourses and political economy of knowledge, violence, conflict, development, and state formation in Africa, and the Global South more broadly." [7] A review in the journal Africa Today (2013) highlighted his contribution to rethinking epistemological approaches to African conflict studies. [8] Zubairu has authored books known to address epistemological questions, decolonization in Africa, Pan-Africanism, Knowledge production, Coloniality and Empire. [9] [10]

Wai is co-editor with Marta iniguez de Heredia of Recentering Africa in International Relations: Beyond Lack, Peripherality, and Failure (2018), which was praised in E-International Relations for challenging Eurocentrism in IR. [11] In 2024, he published an edited volume Africa Beyond Inventions: Essays in Honour of V.Y. Mudimbe, described by Springer as a "rich critical engagement" with Mudimbe’s work across multiple disciplines. [12] He is also a contributing author to The Sage Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies (2025). [13] His forthcoming work, Thinking the Colonial Library: Mudimbe, Gnosis, and the Predicament of Africanist Knowledge is under contract with Routledge and scheduled for publication in 2026. [14]

In November 2024, Wai delivered a keynote address titled “Indigenous African Knowledge and the Challenge of Epistemic Translation” at the AFRIAK Conference in Dakar, Senegal at a Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa launch of the African fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledge conference. The address was published in CODESRIA Bulletin Online No. 6, reflecting his engagement with African research institutions. [15] He also delivered a moving tribute to V.Y. Mudimbe at the CODESRIA Conference on Academic Freedom in Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in May 2025, celebrating his intellectual legacy. The tribute was published in CODESRIA Bulletin Online No. 4, 2025. [16]

Honours

Wai was awarded the ATWS Toyin Falola Africa Book Award for 2013, which he won for his book Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra-Leone (2012). [5] [17]

Views

As a member of Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective, an organization of scholars with a mission to resist imperialism, Wai has demonstrated solidarity with Palestine. [18] He co-edited the book, The Sage Handbook on Peace and Conflict Studies (2025). [19]

Along with other African intellectuals, Wai demanded for dialogue and conflict resolution between the Ethiopian government and the National regional government of Tigray. [20] [21]

Influences

Wai's influences include reggae icon Peter Tosh for his uncompromising championing of the cause of anti-oppression and global justice. [22]

Selected books

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sierra Leonean Academic Excels in Canada". The Patriotic Vanguard. 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2025-08-13.
  2. 1 2 3 "Vanguard Features Editor Bags Prestigious Scholarship". The Patriotic Vanguard. 2007-04-23. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  3. ↑ "Zubairu Wai". GA Sciences. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  4. ↑ "Sierra Leoneans demand change in political approach | Politico SL". www.politicosl.com. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  5. 1 2 "Congratulation Dr. Zubairu Wai! The Winner of the Association of Third World Scholars (ATWS) for the best book on Africa published in 2012-2013". Lakehead University. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  6. ↑ "Zubairu Wai". anti-imperialists.com. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  7. 1 2 "Faculty Profile: Zubairu Wai". University of Toronto Scarborough. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  8. ↑ Kandeh, Zubairu (2013). "Review of Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism and the War in Sierra Leone". Africa Today. 60 (2). Indiana University Press: 108–110. doi:10.2979/africatoday.60.2.108. JSTOR   27042200.
  9. ↑ Wai, Zubairu (2012-03-01). "Neo-patrimonialism and the discourse of state failure in Africa". Review of African Political Economy. 39 (131). doi: 10.1080/03056244.2012.658719 . ISSN   0305-6244.
  10. ↑ Iñiguez de Heredia, Marta; Wai, Zubairu, eds. (2018). Recentering Africa in International Relations. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-67510-7. ISBN   978-3-319-67509-1.
  11. ↑ "Recentering Africa in International Relations: Beyond Lack, Peripherality, and Failure (Book Review)". International Relations Journal. 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  12. ↑ Wai, Zubairu, ed. (2024). Africa Beyond Inventions: Essays in Honour of V.Y. Mudimbe. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-57120-6. ISBN   9783031571206 . Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  13. ↑ "Author: Zubairu Wai". SAGE Publications. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "Forum Speaker: Zubairu Wai". African Studies Global Virtual Forum. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  15. ↑ Zubairu Wai (May 2025). "Indigenous African Knowledge and the Challenge of Epistemic Translation". CODESRIA Bulletin. No. 6. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  16. ↑ Wai, Zubairu (May 2025). "V. Y. Mudimbe: A Tribute". CODESRIA Bulletin. No. 4. ISSN   0850-8712.
  17. ↑ "Toyin Falola Africa Book Award — AGSS Awards". Georgia Southern University — AGSS Awards. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  18. ↑ "Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective". anti-imperialists.com. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  19. ↑ Hallward, Maia Carter; Kim, Ji Eun; Mouly, Cécile; Seidel, Timothy; Wai, Zubairu (2025-06-07). The Sage Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies. SAGE Publications. ISBN   978-1-0362-0238-5.
  20. ↑ "African intellectuals call for urgent action in Ethiopia". University World News. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  21. ↑ "An open call by African intellectuals for urgent action on Ethiopia". African Arguments. 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
  22. ↑ Wai, Zubairu (2017-09-12). "Remembering the Bush Doctor". The Patriotic Vanguard. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
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