Biography (Abu Bah)
Prof. Abu Bakarr Bah is Professor of Sociology at Northern Illinois University (NIU) and Faculty Associate at the Center for Nonprofit & NGO Studies. He served as Coordinator of the Global Connections Pathway program at NIU. Bah is also Editor-in-Chief of African Conflict & Peacebuilding Review (ACPR) published by Indiana University Press and African Editor for Critical Sociology. He was also Senior Fellow at the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Bah is a globally renowned scholar of peace and conflict.
Professor Bah’s research interests include peace and conflict, democracy, and development. His books include Post-Conflict Institutional Design: Peacebuilding and Democracy in Africa (Zed Books, 2020), International Security and Peacebuilding: Africa, the Middle East, and Europe (Indiana University Press, 2017), Breakdown and Reconstitution: Democracy, the Nation-State, and Ethnicity in Nigeria (Lexington Books, 2005), and Ethnic Conflicts and Management Strategies in Bulgaria, Sierra Leone and Nigeria (PEFS and John Archers Publishers, 2003) His articles have been published in top journals such as African Affairs, Administrative Theory & Praxis, Journal of International Peacekeeping, Critical Sociology, International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, Journal of Political and Military Sociology, and Africa Today.
Professor Bah is a recipient of the 2014 and 2016 Carnegie Foundation African Diaspora Fellowships, the 2012 Council of American Overseas Research Centers Multi-Country Research Fellowship, and the 2015 Northern Illinois University Outstanding International Educator Award. He has conducted research and worked with universities and research centers in Kenya, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Professor Bah is a frequent guest on international media programs such as Al Jazeera and China Radio International. He has been an invited speaker at major institutions such as Stanford University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth University, Renmin University (China), University of Nairobi (Kenya), Laikipia University (Kenya), Kisii University (Kenya), United States Department of State, Social Science Research Council (New York), Global Center for Pluralism (Canada), GIGA (Germany), and Institut Prospective et Sécurité en Europe (France). He has also served as consultant to the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission and the PeaceNexus Foundation.
Professor Bah has served on the board of organizations such as the West African Research Association, the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation, Jane Adeny Memorial School for Girls in Kenya, and Adventure Works.
Professor Bah is a citizen of the United States of America. He was born and raised in Sierra Leone. He received his doctoral degree from the New School for Social Research (New York) and undergraduate degree from the University of Sofia in Bulgaria.
