Kim Searcy

About

Kim Searcy (Ph.D., Indiana University, 2004; B.S., University of Indianapolis, 1989) is Associate Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago where he teaches courses on Islam, Islam in East Africa, African history, slavery in Muslim Africa, and Islam in the African American experience.

Prof. Searcy has written extensively on the Sudan and the historical impact of African slavery in the Sudan. His first book The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State: Symbols and Ceremony, 1882-1898 (Brill, 2010) is part of Brill’s “Islam in Africa” series.  Prof. Searcy has examined Sufism, the Mahdi's attitudes on slavery, the slave trade, and emancipation, as well as the impact of charismatic authority on the Khalifa.  His current research examines the Muslim Brotherhood in northern Africa, specifically comparing the evolution of the Brotherhood in Egypt and the Sudan in the second half of the twentieth century.

Prof. Searcy previously taught at Colorado College (1999-2000, 2003), the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (2000-01, 2002), Oberlin College (2001-2002, 2003) and Lehman College of the City University of New York (2003).

Research Interests

African studies, Near Eastern languages and cultures, Islamic revivalism in 19^th century Africa, slavery in Muslim societies, the role of Islamic mysticism in African Islamic polities, Islam and the African Diaspora

Courses Taught

Islam in the Sudan and the Horn of Africa from the seventh century C.E. to the 19^th century

Survey of Islam

African History Since 1600

Slavery in Muslim Africa

Islam in the African-American Experience

Selected Publications

The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State: Symbols and Ceremony, 1882-1898. New York: Brill, 2010.

“The Mahdi's Attitudes on Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Emancipation,” Journal of Islamic Africa, vol. 1, no. 1 (May 2010): 63-83.

“The Khalifa and the Routinization of Charismatic Authority,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 43, no. 3 (Dec. 2010): 1-13.