Political Science Faculty

Brett O'Bannon

Ph.D. (Indiana University)
M.A. (University of Louisville)

Assistant Professor
U2 O'Hair House
Phone: (765) 658-4157
E-mail: bobannon@depauw.edu
Vita

Brett O'Bannon’s appointment at DePauw has him teaching courses in Political Science with relevance for three interdisciplinary programs: Black Studies (Africa), Conflict Studies, and Women’s Studies. His teaching portfolio includes Introduction to Comparative Politics, International Politics, African Politics, Women & World Politics, and US Foreign Policy. He and his colleague Tamara Beauboeuf (Departments of Sociology and Education) teach “Transatlantic Hip Hop: History, Politics and (Pop) Culture in Senegal, West Africa,” which is a Winter Term experiential course.

Brett’s research interests and publications are in several areas related to political and economic development in the Third World generally, and West Africa specifically. He has published-in French and in English, in the US and in Africa- articles related to gender and development, governance and conflict management. His Ph.D. dissertation explores the implications of neoliberal reform for local-scale conflict management in Senegal. His current projects include the analysis of early warning indicators of violent conflict and the articulation of a peasant narrative of development.

Brett is also the principal investigator for The Kungani Archives project. The Kungani Archives is an intercollegiate and international collaborative effort composed of researchers at the Clark University, Michigan State University, and the Université de Gaston Berger in Senegal. Their efforts serve to catalogue, preserve, and make accessible the life work of Adrian Adams-So – the noted anthropologist, activist, and 25-year resident of the Senegal River Valley. The online archive will soon be opened at the African Online Digital Library (www.aodl.org).

Brett and his wife Valerie recently welcomed the birth of their new daughter, Rowan Rudolph O'Bannon on November 19, 2007. They like to camp with their dogs Cody and Maverick, and are new scuba divers.