William F.S. Miles

• Stotsky Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies
• Israel Institute Research Grant
• National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey, 2013.
• Quebec Studies Program research grant (Government of Québec, Ministry of International Relations and Francophonie). “Francophone Sephardim in Montreal: Institutional, Diplomatic, and Demographic Trends,” 2009-10.
• National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Research Stipend for electoral study of French Antilles, 2007.
• National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Zion in the Desert. American Jews in Israel’s Reform Kibbutzim, 2007.
• Earhart Foundation Fellowship for book research support on comparative colonialism, 2006.
• Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research grant (American Philosophical Society) for “Field Work in Upper Mekong,” 2005.
• Robert D. Klein Lecturer. “Rhythm ‘n Jews. The Musical Interplay Between Blacks and Jews in America.” Northeastern University, March 8, 2001.
• American Philosophical Society grant for research on “African Border Life at the Millennium,”awarded 2000.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Center for Advanced Studies, nationally competitive Summer Seminar for Faculty, 2000.
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship for Africa (Mauritius), 1996-7.
• Academic Specialist Program, United States Information Agency, February 1992. Was featured speaker at American Studies Association of Nigeria conference on “Democracy, Nationalism, and National Integration.”
• Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship for the Pacific Islands (New Caledonia, Vanuatu), 1991.
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers, 1989.
• American Institute of Indian Studies Professional Development Grant, 1987-8.
• Fulbright Short-Term Research Grant for Nigeria, 1986.
• International Security Studies Research Grant (Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy), 1984.
• Fulbright Research Fellowship for Nigeria, 1983-4.
• Shell International Studies Research Fellowship, 1982-3.
• Edmund A. Gullion Prize (The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy), 1982.
• Fletcher School Fellowship, 1981-2.
• Fulbright-Hays French Government Teaching Assistantship for Martinique, 1980-1.
• Peabody Fellowship for International Studies, 1979-80.
• Phi Beta Kappa, elected 1977.
• U.S. Representative to International Bible Contest, Jerusalem, 1971.
• First Place Winner, National Bible Contest, 1970.

• Scars of Partition: Postcolonial Legacies in French and British Borderlands. University of Nebraska Press, 2014.
• Afro-Jewish Encounters From Timbuktu to the Indian Ocean and Beyond. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2014.
• Jews of Nigeria: An Afro-Judaic Odyssey. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2013. (Finalist for a 2013 National Jewish Book Award)
• My African Horse Problem. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 2008.
• Zion in the Desert. American Jews in Israel’s Reform Kibbutzim. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. (Finalist for a 2007 National Jewish Book Award)
• Political Islam in West Africa. State-Society Relations Transformed. Boulder & London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007
• Bridging Mental Boundaries in a Postcolonial Microcosm: Identity and Development in Vanuatu. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1998
• Imperial Burdens: Countercolonialism in Former French India. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1995
• Hausaland Divided: Colonialism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994 (ChoiceMagazine Outstanding Academic Book and Encyclopedia Brittanica Book of the Year distinction)
• Elections in Nigeria: A Grassroots Perspective. London: Lynne Rienner, 1988
• Elections and Ethnicity in French Martinique: A Paradox in Paradise. New York: Praeger, 1986
•  “The Islamic State won’t find it easy to wipe out postcolonial borders.” The Washington Post
• “Taking Apart Boko Haram.” Cognoscenti (NPR)
• “Postcolonial Borderland Legacies of Anglo–French Partition in West Africa.” African Studies Review
• “Deploying Development to Counter Terrorism: Post-9/11 Transformation of U.S. Foreign Aid to Africa.” African Studies Review
• “Among the ‘Jubos’ on the Festival of Lights.” Transition 105 (2011).
• “Bulls, Goats, and Pedagogy: Engaging Students in Overseas Development Aid.” PS: Political Science and Politics 42 (2009)
• “A Used Book, A Lost Era.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (2013)
• “An Unquiet Sabbatical.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 55:20 (2009)
• “The Rabbi’s Well: A Case Study in the Micropolitics of Foreign Aid in Muslim West Africa.” African Studies Review 51:1 (2008)
• “Islamism in West Africa: Internal Dynamics and U.S. Responses.” The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 32:2 (2008)
• “Letter from Ouagadougou.” The Antioch Review 64:1 (2006)
• “The Niger We Should Know.” The Boston Globe (August 2005)
• “Hannuka in Niger” Hadassah Magazine, (December 2004)

Professional Activities

• National Public Radio Commentator
  • “Horse Problem” (click on “Real Media”)
  • “African Horse Lesson” (click on “Real Media”)
  • “E-mails from Africa” (click on “Real Media”)
  • “Faith and Compassion”
  • “Race”
  • “Kindness”
  • “Trust”
  • “Dropped G’s” (click on “Real Media”)
  • Interview on Tell Me More with Michelle Martin
  • Interview on Here and Now with Sacha Pfeiffer
  • “Second Chances”
  • “Cherished Mementos”
• Symposium Convenor
  • “Third World Views of the Holocaust”
  • “Aimé Césaire Memorial Symposium and Exhibit”

Videos

The following video is about Professor Miles’ most recent book, My African Horse Problem.

Professor Miles addresses the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University in its Contemplating Alternate Israeli Narratives for Peace series.

Professor Miles was interviewed on “The Washington Forum,” a VOA French-to-Africa TV production. He is introduced at 6:40 into the segment.