Akbar Virmani Ph.D.
Northwestern University

Currently a lecturer in the same department, he holds full-time appointment as the Associate Director of Northwestern's Program of African Studies. His scholarly work examines the social, economic, and political challenges facing sub-Saharan African states. He is particularly interested in international human rights issues and in questions related to the forced displacement of millions of Africans, including the meanings of exile and the problematics of socio-legal identity in the crossing of international borders.

He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Sudan, Zaire, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Uganda in an effort to better understand the complex dynamics of politics in Africa and the refugee situations on that continent.