Dr. Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler Western Michigan University, Department of English 1903 W. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5320 Home Address: 729 Whites Road Kalamazoo, MI 49008 Home Tel: (269) 276-8004 Email: mmirzele@wmich.edu PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE Education: Ph.D. in Anthropology University of Wisconsin, Madison, (1999) Dissertation: Veiled Histories and the Childhood Memories of a Storyteller M.A. in Anthropology; minor in African Studies University of Wisconsin, Madison, (1995) B.A. in Sociology; minor in Psychology California State University, San Bernardino (1989) Languages: Academic Appointments & Teaching Experience: Turkish native language; Kurdish Native language; Azeri fluent in reading and speaking; Uzbek understanding knowledge; Jie (East African) reading and speaking knowledge; Turkana (East African) reading and speaking knowledge; Kiswahili (East African) reading and speaking knowledge; German reading and speaking knowledge Associate Professor, Department of English Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, (2008 to present) Associate Professor, Comparative Religion Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo (2007-2008) Assistant Professor, Comparative Religion Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo (2005-2006) Assistant Professor, Africana Studies Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, (2002-2004)
Visiting Assistant Professor Department of Anthropology, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, (2001-2002) Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Beloit College, Wisconsin (2000-2001) Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Knox College, Illinois (1999-2000) Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison (1998) Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Richland-Center (1998) PUBLICATIONS Books: Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison (1997 and 1998) Lake Rudolf (Turkana) as Colonial Icon in East Africa. This is a special volume which I edited for Ethnohistory journal. This volume appeared in the form of a book and it was published by Duke University Press in 2006. Journal Articles & Chapters: Situational Deployment of Stories, in Power of Doubt, edited by Paul Landau Parallel Press (2011), pp. 176-193. Sorghum as a Gift of Self: The Jie Oral Tradition as Memory, History in Africa, 36 (2009), 390-415 The Importance of Being Honest: Verifying Citations, Rereading Historical Sources, and Establishing Authority in the Great Karamoja Debate, History in Africa Volume 34(2007), 421-426 The Trickster of Karamoja, History in Africa, Volume 34(2007), 383-409 The Journey of Major Rayne on the Banks of Turkwell River: Silent Political Assignment and Travel Writing, History in Africa, Volume 33 (2006), 271-286. The Embodiment of the Voyage of Sir Vivian Fuchs to the South Island in the Elmolo Oral Tradition, Ethnohistory Volume 53:1 (2006), 196-219. 2
Stories, Tales, and Historical Tradition, in World Folklore and Folklife, edited by William M. Clements, Greenwood Press (2006), 131-137. Reading Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes, History in Africa, Volume 32 (2005), 281-294. Oral Tradition of Origin as a Repeated Event, Ethnohistory, (51: 2 2004), 223-256. The Metaphor of Sorghum Grain in Jie Cosmology, in Encyclopedia of African Folklore, edited by Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah, Routledge Press (2003) The Emergence of Lake Rudolf as an Iconic Colonial Space, History in Africa (spring 2002), 321-336. Rethinking African Politics: An Interview with Crawford Young, African Studies Review (spring 2002), 103-114. My Childhood, and the Legends of Kurdistan, in Remembering Childhood in the Middle East: Memoirs From a Century of Change, edited by Elizabeth Fernea, University of Texas Press (2002), pp. 329-339. Transnationalism, Globalization, and the Transformation of Islamic Space in the Middle East, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, (October 2001) Pastoral Politics in the Northeast Periphery in Uganda: AK-47 As a Change Agent, Journal of Modern African Studies, (co-authored with Crawford Young with Mirzeler as the principle author), (September 2000), 407-429. The Roots of Violence Against Women: Kurdish Stories and Storytellers, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, (October 2000), 261-269. A Window to Kurdish Questions in Turkey, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, (October 1997) Book Review: Hikaye: Turkish Folk Romance as Performance Art, by Ilhan Basgoz (2008) Journal of Folklore Research, (2008) 3
The History of Islam in Africa edited by Levtzion, Nehemia & Randall L. Pouwels (2000), reviewed for Africa Today (2001) Islam and politics in Kenya by Arye Oded (2000), reviewed for African Studies Review (2002) Mountain Farmers: Moral Economies of Land & Agricultural Development in Arusha and Meru, by Thomas Spear (1997) reviewed for Azania: Journal of The British Institute in Eastern Africa (1997) Manuscript under Review: RESEARCH AND GRANTS African Storytellers: Oral Traditions of Jie of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya (Indiana University Press) External Grants Funded: National Endowment for Humanities Summer Stipend, $5,000. This grant supported the last phase of my ongoing historical ethnography of the Elmolo people in northern Kenya entitled, The Voyage of Sir Vivian Fuchs to Legendary South Island: The Elmolo People, the Europeans and the Transcultual Encounters on the Shores of Lake Rudolf. This project was a part of my longitudinal study of Elmolo ritual performance to understand the incorporation of Sir Vivian Fuchs as an ancestral hero into Elmolo cosmology. (Summer 2003) Wenner-Gren Foundation, $8,700. This grant supported my research entitled Oral History of an Ethnological Space: Ethnographies of Karamoja Plateau and Lake Turkana Through Thick and Thin. The purpose of this research was to preserve and reinterpret the personal narratives of anthropologists who conducted their fieldwork between 1940 and 1960 in East Africa. For this research I interviewed the following anthropologists: Philip Gulliver, Pamela Gulliver, Neville Dyson-Hudson, Rada Dyson- Hudson, Paul Spencer, and Elizabeth Marshall-Thomas. I also interviewed the following ex-colonial Officers: James Barber, June Barber, and Terence Gavaghan. (October 2001-July 2002) John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur, $15,000. This grant supported thirteen months of my ethnographic 4
research on oral tradition among the Jie people in the Karamoja Plateau in northern Uganda, and among the Turkana people in northern Kenya, investigating the reproduction of history and memory in storytelling traditions which culminated with my dissertation entitled Veiled Histories, and the Childhood Memories of a Jie Storyteller in 1999. (May 1996- August 1997) Social Science Research Council: International Predissertaion Fellowship Program, $27,000. This grant supported twelve months of exploratory ethnographic research and language training among the Elmolo fishermen and the Turkana pastoralists in northern Kenya. (September 1994-October 1995) Title VI, Area Study Fellowship, $3,000. This grant supported intensive Kiswahili language training at the University of California Los Angeles. (Summer 1991) Internal Grants Funded: Western Michigan University, Support for Faculty Scholars Award (SFSA), $1,900.00 Western Michigan University (Comparative Religion), $795. This grant provided support for my publication arrangements and scholarly contact. (Summer 2006) Western Michigan University, $6,500. This grant provided support for my exploratory research on the impact of democratization and economic liberalization on women in Azerbaijan and Uganda as a comparative case study. (Summer 2006) Western Michigan University, $5,000. This grant provided supplemental support to my research entitled, Voyage of Sir Vivian Fuchs to the South Island: The Elmolo People, the Europeans, and the Transcultural Exchanges on the Shores of Lake Rudolf which was funded by the National Endowment for Humanities Summer Stipend Grant (Summer 2003) Haenicke Institute Faculty Development Grant, Western Michigan University, $700. This grant provided supplemental support to my research entitled Oral History of an Ethnological Space: Ethnographies of Karamoja 5
Plateau and Lake Turkana Through Thick and Thin which was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. (Fall 2002) Travel grant, Max Planck Institute, the Center for Research in Africa $2,000. This grant supported travel and accommodation expenses to a conference entitled Shifting Alliances in East Africa which was held in Germany. (Summer 2001) Beloit College Faculty Development Grant, $2,000. This grant supported African material culture exhibition at the Logan Museum. (Spring 2001) Travel grant, Beloit College, $1,000. This grant funded my travel to San Francisco to present a paper during the Annual Anthropological Association meeting. (Fall 2000) Travel and research grant, Knox College, $1,500. This grant provided additional support for my travel to Israel to participate in a conference entitled Mediterranean Literature and Civilizations in Tel Aviv University. (July 2000) Travel grant, Knox College $700. This grant funded my travel expenses to Annual Anthropological Association to present a paper. (November 2000) Faculty Development and Scholarly Activity Grant, Knox College, $3,000. This grant funded Gender and Islam Lecture Series which I organized, inviting Elizabeth Fernea as a keynote speaker. (April 2000) Graduate Student Travel Grant, University of Wisconsin, Madison, $500. This grant funded my travel to Ohio Columbus to establish scholarly contacts with Africanist scholars during the Annual African Studies Association meeting. (October 1997) Previous Sabbatical Leaves: (This will be my first sabbatical leave) Professional Talks, Colloquia Papers: Medieval Images in Kurdish Oral Tradition, 44 th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, (May 2009) 6
Journey of the Gray Bull: An interpretation of an oral tradition of origin, Folklore Studies and African Studies Program in Ohio State University, (May 2008) (invited) The Village in the World, Folklore Studies Program in Ohio State University, (May 2008) (invited) Remembering Kurdistan, Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association, in San Jose (November 2006) Seeing America Through the Eyes of Muslim World (Chair and Presenter) A panel supported by Africana Studies, Department of History, Department of Anthropology, Department of English and Department of Foreign Languages at Western Michigan University (February 2005) Missions to Kurds, Annual Meeting of Reformed Church of America, in Pella Iowa (July 2006) (invited) The Elmolo and the Europeans, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University (invited Brown Bag lecture series) (April 2005) Cultural History of Lake Rudolf and Beyond, Annual African Studies Association Conference, New Orleans (Chair and presenter) (November 2004) Memories of a Kurdish Storyteller, Kurdish Human Rights Conference, San Francisco (invited paper) (September 2004) Folklore in Africa, Baku State University, Azerbaijan (invited paper) (July 2004) Remembering the Past: How to do Oral History, Lewis Walker Institute, Western Michigan University (April 2004) Journey of Major Rayne on the Banks of Turkwell River, International Conference on Islamic Civilizations in Eastern Africa, Kampala, Uganda (invited paper) (December 2003) 7
Reading Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes, African Languages and Literature Association Conference on Colonialism and Literature, Cairo, Egypt (paper read in absence) (April 2003) Oral Tradition as a Remembered Memory and Repeated Event, African Studies Program, (invited paper) Michigan State University (April 2002) Letters to Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Rethinking Ottoman Literature, First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), University of Mainz, Germany (paper read in absence) (September 2002) Journey of the Gray Bull Engiro, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bowdoin College (April 2002) Sorghum as an Historical Metaphor: Jie Identities Through Time, presented in Changing Identities and Alliances in Northeastern Africa Conference, (invited paper) Max Planck Institute, Haale/Saale, Germany (June 2001) In the Shadow of Globalization: Memoirs of an Anthropologist in the Islands of Elmolos, presented in a panel entitled Ethnography of Karamoja and Lake Turkana Through Thick and Thin, which I organized and chaired for the 99 th Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association, in San Francisco (November 2000) The Image of the Trickster in Kurdish Oral Tradition, presented in a workshop entitled, Mediterranean Literature in the Twentieth-Century, at the Tel Aviv University, Israel (July 2000) The Exchange of Plant and Flesh as Historical Metaphor: The Image of Cleopatra in Anatolian Oral Tradition, (invited paper) presented in a workshop entitled, Mediterranean Literature in the Twentieth-Century, at the Tel Aviv University, Israel (July 2000). The Legend of Mount Suphan, (invited paper) presented in a workshop entitled, Mediterranean Literature in the 8
Twentieth-Century, at the Tel Aviv University, Israel (July 2000). The Political Ecology of the Karamoja Plateau and Beyond: Expansion of Turkana Pastoralism in East Africa, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois (May 1999) The Aquatic Lords of Lake Turkana: The Hippo as a Stranger Deity, (invited paper) presented in Madison Area Technical College, Madison, Wisconsin (February 1999) Sir Vivian Fuchs Expedition to Lake Rudolf in 1934, and the Deaths of Dyson and Martin: A Case Against the Thesis of Apotheosis in Historical Anthropology, (invited paper) presented in African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (March 1998) The Curse of the Ominous Ecology, and the Historical Metaphors of Karamoja Plateau: Cattle and Grain as Deities, (invited paper) Makerere Institute of Social Research, Kampala, Uganda (March 1997) Struggle with Ominous Ecology in the Islands of Lake Turkana: The Political Economy of the Aquatic Lords, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison (September 1997) The Island of No-return: The Legends of Lake Turkana, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (April 1996) Fruits of Gender and Ethnicity: State policies of Ethnic and Gender Preference in Elmolo Bay of Lake Turkana, (invited paper) presented at the Mac Arthur International Consortium, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (April 1996) The Expansion of Aquatic Civilizations in Lake Turkana, National Museums of Kenya, Ethnography Department, Nairobi, Kenya (April 1995) Bead Work and Boundaries in Lake Turkana, (invited paper) Social Science Research Council Pre-dissertation, Annual Workshop, Salt Lake City, Utah (October 1994) 9
Consultation Activities Exhibits: Assisted in the preparation of an exhibit entitled, Wrapped in Pride: African Identities, at Logan Museum in Beloit College and invited Ivan Karp as a Keynote-speaker. (April 2001) Provided consultation on an exhibit entitled, Lake Turkana on the Shelf in the Department of Ethnography in the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi. (May 1995) Editing, Refereeing, Reviewing Activities: Regularly review articles for African Studies Review, Africa Today, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, and Ethnohistory Supervision of Student Research and Thesis Projects: Committee member for Martha Addante s Doctoral Thesis, 2009 Committee member for Ali Bazzi s Master Thesis, 2007 Committee member for Delal Pektas Honor Thesis, 2007 Committee member for Alper Dede s Doctoral Thesis, 2007 Other relevant professional activities: Served in English 2000 Steering Committee (2009) Served in Space Committee (Spring 2006) Advised African Students Association on campus (2005) Organized a campus wide Recognition and Promotion of Diversity at Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo community (This event was supported largely by African Students Association at Western Michigan University) Served in Curriculum Improvements Committee for Western Michigan University (2003-2005) Worked towards establishing linkages between Western Michigan University and Baku State University in Azerbaijan (2004) (This project was stopped due to the disfunction at the administrative level at Western Michigan University) Provided services for Human Subject Institutional Review Board at Western Michigan University (2003) 10
Served in the Program Committee on African Studies Development Program, Beloit College (2001) Served as one of the organizers of the African Studies Minor Program, Beloit College, Wisconsin (2000-2001) Served in the International Studies Program, Organizing Committee, Knox College, Illinois (1999) Served in the Program Committee on sexual identities in African Studies Association s annual meeting (1998) 11