About the Director

Timothy Longman

Timothy Longman became director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University in 2017, where he serves as associate professor of political science and international relations. A political scientist whose work focuses on Africa, Longman is the author of Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda (2010) and Memory and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda (2017), both from Cambridge University Press, and more than three dozen articles and book chapters on religion and politics, human rights, genocide, transitional justice, women and politics, and other topics.

Prior to taking over the directorship of CURA, Longman served as director of BU’s African Studies Center from 2009 to 2017. He has previously held research and teaching positions at Vassar College, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, the National University of Rwanda, the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University. Professor Longman has served as a consultant in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for USAID, the Department of Justice, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and Human Rights Watch, for whom he served as director of the Rwanda field office 1995-1996.

Longman’s research has been funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Sandler Family Foundation. He has also successfully applied for over $4 million from the US Department of Education’s Title VI program to support African studies and African language instruction at BU. Longman has conducted research in Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. Courses he teaches include International Human Rights, Transitional Justice, African Politics, Southern African Politics, Religion and African Politics, and Introduction to Comparative Politics. He has led study programs for students in Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa, and China.

Updated July 2017