About the Chair

The Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South focuses on the history and cultures of Africa; Latin America; the Middle East, South, and Southeast Asia; and Oceania, using the immense foreign language collections in the specialized reading rooms of the Library of Congress.

One of five Kluge Chairs articulated in the founding documents of The John W. Kluge Center, the Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South is occupied by scholars of great accomplishment chosen for their intellectual and communicative abilities. While in residence they are free to pursue their own research in the Library's collections.

Together, these broadly defined Chairs bring a critical mass of the world's leading thinkers to Washington from all over America and the world. Their presence provides an opportunity for ongoing dialogue with political leaders on matters of importance to civic and political life.

Find more information on Kluge Chairs in the Kluge Center charter.

Most Recent Chair

Ousseina Alidou

Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South (2025)

Ousseina D. Alidou is Distinguished Professor of Humane Letters in the School of Arts and Science, Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She teaches in the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures and The Graduate Program in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Dr. Alidou’s specialization is Theoretical Linguistics, Gender, and African Studies. She is the author of "Protest Arts, Gender and Social Change: Fiction and Popular Songs in Hausa Societies Across Borders" (Michigan University Press, 2023); "Muslim Women in Postcolonial Kenya: Leadership, Representation, Political and Social Change" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013); and "Engaging Modernity: Muslim Women and the Politics of Agency in Postcolonial Niger" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2005), a runner-up Aidoo-Schneider Book Prize of Women's Caucus of the Association of African Studies. She is a recipient of Rutgers University's Global Impact Award; the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Award; Ford Foundation Human Rights and Social Justice Grant Award; University of Hamburg, Germany, Visiting Professor Fellowship; University of Lueneburg Graduate Faculty in Postcolonial Cultural Studies Visiting Scholars’ Writing Fellowship Award; and University of Ghana-Winneba Visiting Faculty Fellow. Alidou’s current research at the Kluge Center is entitled “Life and Being Human in West African Sahel Women’s Cultural and Literary Narratives.” In this study, she examines women and gendered ecological thoughts in addressing climate vulnerability, inequalities, migration and resilience in the West African Sahel region.

View past chairs