Dr. Jennifer Lofkrantz is a historian of pre-colonial West Africa and of contemporary northern Nigeria and the Sahel region.  Her areas of expertise include historical and contemporary jihad movements, historical and contemporary West African ransoming practices, Salafism, Salafi Jihadism, Islamic law (Mālikī), comparative historical and contemporary slavery, and women and gender in Africa. She has experience conducting extensive research in Nigeria, Niger, and Mali. Between 2017-2020 she was an Associate Professor of History at American University of Nigeria in Yola Adamawa State where she established the History program, served as the first program coordinator of the History Minor and was Chair of the Department of General Education. She has also taught at several universities in the United States and Canada and has served as co-editor of the journal African Economic History.

DEGREES: Ph.D in African History, York University, Toronto; M.A in African History, Queen’s University, Kingston; B.A (Hons) Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Jennifer Lofkrantz, “Intellectual Traditions, Education, and Jihad: The (Non)Parallels between the Sokoto and Boko Haram Jihads” The Journal of West African History 4:1 (2018): 75-98.

Jennifer Lofkrantz and Olatunji Ojo eds., Ransoming, Captivity, and Piracy in Africa and the Mediterranean (Africa World Press, 2016).

Jennifer Lofkrantz and Paul Lovejoy, “Maintaining Network Boundaries: Islamic Law and Commerce from Sahara to Guinea Shores” Slavery & Abolition 36:2 (2015): 211-232.

Jennifer Lofkrantz, “Introduction: Ransoming Practices in Africa: Past and Present,” African Economic History, Special Issue: Ransoming Practices in Africa: Past and Present 42 (2014): 87-107.

Jennifer Lofkrantz, “Idealism and Pragmatism: The Related West African Discourses on Identity, Captivity, and Ransoming” African Economic History, Special Issue: Ransoming Practices in Africa: Past and Present 42 (2014): 87-107.

Jennifer Lofkrantz, “Intellectual Discourse in the Early Sokoto Caliphate: The Triumvirate’s Opinions on the Issue of Ransoming c 1810,” International Journal of African Historical Studies 45:3 (2012): 385-401.

Jennifer Lofkrantz and Olatunji Ojo, “Slavery, Freedom and Failed Ransom Negotiations in West Africa 1730-1900” The Journal of African History 53:1 (2012): 25-44.

Jennifer Lofkrantz, “Protecting Freeborn Muslims: The Sokoto Caliphate’s Attempts to Prevent Illegal Enslavement and its Acceptance of the Strategy of Ransoming” Slavery & Abolition 32:1 (2011): 109-127.