The African Studies Program and the Office of Outreach and Engagement invite you to attend a talk from Ohio University Professor Steve Howard entitled "My Daughters are My Writings: the Republican Brotherhood in Sudan and Iowa City." This event will take place on Friday, February 15, 2019, from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum.  

This program will begin with a reading of a new play entitled “My Daughters are My Writings” by Margot Connolly, followed by a talk from Ohio University Professor Steve Howard called “We Are Mahmoud: on the Path of the Prophet in Unsettled Times.”

Steve Howard’s talk covers the work of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, a Muslim social reformer in Sudan, and the recruitment and organization of his followers, the “Republican Brotherhood,” before and after Sudan’s independence from Britain. Concentrating on younger members of the Brotherhood who joined following the execution of Taha in 1985, Howard asks, how does one join a charismatic organization after the holder of the charisma is gone? He also discusses the later development of the movement, not only in urban Sudan but in the diaspora as well, Iowa City particularly.

Steve Howard will be introduced by Iowa City Council member Mazahir Salih. 

Margot Connolly's “My Daughters are My Writings" is based on Steve Howard's Modern Muslims: a Sudan Memoir (2016) and on interviews conducted in Iowa City by Nyaradzai Chisaka and Decent Ndongwe. 

Steve Howard is Professor and Graduate Director, School of Media Arts and Studies, Ohio University. He is the author of Modern Muslims: a Sudan memoir (2016) as well as sixteen other published articles primarily about the Republican Brotherhood in Sudan. He directed Ohio University’s African Studies Program and Center for International Studies for 25 years.

This event is sponsored by the African Studies Program, International Programs, and the Office of Outreach and Engagement. 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact James Giblin in advance at james-giblin@uiowa.edu or (319) 335-2302.