Prof. Wendell Marsh is Associate Professor of African Literature and Philosophy at UM6P – Center for African Studies (CAS). He joins us from Rutgers University–Newark, where he taught for seven years in the Department of Africana Studies and helped build initiatives such as the “Islam, the Humanities, and the Human” working group and the exhibition Powers of the Unseen. Trained in intellectual history, comparative literature, and religious studies, his past research has centered on the life and works of the Senegalese Muslim polymath Shaykh Musa Kamara, culminating in his forthcoming book Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities (Columbia University Press, 2025). His current projects explore African textual traditions, philology, and the intersections of Islam, Africanity, and the humanities, while his future work aims to build digital and collaborative platforms for rethinking African intellectual legacies in global perspective. At UM6P, Professor Marsh will offer interdisciplinary courses in African thought, literature, and philosophy, and he looks forward to developing initiatives in Global Black Studies, digital philology, and cross-regional intellectual exchange between North and West Africa.
Pr. Wendell Marsh
Pr. Wendell Marsh
—Associate Professor —
Events
Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities at Duke Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.
On October 29, Wendell Marsh, Ph.D., associate professor at UM6P – Center for African Studies (CAS), delivered the first public book talk for his new monograph, Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities at Duke Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.
The event brought together students and faculty for a wide-ranging discussion on African intellectual history, Islamic thought, and the future of humanistic study. Marsh centered his remarks on a clear proposition: that the crisis of the humanities has always been tied to the coloniality of knowledge. Through the life and work of Senegalese scholar Shaykh Musa Kamara, whose monumental history of West Africa was written under colonial rule, Marsh showed how the present moment—despite its challenges—carries the promise of building forms of study and community “after empire.” The talk marked an energizing beginning to his public engagements around the book and underscored UM6P’s growing international footprint in global conversations on Africa’s intellectual traditions.
Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities at Source of Knowledge Bookstore in Newark, New Jersey.
The UM6P – Center for African Studies (CAS) is pleased to share the trailer of the launch event for Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities, the debut book of our colleague Pr. Wendell Marsh, Ph.D. Filmed at Source of Knowledge Bookstore in Newark, New Jersey on October 14, the conversation features Marsh in dialogue with Professor R. A. Judy of the University of Pittsburgh. It was hosted by the Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers university-Newark and supported by the Mellon Sawyer Seminar as well as the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice.
The video offers a wide-ranging reflection on the Senegalese Muslim intellectual Shaykh Musa Kamara, the future of the humanities, and the enduring power of African intellectual traditions. The event marks the first public celebration of Textual Life and opens a new chapter in the Center’s commitment to fostering critical, global, and interdisciplinary thinking in conversation with international partners.