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Elizabeth Schmidt

Professor Emerita
Elizabeth Schmidt

SchmidtProfessor Emeritus

Email: eschmidt@loyola.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Biography

Elizabeth Schmidt is a Professor Emeritus of history at Loyola University Maryland. She received her Ph.D. in African history, masters degrees in African history and in comparative world history, and Certificate in African Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her books include: Foreign Intervention in Africa After the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror (Ohio University Press, 2018); Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror (Cambridge University Press, 2013); Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958 (Ohio University Press, 2007); Mobilizing the Masses: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Nationalist Movement in Guinea, 1939-1958 (Heinemann, 2005); Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939 (Heinemann; James Currey; Baobab, 1992); Decoding Corporate Camouflage: U.S. Business Support for Apartheid (Institute for Policy Studies, 1980. Download the book as a PDF); and Religious Private Voluntary Organizations and the Question of Government Funding, Elizabeth Schmidt (primary author), Jane Blewett, and Peter Henriot, S.J. (Orbis Books, 1981). Her 2007 book received the African Politics Conference Group’s 2008 Best Book Award, while her 2005 book received  Alpha Sigma Nu’s Book Award for History, also in 2008.  Her 1992 book was awarded Special Mention in the Alpha Sigma Nu book competition, was a finalist for the African Studies Association’s Herskovits Award, and was named by Choice as an “Outstanding Academic Book for 1994.” In addition to her monographs, Schmidt has published a number of articles in leading journals, including the American Historical Review, the Journal of African History, and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. She is the recipient of two Fulbright fellowships and a research grant from the American Council of Learned Societies/Social Science Research Council.  In 2007, Schmidt was awarded Loyola’s Nachbahr Award for outstanding scholarly achievement in the Humanities, and in 2008, her “Outstanding Achievement in Research, Teaching, and Service” was recognized at Loyola’s Eleventh Annual Deans’ Symposium.  In 2010, Schmidt was co-winner of Loyola’s inaugural “Faculty Award for Excellence in Service-Learning and Engaged Scholarship.”  In 2012, she received the “Faculty Award for Outstanding Service-Learning” at the 5th Annual Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Conference sponsored by institutions of higher learning in the Maryland-Washington, D.C. area, and the “2012 Bud Day Scholar-Activist Award” of the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars.

Publications

Foreign Intervention in Africa After The Cold War  Foreign Intervention in Africa After the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2018.   
foreign intervention in africa Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 2013.   
cold war and decolonization in africa Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African Studies Series. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2007. Award: African Politics Conference Group Best Book Award.    
mobilizing the masses Mobilizing the Masses: Gender, Ethnicity, and Class in the Nationalist Movement in Guinea, 1939-1958. Social History of Africa Series. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. Award: Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award for History.   
peasants Peasants, Traders, and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870-1939. Social History of Africa Series. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1992. Awards: Special Mention, Alpha Sigma Nu Book Competition; Finalist, African Studies Association's Herskovits Award; Choice "Outstanding Academic Book for 1994."   
decoding corporate camouflage Decoding Corporate Camouflage: U.S. Business Support for Apartheid. Institute for Policy Studies, 1980.   

Areas of Specialization

  • African History, Pre-Colonial to Present
  • African Women's History Research: Late Colonial Southern Africa (esp. Zimbabawe and South Africa)
  • Late Colonial West Africa (emphasis on Guinea)

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