Elizabeth Schmidt

Schmidt Professor Emeritus

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 5^th 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: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2018.
	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 Guinea, 1946-1958. Western African Studies Series. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2007. Award: African Politics Conference Group Best Book Award.
	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, 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: 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)

News

Elected Vice President of the African Studies Association.
Article posted in the Washington Post that places the recent coup in the West African Republic of Guinea in historical context.
“Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: The Role of Outsiders in the On-Going Humanitarian Crisis,” Contemporary Africa Seminar, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, February 10, 2021
The European Conquest of Africa and the Struggle for Independence,” Woman’s Club of Roland Park, Baltimore, MD, February 4, 2021.
“AFRICOM & U.S. Africa Policy,” Season 1, Episode 1, CROCENOMICS (Tobias Paperno), December 20, 2020.
"The Conversation with Anotida Chikumbu,” discussion of Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror, August 21, 2020.
“Confronting the History of U.S.-Africa Policy,” Into Africa pod cast with Elizabeth Schmidt, Herman Cohen & Adebayo Oyebade, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, DC, August 20, 2020, podcast, “Into Africa”: https://www.csis.org/podcasts/africa/confronting-history-us-africa-policy
"Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: The Role of Outsiders in the Current Crisis," sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change & Department of History, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, December 5, 2019.
“Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: The Role of Outsiders in the Current Crisis,” Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, October 10, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0cxJTTKdw; podcast interview: http://afripod.aodl.org/2019/10/afripod-126/
Presentation on Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War, Ralph Bunche Library Speaker Series, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., September 19, 2019. Video sent via BNET to US Embassies and consulates worldwide: https://app.box.com/s/d2ej1jojocc1d9bujhi7fh76aqftbi62
"Writers LIVE: Elizabeth Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror.” Book discussion with Akalu Paulos, who spoke about refugee resettlement in Baltimore. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD, July 10, 2019.
Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: The Role of Outsiders in the Current Crisis,” sponsored by the Program on International Administration and Conflict Management, Konstanz University, Konstanz, Germany, June 4, 2019.
Presentation with Akalu Paulos at the Enoch Pratt Free Library about Schmidt's 2018 book, Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror, and refugee resettlement in Baltimore
Presentation at the University of Konstanz (Germany) about Schmidt's 2018 book, Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror
“Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War,” Sankofa: Video, Books, and Cafe, Washington, DC, April 13, 2019. Aired on WPFW (Pacifica Radio DC) and WSNC (NPR). See Africa World Now Project: https://soundcloud.com/africaworldnowproject/thinking-through-foreign-intervention-in-africa-after-the-cold-war
Interview with Zeb Larson on “New Books Network” about Schmidt's 2018 book, Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the
War on Terror: Interview
Interview with Andrew Howard on “Ohio University Press Podcasts” about Schmidt's 2018 book, Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror: https://anchor.fm/ohio-university-press-podcast/episodes/Interview-with-Elizabeth-Schmidt-e20rrr
Interview with James Lance on “New Books Network” about Schmidt's 2013 book, Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror: https://newbooksnetwork.com/elizabeth-schmidt-foreign-intervention-in-africa-from-the-cold-war-to-the-war-on-terror-cambridge-up-2013/
Elizabeth Schmidt published an article in AHA Today: A Blog of the American Historical Association, based on a presentation she made to the AHA's Washington Seminar: “Conflict in Africa: The Historical Roots of Current Problems,” http://blog.historians.org/2016/07/conflict-in-africa-the-historical-roots-of-current-problems/ (posted July 26, 2016).
Elizabeth Schmidt, “Foreign Intervention in Africa during the Cold War: The Struggle for the Global South.” Presentation to the Washington History Seminar (sponsored by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., April 4, 2016. The presentation was broadcast on C-SPAN’s American History TV on April 16-24:http://www.c-span.org/video/?407579-1/foreign-intervention-africa-cold-war .
Elizabeth Schmidt, "Decolonization and the Nation-State: Reflections on the 1958 Referendum in French West Africa." Presentation to the International Decolonization Seminar (sponsored by the National History Center, the American Historical Association, and the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., July 22, 2014, http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6528 or http://youtu.be/8c1_z6I6M2w
Dr. Schmidt talks about her service-learning courses and the Refugee Youth Project in the current issue of Loyola Magazine: https://www.loyola.edu/explore/magazine/stories/2011/cura-personalis-elizabeth-schmidt.
History Professor Elizabeth Schmidt honored for Excellence in Service Learning and Engaged Scholarship
History Professor Elizabeth Schmidt named 2008 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award Recipient and the African Politics Conference Group's 2008 Best Book Award Recipient