Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas 75275
Contact Information:
Phone: (214) 768-2203
Fax: (214) 768-2511
Email: dcordell@smu.edu
DENNIS CORDELL joined the faculty of SMU in 1977 where he is now Professor of History. For the past decade or so, he has also served as Associate Vice Provost and then Associate Dean for General Education. He is also Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at SMU. For some years, he was also Adjunct Professor of Demography at the Université de Montréal.
Cordell has been interested in the history of migration in one form or another throughout his scholarly career. His earliest research focused on the slave trade from Central Africa to the Nile basin and across the Sahara in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading to the publication of Dar al-Kuti: The Last Years of the Transsaharan Slave Trade (1985). Shortly thereafter, he joined with the late Joel W. Gregory and others to launch research on African historical demography. Early on, this endeavor produced foundational articles, a major bibliography, and two essay collections: See, among others, "Historical Demography and Demographic History in Africa: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations," and "Earlier African Historical Demographies," in Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines (1980 and 1989), with Joel Gregory; African Population and Capitalism: Historical Perspectives (1987, 1994), co-edited with Joel Gregory; “African Historical Demography in the Years since Edinburgh” in History in Africa (2000); and “African Historical Demography in the Postmodern and Postcolonial Eras,” in The Demographics of Empire, a collection co-edited with Karl Ittmann and Greg Maddox (In press).
More recently, Cordell has focused more on the histories of African migration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, co-authoring a monograph with Victor Piché entitled Hoe and Wage: A Social History of a Circular Migration System in West Africa, 1900-1975. He has also studied the history of Malian migrants in France, publishing three essays with Carolyn Sargent: "Polygamy, disrupted reproduction and the state: Maliam migrants in Paris, France," Social Science and Medicine(2003); "Islam, Identity and Gender in Daily Life among Malians in Paris: the Burdens are Easier to Bear," in L'Islam politique au sud du Sahara: Identitiés, discours et enjeux, Muriel Gomez-Perez (editor) (2005); and "The Second Diaspora and the Global Economy: Three Sahelians in France in The Human Tradition in Modern Africa, Dennis Cordell (editor) (in press). He also edited with Jane Elder, and wrote the introduction to The New Dallas: Immigrants, Community Institutions, and Cultural Diversity. A Collection of Student Papers.
Cordell has served as both Book Review Editor and French Editor for the Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines. He has also been on the editorial board of The International Journal of African Historical Studies.
PUBLICATIONS ON DFW IMMIGRATION RESEARCH
“Muslim Ballot Box Barbeque: Muslin and National Identities among Nigerian and Indian Immigrants in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas after September 11,” Diversité urbaine 8, 2 (2008), In press. PDF 220 KB
“Paradoxes of Immigrant Incorporation: High Achievement and Perceptions of Discrimination by Nigerians in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (USA).” In Trans-Atlantic Migration: The Paradoxes of Exile, Niyi Afolabi and Toyin Falola (editors). New York: Routledge, 2007, 13-28. PDF 325 KB
“Discriminación e integración: La experiencia de inmigrantes mexicanos y nigerianos en el norte de Texas (2001-2005).” In Hispanos en Estados Unidos, inmigrantes en España: ¿amenaza o nueva civilización? Tomas Calvo Buezas (editor). Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata, 2006, 117-143. With Manuel Garcia y Griego. PDF 212 KB
“Enterprises, immigrés et statuts d’immigration: trois entrepreneurs nigérians a Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.” In Enterprises en movement. Migrants, pratiques entrepreneuriales et diversités culturelles dans l’espace et le temps, E. Guerassimoff, C. Maitte, I. Mande, M. Martini and D. Terrier (editors). Valenciennes: Presses Universitaires de Valenciennes, In press [2008], 357-384. PDF 493 KB
UNPUBLISHED CONFERENCE PAPERS
“Muslim Ballot Box Barbeque: Muslim and National Identities among Nigerian and Indian Immigrants in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas after September 11,” Canadian Association of African Studies/Association canadienne des études africaines, Toronto, May 2007.
“Paradoxes of Immigrant Incorporation: Promises and Prohibitions of Income, Education, Perceived Discrimination, and Accent among Nigerians in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas (USA),” Africa Conference 2006: Movements, Migrations, and Displacements in Africa, The University of Texas at Austin, March 2006.
“Discrimination and Integration: The Experience of Mexican and Nigerian Immigrants in North Texas, 2001-2005,” Symposium Hispanos en USA/Immigrantes en Espana: ¿amenaza o nueva civilizacion? Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2005 with Manuel Garcia y Griego.
“The Integration of Nigerian and Mexican Immigrants in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas,” International Union for the Scientific Study of Population,” Tours (France), 2005. With Manuel Garcia y Griego.