Dennis D. Cordell

Associate Dean of General Education/Professor of History

History
Dean's Office
General Education

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
G 02 Clements Hall
214-768-2203
dcordell@smu.eduSend an email

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Research/Teaching Interests

Middle East, Development, Africa, Social History

Distinctions, Grants and Honors

National Science Foundation Research Grant, “Immigrants, Rights, and Incorporation in a Suburban Metropolis,” 2001-2005

National Science Foundation Research Grant, “Reproduction and Representations of Family among Malian Migrants in Paris, France,” 2001-2003

Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Pilot Grant, “Reproduction and Representations of Family among Malian Migrants in Paris, France,” 1998-2000

University Research Council, Southern Methodist University, Travel Grant, 1999

University Research Council, Southern Methodist University, Travel Grant, 1997

Dr. Dennis Cordell joined the Department of History in 1977. After receiving tenure, he completed a Maîtrise es-Science in demography at the Université de Montréal and helped found the subfield of African historical demography. From fall 2008 to spring 2010 he co-chaired the Review Committee on General Education that formulated the proposal for the new University Curriculum. Cordell's scholarship focuses on the history of migration and labor in Africa--notably the Muslim slave trade in the nineteenth century, labor migration in West Africa in the colonial period, and African diasporas in the contemporary era. He serves on the board of AIDS Arms, Inc., which provides education and treatment about HIV/AIDS in North Texas.