Prof. Dr. Magloire Somé

Visited the IAS in July 2025

Prof. Dr. Magloire Somé is a professor of contemporary history at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. His research focuses on the history of Christianity in French-speaking West Africa. As such, he has published extensively on the history of Christian missions in French-speaking West Africa. He is also interested in the relationship between religion and political power and between religion and culture in post-colonial Africa. He has also coordinated publications on colonial history and on the sites and issues of memory surrounding the Ruins of Loropéni, a site in Burkina Faso listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The project he is currently working on at the Institute for African Studies at the University of Bayreuth focuses on African cultures and colonisation in French West Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the University of Bayreuth, he has benefited from ideal working conditions, which have enabled him to make progress in his bibliographic research and to compile a summary of reading notes on the 19th century.

Dr. Somé stay was all the more enriching as it gave him the opportunity to meet colleagues with whom possible prospects for research collaboration are on the horizon. He greatly appreciated the remarkable working conditions and the friendliness of the staff at the Institute of African Studies. He was able to take part in seminars and workshops for critical exchange on topics such as the World Multiple and The Construction of the World after the Colonial Empires. He also participated in a thesis defence, where he was able to appreciate the nuances in the approach to defence.