James Courtright

James Courtright is a Dakar-based research fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs where he is learning and writing about Fulani societies across West Africa. He grew up between Malawi, the United States and Tanzania. He studied African history at Denison University and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kolda, Senegal for three years. He then moved to Dakar and wrote about human rights, the environment and migration for NPR, The Christian Science Monitor and Roads & Kingdoms, among other publications. After completing a graduate degree at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs he returned to West Africa to work with Gambian civil society alongside the country’s truth commission. He began his fellowship with ICWA in October 2021 and is currently based in Dakar, with regular travel around West Africa.