Did You Know

This August, Howard faculty Dr. Jean-Michel Mabeko Tali was awarded the Medal of Peace and Development by Angolan President João Lourenço. This recognition is a result of Mabeko Tali's contributions to the survival and development of the Angolan educational system during the war years. 

Three years ago, Mabeko Tali was also acknowledged by the Angolan Minister of Culture for his scholarly research and publications on Angolan anti-colonial armed struggle and postcolonial political process. He served as a young teacher in Southern Angola during the war against the invasion of Angola by Apartheid South African army in the 1980s, and he contributed to the creation of the Angolan College of Social Sciences (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais) in the late 1990s. 

Mabeko-Tali is a Specialist of Central African History, and has published a two-volume study in Portuguese on Angola's Anti-colonial liberation movement: Dissidências e Poder de Estado: O MPLA perante si próprio 1962-1977 (Caminho/Nzila, 2001), Volume I: 1962-1974, and Volume II: 1974-1977. He also published a book in French on national identity and Political Transitions in Africa: Barbares et Citoyens – L’ Identité Nationale à l’ Épreuve des Transitions Africaines (L'Harmattan, 2005), which provides a comparative analysis of the emergence of national identity in Congo-Brazzaville and Angola. His book Guerrilhas e lutas sociais: O MPLA perante si próprio, 1960-1977: Ensaio de História Política is a newest and expanded version of his book Dissidências e poder de estado. He is also the author of several articles on social and political issues that affect Angola and Congo, which have been published in French, Portuguese and Angolan Academic Reviews.

Mabeko-Tali has been teaching Central African History at Howard University since 2002. Prior to that he taught at the Angolan State University and in France as Visiting Professor and Researcher at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and Paris' Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.