# Research

Islam and Muslim societies in francophone West Africa since the 1960s: how youth, women, and religious minorities have shaped activism, the media, and political life. I build the collections I study, analyse them with digital humanities methods, and experiment with AI. That work now reaches Central Asian collections, the research infrastructure of the Africa Multiple Cluster, and the question of what these methods do to African studies.

This list holds 6 entries; the [web page](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research) prints the same projects with a timeline of their periods. Each title links to the project's Markdown record, with its full narrative, grants, publications and talks. The same records are available as JSON at https://www.frederickmadore.com/api/research.json.

## Current projects

- [Islam's 'Peripheries': Digital Humanities, Algorithmic Analysis, and AI in West Africa and Central Asia](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/islams-peripheries-dh-ai-west-africa-central-asia.md) · 2026 – 2028
  Testing what AI can do with two multilingual collections, to compare Islamic discourse and responses to modernity in West Africa and Central Asia.
- [Digital Humanities and Artificial Intelligence in African Studies](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/dh-ai-african-studies.md) · 2025 – 2027
  Exploring how DH and AI can transform knowledge production in African studies through ethical, sustainable, and Africa-centred digital infrastructures.
- [Digital Research Environment](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/digital-research-environment.md) · Since 2026
  Building and studying the data infrastructure that connects the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, its four African research centres, and their partners.

## Earlier projects

- [Religious Activism on Campuses in Togo and Benin](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/religious-activism-campuses-togo-benin.md) · 2021 – 2024
  Examining how Christian and Muslim student associations transformed university life at the Université de Lomé and the Université d'Abomey-Calavi.
- [Muslim Minorities in Southern Cities of Benin and Togo](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/muslim-minorities-southern-cities-benin-togo.md) · 2018 – 2020
  Investigating the experiences and integration of Muslim minority communities in southern urban areas of Benin and Togo.
- [Youth and Women's Islamic Activism in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso](https://www.frederickmadore.com/research/youth-womens-islamic-activism-cote-divoire-burkina-faso.md) · 2013 – 2018
  Analysing the evolving roles of youth and women in Islamic movements and organisations in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.