Aili Mari Tripp
Vilas Research Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
My research has focused on gender/women and politics, women’s movements in Africa, transnational feminism, African politics (with particular reference to Uganda and Tanzania), autocracies in Africa, and on the informal economy in Africa. I am presently working on a project on women’s political leadership in African autocracies and on a second project on women’s political citizenship and conflict globally.
I teach courses on gender and politics (graduate and undergraduate), African politics (undergraduate), and state and society (graduate) among others.
Author
My books are broadly comparative in tackling questions relating to why some countries do better than others in advancing women as political leaders and in promoting women’s rights. I bring the perspectives of different people I have interviewed into my writing, having lived and carried out extensive research in many countries across Africa from Uganda to Morocco. People say my writing is accessible, well-researched, and offers a deep understanding of the political, economic, and social dynamics that shape the lives of women around the world.
Awards & Achievements
I have been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Axel Springer Prize from the American Academy in Berlin, the L. Carl Brown Book Prize from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, the African Politics Conference Group best book on African politics award, and the Victoria Schuck award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on women and politics. In 2014, I won the African Studies Association Public Service Award. I recently held a residential fellowship at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) in South Africa and prior to that at the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC.
I have also been awarded competitive research grants from major funders, including the National Science Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Social Science Research Council, Fulbright Program, American Association of University Women, American Council of Learned Societies, World Institute for Development Economics Research, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I have been a recipient of a Vilas Research Professorship, WARF Professorship, Evjue Bascom Professorship of Gender and Women’s Studies, Kellett Mid-Career Award, and the Hamel Faculty Fellowship in addition other fellowships.
Aili Tripp at Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies in South Africa. Credit: STIAS
Other Contributions
I have been president of the African Studies Association and vice president of the American Political Science Association.
I’ve also served on the boards of the American Political Science Association, African Studies Association, National Council for Research on Women, Tanzania Studies Association, University of Wisconsin Press, and numerous other journals and book series.
I am presently part of a team of editors of the American Political Science Review, the flagship journal of the American Political Science Association. Together with Jacqueline-Bethel Mougué, I also co-edit the new book series, Women and Gender in Africa, for the University of Wisconsin Press.
The American Political Science Review Editorial Team.
