Isaie Dougnon is a social anthropologist and assistant professor of Francophone Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University, where he teaches courses on francophone Africa, migration and sustainable development in the department of Modern Languages and the Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs. 

Before coming to Fordham, he taught for several years at the University of Bamako, Mali courses on anthropology of development, rural migration and Local Knowledge.  After publishing his first book, Travail de Blanc, Travail de Noir (Karthala 2007), Mr. Dougnon has contributed through several articles to current debates on child labor and child migration in Africa. He articulated a historical and anthropological approach to offer a local perspective on labor and migration in West Africa in colonial and post-colonial Africa. He coordinates the Water and Migration in the Sahel Research and Training initiative. He has coordinated several research projects, including a UNDP-funded study on security in the Sahel, as well as led a project on conflict and migration in the Mali-Côte d’Ivoire border area.  

Dr. Dougnon has contributed to the debate on the Malian political and humanitarian crisis of 2012 by publishing essays in local and international newspapers and journals. He also was the Coordinator for Mali of Research Programme Consortium on Improving Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth (IPPG) (2006-2010) funded by DFID, UK. His most recent research examines the crisis of academic freedom and higher education in Mali after the end of dictatorship. He has held several fellowships, including at the Humboldt Foundation, Re:Work (Humboldt University, Berlin), the Fulbright Foundation, and the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study.