Konrad Tuchscherer

Associate ProfessorDirector of External Scholarships and Fellowships

Dr. Tuchscherer is a specialist in African history and languages. The professor's interests include nineteenth and twentieth century West Africa, colonialism in Africa, and Gullah history in South Carolina and Georgia. His important research on the origin, development and spread of writing in Africa has appeared in several leading journals, on the Bagam script of Cameroon in African Affairs, the Vai script of Liberia in History in Africa, the Mende script of Sierra Leone in African Languages and Cultures and Journal of African Cultural Studies, and Egyptian hieroglyphs in Africana Bulletin. Tuchscherer contributed to the Smithsonian's groundbreaking exhibition on African scripts and wrote a chapter in the resulting book, Inscribing Meaning. He co-edited Autobiography of an African Princess and co-produced the documentary film, Ghosts of Amistad, 2016 winner of the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award. He is the past recipient of Marshall and Fulbright awards. His research experience in Africa includes Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia. He serves as Co-Director of the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project at the Bamum Palace in Cameroon.

Dr. Tuchscherer is the Founding Director of the Africana Studies Program, regularly takes students abroad to Africa, and serves as faculty liaison for a number of student groups on campus, including the African Students Association. He has received multiple awards from student organizations at the university, including honorary induction into the Skull and Circle Honor Society, and professor of the year awards from Haraya (St. John’s University Pan-African Student Organization) and the African Students Association. 

Dr. Tuchscherer is also a recipient of the university’s Vincentian Service Award, Outstanding Academic Achievement Medal, and Faculty Excellence in Student Engagement Award.