Dior Konate

My name is Dior Konate and I am from Senegal, in West Africa. I am a Ph.D candidate in African History with a minor in Women's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) since 2000. I earned my BA and MD at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (Senegal). Working on the penitentiary system in Senegal, I was a member of a group of study on Marginality and Exclusion in Senegal, run by the professors of the department of history of Cheikh Anta Diop University. I worked also as research assistant for the same group for 4years. I am also a member of the Senegalese section of the "Observatoire International des Prisons."

In 1996, I was a recipient of the CODESRIA 10th Grant Competition for the writing of my Master thesis, which the topic was on women and prison in colonial and post-colonial Senegal. In 1998, I was a laureate of the CODESRIA Gender Institute on Men and Women in Private/Public Spheres. The paper presented is published under the title "Gender and Punishment. The Daily life of Women in Senegalese Prisons." In 1999, I published in the French journal, La Revue Francaise D'Histoire D'Outre-Mer, another paper on women in the colonial prisons in Senegal.

Between 2000-2002, I worked as TA and PA respectively at the French and History Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2001, I was granted a one -semester fellowship by the department of history. I assisted in many workshops organized by the CODESRIA and I participated also in conferences in Senegal, France and Canada.