Department of Government and History

Dr. Dianne White Oyler
Professor Assistant Department Chairperson

BIOGRAPHY

Dianne White-Oyler holds a Ph.D.(1995) in African history and an MA (1989) in history with a Certificate in African Studies from the University of Florida (Gainesville), an M.A.T. in Elementary Education from Jacksonville University (Florida), and she holds a valid Florida Teaching Certificate to teach history and the social studies grades one through twelve.

At Fayetteville State University, Dr. White-Oyler teaches undergraduate courses in African history including the history of sub-Saharan Africa, African women, and African cultural history. She also teaches courses on North Africa and the Middle East, oral history, colonial history, and world history.

TEACHING COURSES

At the graduate level her courses include those on Africa, Africa and the Americas, and historiography.

Dr. White-Oyler is the 2002-2003 recipient of the Fayetteville State University Teacher of the Year Award

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. White-Oyler’s research interests include topics in African cultural and intellectual history and in countries of West Africa. In 2000 she conducted a literacy survey in the city of Kankan, Republic of Guinea. Most recently she has begun collecting oral histories of members of Brigade 2506 who participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. In addition, Dr. White-Oyler is the editor for a book entitled Language and Literacy in African Identity and Nationalism.

PUBLICATIONS

Book: The History of the N’ko Alphabet and its Role in Mande Transnational Identity: Words as Weapons, Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Press, 2005.

Senior Author of the Encyclopedia of African History and Culture, Volumes 4 and 5 published by Facts on File; and

Peer Reviewed Articles: “Re-inventing Oral Tradition: The Modern Epic of Souleymane Kanté” Research in African Literatures Volume 33, 1(2002):75-93, “A Cultural Revolution in Africa: The Role of Literacy in the Republic of Guinea since Independence” International Journal of African Historical Studies Volume 34, 3 (2001):1-16, “An Era of Mande Enlightenment” Mande Studies Journal, Volume 3, 2001: 75-94, "The Virtual University: The Technology of Distance Education," Liberian Studies Journal, Volume XXIII, 1, June 1998:106-134, "The N'ko Alphabet as a Vehicle of Indigenist Historiography," History in Africa: A Journal of Method, 24, (1997):239-256.