Ndzovu’s research interests are broadly focused on Islam in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, and they revolve around religion and politics/law, Islamist movements, religious based conflict, religious authority within the Islamic tradition, religion and sexuality, and witchcraft among African societies. In 2009, Ndzovu together with other senior researchers (Justin Willis and Hassan Mwakimako) conducted a collaborative research project on ‘Trends in Kenyan Islam’. The project explored three initiatives of leadership, education and religious broadcasting through which Kenyan Muslims are seeking to challenge their perceived marginalization and improve the status of the Muslim community.

Between September 2010 and May 2011 during his first postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, USA, Ndzovu worked on a book project, Muslims in Kenyan Politics: Political Involvement, Marginalization, and Minority Status, that explored three major themes related to Kenyan Muslims; Muslims’ perceived marginalization, their political involvement and minority status. During his second postdoctoral fellowship at Freie Universität Berlin (2013-2014), Ndzovu worked on a research project, Mediated Sermons: Production, Women and Popular Themes of Muslim Preachers in Kenya. The study explored how Muslim women preachers in Kenya through media tools of CD/DVD and sometimes radio broadcasting programs have succeeded to make themselves and their sermons visible in the Muslim public sphere.

Research Projects

1.    Ndzovu, Hassan J: “Madrassas and Islamic-integrated Schools in the Production and Transmission of Islamic knowledge: Standardization and Consistency in Curriculum Delivery in the two Systems of Education.” This research is part of the larger project, Mediated and Mediatization of Islamic Knowledge in Kenya: Educational Institutions, Media Technologies and Performative Aesthetics, which is being coordinated under the auspice of the African Cluster Centre, Moi University, Kenya, 2020-
2.    Partner Academic in a research project, The Sexuality and Religion Network (SERENE) in East Africa. This project is being coordinated from the university of Leeds, United Kingdom, 2020-
3.    Ndzovu, Hassan J: “Women, Education and Mediatized Sermons: The Changing Nature of Religious Authority and Transmission of Islamic Knowledge among Kenyan Muslims.” This research is part of the larger project, Toward an Islamic Cultural Archive (ICA): Building a Collaborative Database of Islamic Learning in Africa, which is being coordinated under the auspice of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence the University of Bayreuth, Germany, 2019-
4.    Ndzovu, Hassan J: “Mediated Sermons: Production, Women and Popular Themes of Muslim Preachers in Kenya.” Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2013 - 2014
5.    Ndzovu, Hassan J. “Muslims in Kenyan Politics: Political Involvement, Marginalization and Minority Status.” (Book project). Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Northwestern University, USA, 2010 – 2011
6.    Ndzovu, Hassan, Mwakimako, Hassan, and Willis, Justin: “Trends in Kenyan Islam”, funded by the British High Commission, Kenya, 2009.


Fellowships/Funding received (Research)

1.    Awarded research funds (177,500 euros) for the project “Islamic Popular Culture and Public Performance Practices: The Production, Transmission of Religious Knowledge and Creation of Cultural Identity in Africa”, by The Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany in July 2021. The project to commence in January 2022
2.    Fellowship, (6 months), Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany, February 2021
3.    Awarded research funds (16,000 Euros), for the project Mediated and Mediatization of Islamic Knowledge in Kenya: Educational Institutions, Media Technologies and Performative Aesthetics, by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany, 2020
4.    Awarded research funds (3,900 Euros), for the project “Women, Education and Mediatized Sermons: The Changing Nature of Religious Authority and Transmission of Islamic Knowledge among Kenyan Muslims”, by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany, 2020
5.    Marie Curie Fellowship, (15 months), Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2013-2014
6.    Workshop Fellow, (2 weeks), American and Political Science Association and Institute for Governance and Development hosted an International Workshop, Burkina Faso, July 2013
7.    Mellon Fellowship, (9 months), Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA), Northwestern University, USA, 2010-2011
8.    Visiting Research Fellowship, (3 months), African Study Centre (ASC), Leiden University, The Netherland, 2010
9.    Junior Fellow, (3 weeks), Kulturwissenschaftliches Institu (KWI), International Summer Academy, Essen, Germany, July 2006
10.    University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, PhD Tuition scholarship, 2004-2007
11.    Humanities Collaborative Research Centre (SFB/FK 560) scholarship of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, 2003-2007
12.    Moi University, Kenya, Masters’ scholarship, 1995-1997