This week’s profile is Dr. Ouattara, a professor of History and International Relations! He is well-known for greeting his students with a big “Hello, Hello, Hello” and for his all around joyful presence. As a political science and history major, I spend a significant amount of class time with him and am happy to acquaint people with one of my favorite professors!
Where are you from?
Ivory Coast. In French, it’s called Côte d’Ivoire.
What is something that you want your students to know about Ivory Coast? Is there something that most people don’t know or a stereotype that you wish to correct?
Well, most Americans would not know Ivory Coast to the point of stereotyping it. In France, people would know it to the point that the beaches are really beautiful beaches. Some compare it to the Bahamas. The French know it as a leisure place. Internationally, it is known for its civil war in 2002. It was really bad. Then in 2010, we had an election and the president refused to go, so we had a situation of 2 presidents. The president who won declared himself the winner, or was declared the winner, but didn’t have access to the palace. He was defending his right to access the palace and the president in power was still entrenched in the palace and refused to leave. Ivory Coast was pretty much on the news regularly for a month or so. So, many people will probably know about that if they know anything. I was stopped on the street and asked “how’s the war going?”, so I think that’s a stereotype people would recognize. Something I would want people to know is that we have 60 ethnic groups and that these ethnic groups have different connections and that there are beautiful stories about groups helping each other. I have, for example, one story about one ethnic group that my ethnic group is allied with. This may be a myth but the story exists to kind of reinforce some sort of solidarity. The story goes, one guy was a hunter and came to our village and was welcomed there. He left his wife and kid and went to hunt. He got lost and came back 10 years later, his wife and grown kid still there. So he promised that he would always treat the people of our village well. So these are usually foundational myths but the point is to enforce some local solidarity. There have been wars over land in the past, but these stories of cohabitation and tribal solidarity have served us well. From a western standpoint, there’s not one language so it’s bad, right? But, from an African perspective, it’s cultural diversity.
What keeps you so happy all of the time?
I get that a lot, I don’t know! You know, Historians tend to know about how, but not so much about why. If I were to think about it, in my life, I’ve always been the clown. I’m probably playful by nature. When I was young, no one bet on me, in terms of education. My family basically sent me to school to keep me occupied because I was at home too much. I went to a boarding school run by missionaries, where you had to be very well behaved. I can remember that I was regularly punished there. So, most of the time I was the one in trouble, along with some other friends. We were the ones usually caught chit-chatting or in front of the class doing stuff. So, I would say it’s a personality type. It has served me well in the sense that I’ve been able to figure out when to be serious and when to be playful. I’ve made friends all over the world. I didn’t suffer in the U.S. making friends. I guess I would simply say this is my personality type, I like to smile. Why not if you can?
What’s your favorite class to teach at Brenau?
I teach this class every now and then called Genocides. As I usually preface with my students, it’s a class where we’re talking about people being killed in a very brutal and inhumane way but you can fill up your humanity tank, if you will. If you sit in that class for a week, you can discover your own humanity. Most classes are supposed to suspend those emotions, but this is the only class where we ask students to feel. It lets students know that they matter and that they can make a difference. Coming from a part of the world where this issue is rarely discussed, there isn’t a platform to discuss these issues. For the final project, we get out on the streets with signs that the students make. The other classes I teach are pretty much academic in that you have to stay within the mainstream perspective. This is a class where we are all in this together, where no one will feel like they are targeted. We’ve had very successful mock protests where we get out on the street and people will be honking and stuff.
Do you feel disadvantaged as a male professor at a women’s college?
I would not say disadvantaged because the word would mean that someone has skewed the process intentionally towards women, which is not the case. I went to an all-male boarding school and my whole life I have probably been surrounded by male dominated institutions. So, it has been an eye-opener for me to have female bosses. In my society, there is something called a secret society, where boys are educated by boys and girls are educated by boys. My first female college was actually Spellman, and I was shocked when a chairwoman playfully said “do not touch our girls”. It’s a little shocking to be warned about that, and I kind of felt like a predator. So, I was already feeling conscious of myself when teaching at a women’s college. And then the next thing was about compliments. Another professor was like, “you don’t need to compliment women. We had a sexual assault training and it said not to compliment women” and I was like, “does it work both ways?” and she said, “no.” For someone as open as me, I think [compliments] are natural, but this gave me a certain level of pressure. Meaning, if I am at a women’s college as a male teacher, I have to be conscious of what I do and what I say because it may be reinterpreted, even if it may not be bad. There is a feeling of “I am the only one.” But don’t get me wrong, it’s not that bad.
How do you feel about being part of such a small department?
Well, I went to Georgia State which is a state college, so the department was huge. But I’ve never worked in a department that was humongous. The challenge here is the number of students that we have in our program. I have reactivated Phi Alpha Theta, but we haven’t been able to find a student. Since our department is so small, our students aren’t very active. Many times, when you have a big department, you will have some students who are not active and some who are. In a small department, everybody has to be active, which is probably not possible. But, I will say the students we have had have been very active. I would say, though, that as a small department we are dynamic. In conclusion, we love the people we have in our department.
What made you love history?
I actually hated history when I was younger because of the way teachers tended to give you all these facts – in Africa, they would dictate stuff and you had to write it down. I hated this. But it never really went away. I discovered history later when I wanted to get a PhD in the history of democracy. The first thing that sent me to history was the political turmoil in my country and I wanted to know the history of democracy so I could help my country. History makes me smile more. When everyone is sad because they don’t know how or why something came to be, I can at least put a smile on their faces by saying, “Hm, I know how this came to be”. History brings me peace and happiness. You know, when you are happy and peaceful there is money you can save. You don’t have to go to the psychiatrist.
Do you have a next big plan in your life, or are you happy being Brenau’s favorite history professor for a while?
My next big plan, thank you for asking that. My family is in politics in Ivory Coast, so I think I will go back to my country and put my knowledge to some concrete work. Most people don’t know this but I have a Master’s in film, so I produce films. Actually, Phi Alpha Theta has produced a lot of films. I actually have a company, and one of the first films that will be commercialized will be about Muhammad Ali and Africans’ views on Muhammad Ali. I really hope to produce historical documentaries in Africa. My goal is to create something like the History Channel, but in the Ivory Coast.
Why did you buy your Area Studies class Jimmy John’s?
Haha, this is my first Jimmy John’s in the U.S., and I’ve been here since 2001, for 15 years. I have one by my house. I see it, I’ve always wondered about it, but I’ve just never gone to it. Kyle was talking about getting something to eat while I was about to start my class, and it ended up being a fascinating story. Lisa mentioned something about Jimmy John’s saving her life. I mean, I didn’t ask for these stories, but when they come to me, I think “this is a a great opportunity to try something new”. So I told the class, “Why don’t we eat together?”. This is my African side, we tend to have group food. So, the simple answer would be that I bought Jimmy John’s for the class so we could share the excitement. I’m actually planning to go this Friday by myself.