Dr. Felwine Sarr: TIME Magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2021

Five individuals on TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2021 have a Duke connection—two trustees, a faculty member, an alumna and a soon-to-be honorary degree recipient.

A member of the Duke faculty is highlighted on the TIME list as a “Pioneer.” Felwine Sarr, the Anne-Marie Bryan Distinguished Professor of Romance Studies, joined the faculty in 2020. A native of Senegal and an internationally known public intellectual, Sarr has research interests that span from economics to literature. In 2018, Sarr and French art historian Bénédicte Savoy were asked by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, to investigate collections of African art and artefacts in French state-owned museums. Their “Sarr-Savoy Report” on the restitution of African cultural heritage was published in November 2018, and is now being used by museums and other institutions around the world to reconsidering how they present (or, in some cases, return) material collected through the legacy of colonialism. Learn more here on the incredible honor.