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Meet Our Team

Our dedicated team works tirelessly to preserve Estevanico's legacy and advance cross-cultural understanding.

Abdeslem El Idrissi, PhD

Dr El Idrissi is our President, passionate about cultural initiatives and community engagement.

Dr. Abdeslem El Idrissi is a Professor of Neuroscience at the City University of New York (CUNY) and Head of the Developmental Neurobiology Laboratory, where he has served since 2003. Before joining CUNY, he conducted research at the New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities. At CUNY, he has held several leadership positions, including Chair of Neurosciences, Chair of Biology, Director of the Medical Technology Program, and Co-Director of the Physician Assistant Program at the College of Staten Island. He currently serves as Vice President of the International Taurine Society, Co-Chair of the Health and Biomedical Sciences Committee of the American Moroccan Competencies Network, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of BlinkLab. Dr. El Idrissi directs the CUNY–CHU Medical Internship Program, fostering academic partnerships between American universities and teaching hospitals in Morocco. His research focuses on neuro-developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and Alzheimer's disease, and has been supported by the NIH, DoD, and NSF. He has authored more than 70 scientific publications, book chapters, and scholarly books, and has been recognized among Stanford University's World's Top 2% Scientists. In addition to his scientific career, Dr. El Idrissi is the Founder and President of the Estevanico Foundation, dedicated to preserving the legacy of Estevanico of Azemmour, the first known Moroccan and African explorer of the American Southwest. Through research, publications, exhibitions, and international conferences, the Foundation promotes Estevanico's legacy and the shared history of Morocco and the United States. His work also highlights Morocco's historic role as the first nation to recognize American independence in 1777, establishing the oldest continuous diplomatic relationship in U.S. history. Dr. El Idrissi is committed to strengthening Moroccan-American cultural and academic ties while inspiring future generations to explore the rich historical connections between the two nations.

H.E. Abdelkader El Jamoussi

H.E Mr Jamoussi is a seasoned diplomate, a poet and an established scholar with key interest in Estevanico's legacy.

H.E. Abdelkader Jamoussi is a diplomat, he has served in the Netherlands, England, Australia and Japan and New York. Currently Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Cameroun. As a poet, he has published five collections of poetry: Two knots and one poem (2006), The land of the Kangaroo (2014), A Flute to Save the Rose, Haiku poems (2016), and Alphabet 29 haiku (2019) and Tea Ceremony, haiku and senryu, a bilingual edition in collaboration with Stanford M. Forrester (2022). MrJamoussi has authored the Life of Spinoza, Diplomacy (practice, institution and theory); Anthology of Arabic Haiku (2016), Moroccan Haiku (2020). He translated The Epic of Gilgamesh (2003), Machiavelli's The Prince (2004), T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets (2005), Classic Japanese Haiku (2015), 30 haiku poems (2016), Anthology of World Haiku (2016). His first novel “Imagining London” was published in (2017). He is a member of the Morocco Writers' Union. He founded the Festival of Arab Poetry in Kenitra, and directed it in 2009 and 2010. Founder and organizer of the International Haiku Symposium in Morocco since 2015. MrJamoussi translated into Arabic “the Marvellous Adventure of Cabeza de Vaca” by Haniel Long (2012), and for the first time “the relacion” by Cabeza de Vaca which was awarded Ibn Battuta award for travel writing by Arabic Geographical Center during the Abu Dhabi book fair 2023. He is the Co-Founder of the International Estevanico Symposium

Hsain Ilahiane, Ph.D

Professor, School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies

Dr. Hsain Ilahiane is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, where he serves as Associate Director of the School of Global Studies and is a faculty member of the W.A. Franke Honors College. For more than twenty-five years, he has researched the life and legacy of Estevanico de Dorantes, the sixteenth-century Moroccan explorer whose extraordinary journey connected North Africa, Iberia, New Spain, and the Indigenous Southwest. Combining archival research, ethnography, oral history, and public anthropology, his work seeks to recover Estevanico’s place in global history and reposition him not simply as a colonial scout, but as one of the first Africans and Muslims to traverse North America and as a foundational figure in the intertwined histories of Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, and the United States. This research reflects Professor Ilahiane’s scholarly interests in migration and diaspora, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, Indigenous and local knowledge systems, globalization, applied anthropology, economic development, football and society, and the historical and contemporary connections between North Africa and the Greater American Southwest. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and books on anthropology, contemporary Morocco, information and communication technologies, pastoralism, water governance, and applied anthropology. Through his scholarship and public engagement, he is committed to bringing anthropological knowledge into conversation with broader public audiences while illuminating the enduring legacies of cross-cultural encounters across the Atlantic world.

Mbarek Bouali

A veteran journalist, political cartoonist, and cultural diplomat specialized in Moroccan-American relations.

Mr. Mbarek Bouali is a veteran journalist, political cartoonist, and cultural diplomat specialized in Moroccan-American relations. With a career spanning over three decades, Bouali masterfully blends his background in public law and education with visual arts and journalism to foster cross-continental dialogue.  He began his artistic journey in the late 1980s, contributing to prominent Moroccan newspapers such as Al-Alam and L'Opinion, before officially joining Al-Alam in 1996. Upon relocating to Canada, he expanded his media footprint by collaborating with numerous Arabic and Canadian publications, introducing North American audiences to Maghrebi and Arab socio-political perspectives. He currently serves as a correspondent and editorial cartoonist for Hespress, following his career with the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and his role as a Cultural Attaché at the Moroccan Cultural Center (Dar Al-Maghrib) in Montreal. Bouali holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Law from Mohammed V University in Rabat and a Diploma of Advnced Studies (DES) from the Faculty of Education Sciences. Deeply invested in diplomatic history, he is a co-founder of the Moroccan American Network in Washington, D.C. (est. 2018). As one of the dedicated professionals engaged in preserving transatlantic history, Bouali has been an active organizer in the historic reclamation of the Moroccan explorer Mustafa Al-Zamouri (Estevanico). Since 2020, he has co-organized and curated landmark symposia dedicated to Estevanico’s legacy, coordinating pivotal cultural and academic forums across New Jersey, Azemmour, Houston, and New York City.

Chouaib Halifi, Ph.D.

Professor, Ben M'Sik, Hassan II University of Casablanca. 

Dr. Chouaib Halifi is a writer, novelist, literary critic, and professor of higher education at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Ben M'Sik, Hassan II University of Casablanca. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Surood. His academic and critical interests span narratology, travel literature, popular culture, the historical novel, and the study of the relationships that literary discourse establishes with the self, the other, society, history, and the imaginary. He has devoted particular attention to narratives centered on overlooked historical figures or those marginalized in official historical records, including Estebanico (Mustafa Azemmouri), the Moroccan from Azemmour whose life is closely linked to the history of exploration, travel, and cultural exchange between Morocco and the New World during the sixteenth century. Halifi has contributed significantly to advancing research on this figure by organizing scholarly and cultural events in Azemmour and Casablanca, as well as participating in academic conferences and events in the United States.  Chouaib Halifi holds several academic leadership positions, including Director of the Laboratory of Narratives and Cultural Discourses, Director of the Doctoral Program in Narrative Discourse Analysis, and Coordinator of the Master's Program in Modern Literary Narrative and Cultural Forms. He also supervises the National Used Book Fair in Casablanca, an annual cultural event held in the city's popular neighborhoods. In addition, he serves on scientific and advisory boards and on the review committees of academic journals, conferences, and cultural awards. He has contributed to the preparation of numerous edited volumes and publication series in literature, history, law, and the social sciences. Among his most notable works of literary criticism are The Poetics of the Fantastic Novel, Travel Writing in Arabic Literature: Genre, Writing Strategies, and the Discourse of the Imaginary, The Identity of Signs, Mirrors of Interpretation, and Thresholds of Longing. He has also published several novels and historical and cultural works, including The Time of Chaouia, Don't Forget What You Say—which won the Morocco Prize for the Novel in 2020—Seven Letters to Salih ibn Tarif, The Zenati Line, The Sheikh and the Mountain, and A Report to the Hoopoe. His creative work is distinguished by its recovery of forgotten memories, its attentiveness to marginalized voices, and its reexamination of the relationships among history, fiction, and identity.

Author Paul Schneider

Author Paul Schneider is an American author of non-fiction books and magazine articles.

Paul Schneider is an American author, historian, and journalist whose work is distinguished by its blend of meticulous archival research, literary narrative, and historical storytelling. Raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, he is the son of the noted writers Peter and Pat Schneider. He graduated from Brown University, where he developed his interests in history, literature, and narrative nonfiction. Schneider has established himself as one of America's leading writers of narrative history, focusing on subjects that combine human drama with the broader forces of geography, exploration, and social change. His books are recognized for transforming complex historical events into compelling narratives grounded in extensive primary-source research. Throughout his career, he has contributed essays and feature articles to major publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, ELLE, O, The Oprah Magazine, Audubon, and Mirabella. His first major work, The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness (1997), was selected as a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year. Combining environmental history with cultural and political analysis, it traces the transformation of the Adirondack region from wilderness to one of America's earliest conservation landscapes. He followed this with The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket (2000), an expansive history of New England's Atlantic coast that was recognized as one of the finest books written about Cape Cod. Schneider gained widespread recognition with Brutal Journey: Cabeza de Vaca and the Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America (2006), a critically acclaimed account of the disastrous 1528 Narváez expedition. Drawing upon Spanish chronicles and historical documentation, the book reconstructs the extraordinary eight-year survival journey of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo, and the Moroccan explorer Estebanico (Mustafa Azemmouri), whose remarkable role as one of the first Africans to traverse North America has attracted renewed scholarly attention. Schneider's vivid reconstruction of Estebanico's life and achievements has made Brutal Journey one of the most influential modern English-language works on this overlooked historical figure. The New York Times Book Review praised the book as "a fast-paced, moving story, one that is difficult to believe and impossible to forget." He later published Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend (2009), a deeply researched biography that challenged many myths surrounding the famous Depression-era outlaws through newly available FBI files, court records, and interviews. His next major work, Old Man River: The Mississippi River in North American History (2013), explored the central role of the Mississippi River in shaping the environmental, political, economic, and cultural history of North America, earning praise for combining natural history with historical narrative. In addition to his books, Schneider has served as editor of Martha's Vineyard Magazine, where he has written extensively about the history, culture, and environment of coastal New England. His writing consistently reflects an interest in the intersection of landscape, history, exploration, and human resilience, combining scholarly rigor with an accessible literary style. Paul Schneider continues to write about American history, exploration, and the natural world.

Frederico Mendes Paula, Ph.D.

Portuguese architect and historian 

Frederico Mendes Paula graduated in architecture in 1981 in Lisbon, Portugal, and completed a postgraduate program in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He also attended a course on Classical Arab and Muslim Culture and a course in Graphic Arts. He worked as a freelance professional and joined the staff of the Lagos City Council in Portugal in 1998, where he has served to this day in the areas of strategic planning, historic center management, heritage restoration, and seismic risk prevention. In addition to his professional career, he has been dedicated since 2014 to the Portuguese-Moroccan historical ties, undertaking research and participating in and organizing events. Frederico Mendes Paula is the Secretary-General of the Portuguese Association of Municipalities with Historic Centers (APMCH), chair of the jury for its National Architecture Award, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Portuguese Historic Centers, Vice President of the Institute of Ibero-Atlantic Culture, a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Portuguese-Arab Studies of Silves, and a member of the Al-Idrisi Hispano-Moroccan Foundation. He was awarded two editions of the Gulbenkian Award for Heritage Preservation, honored with the APMCH National Memory and Identity Award, the Coat of Arms of the Commune of Ksar El Kebir, and the 2026 Career Award from the Algarve Regional Section of the Order of Architects. He has received commendations from the APMCH, the Moroccan Ambassador to Portugal, the Lagos City Council, and the Lagos Municipal Assembly. Frederico Mendes Paula organized and participated in several seminars, delivering more than 100 lectures in Portugal, Morocco, and Spain. He has authored 38 publications and more than 100 articles online on his blog, including a research article about Estevanico's life, who was born in Azemmour while the city was under Portuguese occupation. He organized two training sessions on Portuguese heritage in Morocco in Marrakech and El Jadida for Moroccan tour guides, in collaboration with the Portuguese Embassy in Morocco, the Regional Directorates of Culture of Marrakech and Casablanca-Settat, and the Marrakech-Safi Region. Also in Morocco, he organized the event "Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the Retreat of Mazagan Fortress", promoted by APMCH, with support from the Portuguese Embassy in Rabat, visiting Asilah, Ksar El Kebir, Azemmour and El Jadida. He participated in a documentary on a Portuguese TV channel, "Marks That Time Has Not Erased", filmed in Tangier, Ksar Seghir, Asilah and El Jadida, supported by the Moroccan Tourism Delegation in Portugal. He produced a series of five videos for the Portuguese Camões Institute on the Portuguese presence in Morocco, in Portuguese, Arabic, and French. He is currently developing the Ksar El Kebir Center for the Study and Promotion of Portuguese-Moroccan Heritage project, as part of the Twinning Agreement between the Lagos City Council and the Municipality of Ksar El Kebir. In addition to this twinning agreement, he facilitated the signing of two cooperation agreements between the city of Lagos, El Jadida, and Azemmour.

Norah L. A. Gharala, Ph.D.

Professor of History at the University of Houston Texas

Dr. Norah L. A. Gharala is Associate Professor of Colonial Mexican History in the Department of History at the University of Houston, where she specializes in the history of New Spain, the Iberian empires, the African diaspora, slavery and freedom, and the global connections linking the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. She earned her Ph.D. in History from Johns Hopkins University and has established herself as one of the leading scholars examining the intersections of race, law, empire, and identity in colonial Latin America. Dr. Gharala is the author of the award-winning monograph Taxing Blackness: Free Afromexican Tribute in Bourbon New Spain (University of Alabama Press, 2019), a groundbreaking study that explores how free people of African descent in eighteenth-century Mexico negotiated colonial systems of taxation, race, citizenship, and legal status. Drawing upon extensive archival research, her work has significantly expanded scholarly understanding of Afro-Mexican history and the lived experiences of African-descended communities in the Spanish Empire. Her scholarship extends across the early modern Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean worlds, emphasizing the movement of peoples, ideas, and institutions across imperial boundaries. She has published influential articles in the Journal of Global Slavery, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, addressing topics including East Africans in New Spain, Afro-descendant women and family networks, colonial legal culture, and the construction of race and belonging in the Spanish Americas. Dr. Gharala is also co-editor of Everyday Life in the Philippines (1657–1699): Selections from the Manuscripts of Juan de Paz (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), a landmark volume that makes important seventeenth-century Spanish colonial manuscripts from the Philippines accessible to English-language readers while illuminating the cultural and social history of the Spanish Pacific. Her current research follows the life of an enslaved East African man who pursued his freedom in seventeenth-century Mexico City, highlighting the interconnected histories of Africa, the Americas, and Asia within the Spanish Empire. Beyond her research, Dr. Gharala is an accomplished educator and mentor dedicated to training the next generation of historians. At the University of Houston, she teaches courses on Latin American, Mexican, and global history while mentoring undergraduate researchers through programs such as the Mellon Research Scholars Program. Her work has been supported by prestigious institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, the John Carter Brown Library, and the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden. Dr. Gharala's scholarship offers invaluable perspectives on the histories of empire, slavery, freedom, and the African diaspora, making her an important voice in understanding the multicultural foundations of the early modern Americas and the global legacy of the Spanish Empire.

Kenny Bowekaty

Member of the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico

Kenny Bowekaty is a member of the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico, a retired archaeologist, and the founder and owner of Ashiwi Adventures, a cultural tour company based in Zuni. Through his work as an archaeologist, cultural interpreter, and tour guide, he has devoted much of his life to preserving and sharing the history, heritage, landscapes, and ancestral knowledge of the Zuni people. Born in Zuni, Bowekaty was raised by his grandparents in Kya nah, a small farming village south of Zuni within the historic Hawikku area. His upbringing in this culturally significant landscape gave him a strong connection to the land and to the histories passed down through generations of Zuni people. His family origins are rooted in this ancestral region, once an important center of trade, cultural exchange, and community life in the Southwest. Hawikku later became closely associated with European accounts of the legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola. The region also figures prominently in the story of Estevanico, the African-born explorer who traveled through the Southwest during the sixteenth century and became one of the earliest known Africans to enter what is now the American Southwest. As an archaeologist, Bowekaty focused much of his study and research on the Spanish Entrada and the early encounters between Spanish expeditions and the Indigenous peoples of the region. His work has emphasized the importance of examining these events not only through European historical records, but also through Zuni perspectives, oral traditions, archaeological evidence, cultural memory, and the landscape itself. Following his retirement from archaeology, Bowekaty continued his educational and cultural work through Ashiwi Adventures. As a tour guide, he introduces visitors to the historical and cultural landscapes of Zuni while offering perspectives rooted in Zuni history and lived experience. His approach goes beyond conventional sightseeing. He presents the land as a living cultural landscape connected to generations of memory, identity, and tradition. Over the years, Bowekaty has met and worked with people from around the world, including scholars, authors, historians, filmmakers, researchers, journalists, and travelers. His knowledge and experience have led to numerous interviews and appearances in podcasts, documentaries, books, and other media projects concerned with Zuni history, archaeology, Indigenous culture, and the broader history of the American Southwest. One particularly notable appearance was in the PBS series The Great Muslim American Road Trip, where Bowekaty spoke about the historical importance of Estevanico and declared that he should be recognized “as an American icon.” For Bowekaty, Estevanico's story represents an important and often overlooked chapter in American history. His journey connects Africa, the Islamic world, Indigenous America, Spain, Mexico, and the lands that would eventually become part of the United States. The story also challenges conventional narratives about the beginnings of African and Muslim-connected history in North America. Bowekaty emphasizes, however, that Estevanico's journey cannot be understood apart from the Indigenous peoples whose homelands he entered. The Southwest was not an empty frontier awaiting exploration. It was home to established Indigenous societies with sophisticated systems of agriculture, trade, governance, language, spirituality, and cultural traditions extending back many generations. For this reason, Bowekaty sees the story of Estevanico as inseparable from the history of Zuni and Hawikku. His work seeks to place Indigenous perspectives at the center of the historical narrative while also drawing attention to the complex cultural encounters that shaped the early history of the Southwest. Through archaeology, cultural interpretation, and his work with Ashiwi Adventures, Kenny Bowekaty has become an important voice in communicating Zuni history to wider audiences. His lifelong commitment is centered on preserving cultural knowledge, educating visitors, and encouraging a deeper understanding of the relationship between people, history, and the land. His work also reminds audiences that Zuni is not simply a place of archaeological or historical importance. It is a vibrant, living community whose traditions, memories, and perspectives continue to shape the understanding of the American past and present. 

 

Honoring History and Fostering Unity

At the Estevanico Foundation, our mission is to preserve and promote the remarkable legacy of Estevanico, the first documented African Explorer of North America. Based in New Jersey, we are dedicated to enhancing public understanding of the rich historical links between Morocco and the United States. Through educational programs and community initiatives, we aim to promote historical awareness and cross-cultural understanding, ensuring that the stories of our past inspire future generations.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to common inquiries about Estevanico Foundation Inc.

What is the mission of the Foundation?

We aim to preserve Estevanico's legacy, promote U.S.-Morocco historical ties, and support educational and cultural initiatives.

Is your foundation a nonprofit organization?

Yes, Estevanico Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to charitable and educational purposes.

How can I support the Foundation?

You can support us through donations, volunteering, or participating in our community events and initiatives.

Where is the Estevanico Foundation located?

Our office is based in Bayonne, New Jersey. You can reach us at (201) 668-7804.