An award-winning former journalist, Kurt Shillinger was deputy foreign editor of The Christian Science Monitor before covering Congress and presidential politics for the paper for nine years. In 1997 he moved to South Africa to cover the African continent for The Boston Globe, reporting from 18 countries during six years. He is former chairman of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Southern Africa, and rounded out 17 years in journalism as managing editor of the SAIIA monthly online magazine eAfrica. As Research Fellow on Security and Terrorism in Africa at the South African Institute of International Affairs, he conducted case studies on the growth and character of Islam in African states seen as most prone to external influence and liaising with policymakers on and off the African continent on security, counter-terrorism and non-proliferation. He also conducted research into the impact of post-apartheid regional political change on the music of Mozambique for a Masters degree in ethnomusicology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He currently resides in Chile, South America.