�鶹��Ƶ����

I am a historian of twentieth-century Africa with particular interests in connections between economic life and social and political belonging. How do people form relationships and make plans in the context of shifting and often ambiguous official and bureaucratic structures? How, and how much, do these institutions shape their lives and ideas? I am also interested in how evidence about Africa is used by governments, academics, and international actors. What kinds of knowledge and analysis are privileged in official and scholarly circles? What social and political processes shape data collection and interpretation?

“My first book, Village Work: Development and Rural Statecraft in 20th Century Ghana (Ohio University Press, 2021) is a multilayered case study that positions rural Ghanaians and their negotiations over development at the center of twentieth-century political, labor, and family history. My current research traces an intellectual and social history of Ghanaian policymaking at the intersection of Cold War transnationalism and the start of the neoliberal era.”

I teach widely on topics in African history, from the earliest human migrations to the present. My research and teaching stem from a desire to bring the curiosity and analytical rigor of history into broader conversations in academia and international policy. I am deeply committed to conversations across disciplines, and I frequently write and present to audiences in African studies and development studies.

Teaching

• HIS 168: Africa to 1800
• HIS 169: The Making of Modern Africa
• HIS 263: Development and Dissent in Africa
• HIS 267: Health and Society in Africa
• HIS 366: Slavery and Africa
• HIS 369/ANT 234: Urban Africa/Popular Culture (co-taught with Laurian Bowles, Anthropology and Africana Studies)
• HIS 467: Family and Families in African History
• HIS 469: Work, Gender, and Political Imagination in Africa
• WRI 101: Imagining Africa