Professor, Virginia Tech
As a first-generation college student, I graduated with a bachelor’s in history from Northern Illinois University, and went on to earn a doctorate in African history from Northwestern University. After several years teaching at the University of Mississippi, I arrived at Virginia Tech in 2005. I am associate director of Virginia Techs's Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies, which pursues research and teaching around issues of displacement, and works with displaced individuals locally and internationally.
My early research dealt with colonialism, the law, marriage, and gender in southwest Kenya, resulting in the 2006 book, ‘Girl Cases’: Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890-1970. While I conducted smaller research projects on legal history and sexual violence in Kenya, my next book delved into issues of race and settler colonialism: The Souls of White Folk: White Settlers in Kenya, 1900–1920s.
Most recently, I’ve turned my attention to the history of refugees and completed a “state of the field” essay (in A Companion to African History). I am in the midst of research and writing a long book on the history of refugees who fled Ethiopia after the 1935 invasion by Italy.
When working with students, I’m particularly interested in promoting study abroad and in dissecting issues of power, race, and paternalism that often arise in service learning projects, humanitarianism, and development.
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget
Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects