Teaching

Current Teaching

I offer a range of courses organized chronologically and thematically, with the former serving as introductions to key historical eras (precolonial and modern) and forces (e.g. the slave trade, colonialism, and war) of change. These courses deeply enrich comparative understanding of slavery and complement the work of departmental colleagues who engage with the history/legacy of slavery in U.S., Latin American, Medieval, Central Asian and South Asian history.

  • Present2011

    Early West African History

    It spans the 8th to 16th centuries and covers the rise of ancient kingdoms and empires, the spread of Islam, and the development of the trans-Saharan trade (which included slaves).

  • Current2010

    West Africa during the Era of the Slave Trade

    It explores the causes and rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and covers the arrival of European merchants along the coast of West Africa in the 15th century as well as the abolition of the slave trade in the 19th century.

  • Current2011

    Colonial West Africa

    It functions as a survey of events that characterize the imposition and experience of colonial rule, from the Berlin Conference in 1884-5 through the rise of independence movements in 1960.

  • Current2011

    War in Modern Africa

    It covers case studies from colonial and post-independence Africa; it includes wars of colonial conquest in the late 19th century in the Belgian Congo and German East Africa (Tanganyika) and ethnic conflicts and civil wars in Nigeria and Uganda into the 1980s.

  • Current2011

    History & Memory in Africa

    It focuses on historical figures involved with the identities of specific nations from the 13th into the 20th centuries. “Africans in the Arab World” covers encounters between Africans and Arabs from antiquity to modern times, from Arabia and East Africa to West and North Africa; it uses documents produced by 14th-century Arab travelers and oral traditions performed or narrated by Africans during the 20th century.

  • Current2011

    Africans in the Arab World

    It offers a long-term, multi-regional perspective on various forms of slavery and slave-trading systems in Africa and illuminate how these trading systems contributed to the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean Worlds.

  • endstart

    Christian Encounters, Conversion, and Conflict in Modern Africa

    It helps students develop a comparative perspective on Christian missionary encounters and sources in 19th– and 20th-century Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, and the Congo.

Previous Teaching Experience

  • 20102009

    Gender and Ethnicity in Africa

    University of Virginia

  • 20052005

    Christianity and Colonialism in Africa

    University of Georgia

  • 20072007

    History of Africa up to 1800

    Clark Atlanta University