Research Overview

Interests: Southern Africa since the 19th Century; Social History

I teach African and global history, and my research interests include African agriculture, environments, food, gender, peasantry, and labor movements in southern Africa since the mid-nineteenth century. I am currently writing a book, Black Englishmen, on the Magololo servants of Dr. David Livingstone.

Graduate Research Fields

I am not accepting new graduate student advisees for our MA and PhD programs.

Courses Offered (subject to change)

• HIST 110:  The Making of Modern Africa (AAS 106; ANT 248), Syllabus
• HIST  200 :  The Rise and Fall of Apartheid in South Africa, Syllabus
• HIST 201:  New Perspectives in Global History (AAS 202), Syllabus
• HIST  210:  Africa Welcomes China , Syllabus
• HIST  211:  Guns, War, and Revolution in Southern Africa, Syllabus
• HIST 228:  North Africa and the Middle East Since 1838, Syllabus
• HIST  244:  China in Africa:Socialist and Capitalist Stories, Syllabus
• HIST 310W/410:  The Political Economy of Food in Africa (AAS 335)

Selected Publication Covers

Selected Publications

• "Feeding and Fleecing the Native: How the Nyasaland Transport System Distorted a New Food Market, 1890s-1920s," The Journal of Southern African Studies 32, 3 (September 2006): 505-524.
• The End of Chidyerano: A History of Food and Everyday Life in Malawi, 1860-2004(Heinemann, 2005).
• "Beyond the 'Crisis' in African Food Studies," The Journal of the Historical Society 3: 3-4(Summer/Fall, 2003): 281-301.
• Work and Control in a Peasant Economy: A History of the Lower Tchiri Valley in Malawi, 1859-1960 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990 [Finalist, 1990 Herskovits Award]).