School of Politics and International Studies

Research Interests

I am developing a book manuscript and two articles from my PhD, which all focus on colonial authority in Darfur. My work is particularly focussed on examining the character of the colonial state, and assessing the degree to which colonial rule had a transformative effect on existing political culture in Darfur. It examines colonial violence, the role of ‘traditional’ authorities, and the imposition of territorial boundaries in Darfur.

My future research will examine the relationship between pastoralists, territorial boundaries and state power in the British Empire. I will compare African and Middle Eastern case studies to investigate the extent to which imperial states imposed territorial sovereignty in pastoralist borderlands.

I am also co-editing a collection on the politics and history of Sudanese borderlands, which has come out of an international workshop that I organised in 2011.

Teaching

• Violence and Reconciliation in Eastern Africa

Key Publications

• 'Reinventing the wheel? Local government and neo-traditional authority in late colonial northern Sudan'. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 43 (2010), 255-278.
• "Demonstrating the machine guns”: the Nyala rebellion, local politics and counter-insurgency in early colonial Darfur, 1921-2’, submitted to Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.