Centre of African Studies
Founded in 1963, the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh is the only such academic unit in Scotland dedicated to the study of Africa. Drawing on a proud history of links between Scotland and Africa, from the missionaries who played a major role in southern Africa to the African leaders, such as Julius Nyerere, who studied at Edinburgh, the Centre of African Studies brings together African expertise from across the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and more widely. In turn, the Centre seeks to relate African Studies to the wider community, through links with NGOs and major educational and cultural organisations in Africa and Scotland.
This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
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Recent Submissions
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Citizenship and displacement: naturalisation of Burundian refugees in Tanzania (2010-2017)
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-25)Between 2010-2017, 150,000 of Burundian refugees, whose families fled to Tanzania in the 1970s, received citizenship in Tanzania. This thesis explores how the experience of naturalisation shaped Burundian refugees’ views ... -
Pigs, people, pathogens: health and multispecies relations in Central Uganda
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-11-25)This thesis describes the convergence of health and sickness in pigs and people in central Uganda. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic research, the chapters of this thesis trace diseases along the pig supply ... -
Seeing like a second city: contested development in the African townships of late colonial Bulawayo, Rhodesia, 1949-1977
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-08)This thesis is a historical ethnographic study of late colonial planning and development in the racially segregated townships of a southern African city: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). It analyses how the municipal ... -
Local government party politics and ANC councillor representation: the dynamics of council decision-making in South Africa
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-08)Councillors serving as elected representatives of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa have increasingly gained a poor public reputation and decline in electoral support since 2006. Community perception ... -
Muscular Christianity: the Church of Scotland Mission, Gikuyu, and the question of the body in Colonial Kenya c1906-c1938
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-08)This thesis is a social and cultural history of the Church of Scotland Mission to Kenya (CSM) and a study of colonialism in Kenya’s Gikuyu highlands during the period between c1906-c1938. The thesis identifies and ... -
Artefacts of accountability: relationships, audit and ambitions in the Malawian microfinance sector
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-08)Accountability has become a prominent theme in the conversation around how international development agencies can best achieve their goals in an effective and ethical manner, and how they should seek to engage with ... -
Disrupting the fatal sleep: innovation and the elimination of Human African Trypanosomiasis in Northern Uganda
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-04-05)For more than a century, a wide variety of tools, techniques, and strategies have been deployed in attempts to control Human African Trypanosomiasis with mixed success. However, the recent development of more simple ... -
Ex-combatant political engagement in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire
(The University of Edinburgh, 2019-07-08)Why do some ex-combatants mobilise to make financial and material gains and others do not? This thesis examines the political engagement activities of ex-combatants in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire. The activities examined ... -
Kilowatts, megawatts and power: electric territorialities of the state in the peripheries of Ghana and Tanzania
(The University of Edinburgh, 2018-11-27)Recent years have brought a resurgence of state-led plans to expand access to electricity over African polities. Nonetheless, and in line with deep-seated patterns of infrastructural and general abandonment by the centre, ... -
“Blood neighbours” and border enemies: transport, trade, Talibee networks and the Gambia-Senegal relations, 1960- 2015
(The University of Edinburgh, 2018-07-09)Since the Senegambia Confederation collapsed in 1989, The Gambia-Senegal interstate conflicts over the border have intensified. Irrespective of the recurrence of interstate political difficulties, people in the two ... -
Voter behaviour in Tanzania: a qualitative study of the 2015 elections
(The University of Edinburgh, 2018-07-09)In October 2015, John Magufuli became President of Tanzania and his party (Chama cha Mapinduzi, CCM) won a large majority in parliament. This thesis explains why Tanzanians choose to vote the way they do in general and ... -
Stability and change in South African public policy: 1994-2014
(The University of Edinburgh, 2018-07-09)This thesis narrates the exercise of state autonomy to achieve macro-economic stability and effect incremental policy change in South Africa between 1994 and 2014. Employing a composite case study of the macro-economic ... -
Regime stability, social insecurity and mining in Guinea: a case study of bauxite and diamond mining (1958-2008)
(The University of Edinburgh, 2016-06-29)This thesis explores how the mining of bauxite and diamonds enabled the coexistence of regime stability and social insecurity in Guinea under the regimes of Presidents Sékou Touré (1958- 1984) and Lansana Conté (1984-2008). ... -
Sustainable Africapitalism? Grassroots perceptions of Maasai Mara conservancies and their relationship with development
(The University of Edinburgh, 2016-06-29)Integrated conservation and development projects have been widely promoted across Africa. These often involve public-private partnerships targeting tourism. Despite this encouragement, there are conflicting views regarding ... -
Anticipating the revolt: trends in military mutinies in West and Central Africa, 1960-2012
(The University of Edinburgh, 2014)This thesis examines patterns of military mutinies in West and Central Africa from 1960 to 2012. The research explores the ways in which primarily rank and file soldiers express their discontent within a military ... -
From refining to smuggling: the everyday politics of petrol in Ghana
(The University of Edinburgh, 2017-11-28)This thesis presents an ethnographic study of the downstream petroleum industry in Ghana focusing on trade, infrastructure, flow, politics and social relationships. In 2010, the West African Republic of Ghana started ... -
Activating justice: local appropriation of transitional justice in Sierra Leone
(The University of Edinburgh, 2017-11-28)This thesis examines local transitional justice programmes and processes in Sierra Leone. I will examine both recognised mechanisms – official institutions with preconceived goals and processes that are already recognised ... -
Imagining the Somali lands: nationalism in a transnational public sphere, and the political reconfiguration of Somalia
(The University of Edinburgh, 2017-11-28)This thesis examines the 'public sphere' of state reconstruction and political conflict across the Somali territories through comparative discursive and contextual analysis of media production and consumption on the ground ... -
Expanding the One Health agenda - sustainable livelihoods, zoonotic disease and gender in Nigeria
(The University of Edinburgh, 2017-07-05)Livestock production is central to the livelihoods of millions of people in Nigeria, and indeed across the continent. Understanding how livestock based economies function and the issues that constrain them has long been ... -
Aligners, lovers and deceptors: aspirations and strategies of young urban hustlers in the Gambia
(The University of Edinburgh, 2017-07-05)This study investigates young Gambians’ social and economic aspirations. It considers how young Gambians’ aspirations are shaped and negotiated, and the strategies they employ to achieve their objectives. Whilst existing ...
