ABSTRACT: The primary intent of this research is to analyze and document the progression of European influence and domination in modern-day Malawi, and to explore the incident at Lake Nyasa. East Africa during the nineteenth century was a period of rapid growth, rising violence,…
Uganda’s AIDS epidemic was amplified by political breakdown and economic collapse during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, however, Uganda has attracted international attention for producing the most dramatic decline in HIV rates in East Africa. Largely due to the government’s op…
The central aim of this dissertation is to examine the history of connections between Omanis and Zanzibaris from the point of view of non-elites. The principle actors of histories of movements and connections between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula has, in past scholarship…
This thesis historically traces the development and interactions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in Ethiopia. This analysis of the interactions between the Abrahamic faiths is primarily concerned with identifying notable periods of social cohesion in an effort to contest mai…
This dissertation examined the impact of child sponsorship on the surrounding communities, churches, and families of sponsored children. These three aspects were of the programs focus (programmatic outcomes) success from child sponsorship programs and other explanations of what …
From 2008-2012, a dramatic upsurge in incidents of maritime piracy in the Western Indian Ocean led to renewed global attention to this region: including the deployment of multi national naval patrols, attempts to prosecute suspected pirates, and the development of financial inte…
I begin my dissertation by recognizing the simple but profound fact that in many African societies, orature is law. The myths, stories, songs, and proverbs that form oral traditions archive normative wisdom and are used in legal procedures. Focusing on East Africa, my dissertati…
The study of memory is not only an inquiry into what happened but is just as much or more so about what is happening. Therefore, a study of the legacy of slavery requires a conscientious look into the lived experiences of members of post-emancipation societies. An investigation …
Drought is a natural disaster that affects millions of people across the globe. Lack of rainfall reduces crop yields and livestock productivity and in turn, food availability and income. In developing countries, these effects are even more detrimental. As droughts become more fr…
In this study, I examine what education as development means for the men and women who live in Hossana town, Ethiopia. The ethnographic focus of this study is on understanding how education as development evokes different meanings for socio-political participation by rural stude…
Several studies suggest that the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries (DCs) can help such countries achieve national development goals - especially if accompanied by appropriate government policies designed to regulate and promot…
Broadband seismic data from Ethiopia and the Arabian Shield have been used to image the seismic structure of the upper mantle beneath ∼70% of the Afar hotspot. In the northernmost area of the hotspot, the Arabian Shield, the results from a P wave tomography and a receiver functi…
This dissertation is concerned with the political and religious histories of the first Arab-Muslim communities to settle on the Swahili Coast and their subsequent role in the Islamicization of East Africa. It examines the historical connections between South Arabian migration an…
The study is the story of landscape ideologies and how they played out in the unstable milieu of East Africa as it became more deeply incorporated into a global imperial system. The dissertation covers the history of landscape discourse regarding Africa in general and the lower …
The center of this project is the Luo Union, a socio-cultural organization founded amongst pockets of migrant workers in towns across East Africa. Riwruok e Teko (Unity is Strength) has been the mantra of the organization, for all of its nearly 60 year official existence. From i…
This is a study in the sociology of knowledge, focusing on the historiography of coastal East Africa and its surroundings through time. The focus is on the writing of coastal East African history and its relationship to the identities of both writers and readers/discussants in t…
This thesis presents the results of contemporary limnological and palaeolimnological investigations of a series of crater lakes in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental history of western Uganda, East Africa. The research examines questions of spatial and temporal heterog…
This thesis is a phenomenology of understanding in the context of development practice in East Africa. It is framed by stories of my life and work, experiences rooted in European traditions and provoked and expanded in encounter with African traditions. My question began with me…