I am a political historian with an interest in the Horn of Africa. I have a PhD in African Studies from the University of Edinburgh and an MA in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand. My research is primarily concerned with the late colonial period in Africa, specifically on how the legacies of this period influence present-day processes of state and nation building. 

My work seeks to disrupt dominant interpretations of state and nation-building in Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region. I have published widely in this area and my work appears in journals such as Nations and Nationalism, African Affairs, and the Journal of Eastern African Studies, among others. In the field of migration and mobilities I am interested in how intra-African migration is challenging and transforming traditional meanings of national identity on the African continent. 

I am currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies at the University of the Western Cape where I teach African Politics and International Relations. Since 2022 I have been an Associate Editor with the journal Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, and I sit on the Editorial boards of the journals – Social Dynamics (University of Cape Town) and African Solutions (Addis Ababa University).