Our Expertise

Our Expertise

The African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) is a national network of academics, students, consultants, activists, diplomats, artists, community leaders, and others who share a mutual interest in the promotion of African Studies in Australasia and the Pacific region.

We have a wide range of expertise from across the African continent. Contacts and expertise areas are grouped below in regions.

If you are an AFSAAP member and would like your profile here, please email secretary@afsaap.org.au.

Anne Bartlett PhD

Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya
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My work centers on conflict, forced displacement, cities, and humanitarian crises. My areas of expertise are East and Sahelian Africa (in particular, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda). I am currently the President of AFSAAP and was formerly President of the Sudan Studies Association in the USA.

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Helen Ware PhD

Zambia, Malawi, Angola
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A historian, a sociologist, a demographer, a human rights advocate, a femocrat, an aid bureaucrat, a diplomat (High Commissioner to Zambia and Malawi, Ambassador to Angola) and now is that rare creature: a Professor of Peace Studies.

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James Dhizaala PhD

Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya
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My work centers on conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and political/humanitarian crisis. My areas of expertise are East Africa (Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda) and West Africa (Liberia and Sierra Leone). I am currently the Treasurer of AFSAAP.

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Leighann Spencer

Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa
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Leighann is a PhD candidate and university tutor in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies. Her areas of expertise are policing, vigilantism, judicial politics, identity-based conflict and state accountability. You can view her work at https://leighannspencer.wordpress.com/

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Margaret O’Callaghan

Geographical Interest: Zambia
Zambia
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I worked for AusAID and the UN for 20 years. I have published on Gender and HIV, women in politics, and colonial travel in Africa. More recently I published a book on the impact of mining in Zambia as well as articles on mining conferences, research issues, and the Zambian elections. I have been an Associate of the Southern Africa Institute of Policy and research and a visiting Fellow at Crawford School, ANU.
Expertise: Mining impact, gender, HIV.

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Matthew A.M. Thomas PhD

Geographical Interest: Zambia and Tanzania
Tanzania, Zambia
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Matthew A.M. Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Education and Sociology of Education at the University of Sydney. His research examines educational policies, pedagogical practices, and teacher and higher education. He has extensive experience partnering with colleagues and institutions involved in educational research and practice in Tanzania and Zambia.

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Olamide Shittu

Geographical Interest: Nigeria, Australia
Nigeria, Africans in Australia
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Olamide Shittu is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology. Previously a Management Scholar at Lagos Business School, Nigeria, he also consulted for Oxford Policy Management Limited. Olamide’s research interests include circular economy, plastic consumption, waste management, sustainability transitions, social practices and development studies.

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Shanil Samarakoon PhD

Geographical Interest: Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique
Malawi, Zambia
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An Early Career Researcher with an interest in energy transitions in Africa. I am particularly interested in the implications of the continent’s turn towards off-grid solar as a solution to energy poverty. My PhD research explored issues of energy justice in Malawi’s off-grid solar market.

 

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