I am a Lecturer in Modern African History in the School of Humanities, University of Bristol, specialising in modern and contemporary African history in global perspective, and on the histories of medicine and healthcare. Before joining the University of Bristol in early 2023, I was lecturer in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, specialising in African and global history. Prior to that I had stints as teaching assistant at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and temporary fulltime lecturer in Economic History at the University of Zimbabwe.

My research broadly engages with the histories of medicine and healthcare, and co-production community research. I am particularly interested in the spread of biomedical healthcare in underserved African historical settings; and on life and health in the ‘age of contagious interdependence’ (what I provisionally call ‘the Pathocene’; and on the nexus of heritage, youth development, and research-led development.

Currently, I am working on a monograph tentatively titled "Grappling with the Pathocene: Southern Africa in the Age of Contagious Interdependence”. The monograph will explore the historical Pathocene – a phenomenon denoting the more rapid acceleration of collisions between virospheres and the Anthropocene, and the reshaping experiences and ideas about life and death in an entangled world, as recently spotlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While grounded in historical methodologies, my work is also informed by interdisciplinary approaches drawn from social history, medical humanities, and aspects of co-production community. I am committed to developing research that speaks beyond the academy by using knowledge exchange tools to contribute historical insights to the pressing questions of wellbeing, and development. From 2019, I have been a member of a multi-disciplinary collaborative research network that includes academics from the University of Sheffield and Pala Forerunners (a regional NGO based in South Africa): the UK-ZA Community Research.

Teaching

My teaching broadly reflects my research interests and advances the School of Humanities’ growing strengths in African and global history. My teaching places particular emphasis on the development of strong research, writing, and analytical skills.

The following are the modules I either convene, co-teach or tutor:

• • Africa in Global Perpective (Y2, UG)
  • Health and Medicine in African History: Actors, Institutions, Ideas (Y2, UG) (discontinued in 2025)
  • Medicaring in Africa: Institutions, Practices, Actors (Y2, UG)
  • Disease, Deviance and Disability in Modern Medicine (Y2, UG)
  • Rethinking History (Y2, UG)
  • Approaching the Past (Y1, UG)
  • Fighting the Power: Democracy and Protest (Y1, UG)
  • Decolonisation (Y2, UG) (discontinued in 2025)

In terms of student research mentorship, I have so far supervised two PhDs to completion over the past five years, and I am currently co-supervising and third one. I welcome opportunities for postgraduate supervision (African history; medical history; medical humanities), research partnerships, and public engagement that extend the reach and impact of historical scholarship.

As demonstrated by this blog article on the changing fortunes of African history which was published by The Conversation, I like working with students on intellectual projects that promote wider public engagement with/through history.