Caitlin Barker

I am a PhD candidate studying modern African and Chinese history, with a particular interest in Africa-China relations. My current research examines Cameroon’s relationship with the PRC and Taiwan during the Cold War, as viewed through the lens of knowledge production.

The working title of my dissertation is Producing Knowledge and Navigating Friendship: Three Cameroon-China Alliances in the Global Cold War. The project draws on fieldwork in Cameroon, China, Taiwan, France and the US that was funded by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowship, a Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) from the Social Science Research Council, and the Gliozzo Dissertation Research Scholarship from MSU. Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships from the U.S. Department of Education for the study of Hausa, Mandarin Chinese, and French supported my coursework and language training, and I also hold a University Distinguished Fellowship from the MSU Graduate School. 

After graduating from Kenyon College in 2013 with a B.A. in political science, I taught American history for a year at Hefei No. 8 Senior Middle School in Hefei, China. I then served as a Peace Corps Community Health Volunteer in the eastern Adamawa region of Cameroon, before returning to Hefei to teach English at Anhui Agricultural University for two years. At MSU, I worked for one year as an Editorial Assistant and Office Manager for the Journal of West African History, and have served as a research assistant for both Dr. Nwando Achebe and Dr. Jamie Monson. I have also served as a teaching assistant for courses on African, World, and US history. I currently serve as a Book Review Editor for H-Africa and run the website and listserv for the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China (CA/AC) Research Network. My writing has appeared in the Journal of West African History, Connections: A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists, and H-Net Reviews.