African History Dissertations at MSU

Arranged by year; alphabetical within year

Compiled by Joseph Lauer & Walter Hawthorne

1. Eluwa, Gabriel Ihie Chinenye. The Colonial Office and the emergence of the National Congress of British West Africa. 1967.
2. Wylie, Kenneth Charles. The politics of transformation: indirect rule in Mendeland and Abuja 1890-1914. 1967.
3. Shiroya, O.J.E. The impact of World War II on Kenya: The role of ex-servicement in Kenyan nationalism. 1968.
4. Hannah, Robert Wilfred. The origins of indirect rule in Northern Nigeria, 1890-1904. 1969.
5. Postma, Johannes. The Dutch participation in the African slave trade; slaving on the Guinea Coast, 1675-1795. 1970.
6. Nwachuku, Levi Akalazu. U.S./Nigeria: an analysis of U.S. involvement in the Nigeria/Biafra war 1967-1970. 1973.
7. Boeder, Robert. Malawians Abroad: the history of labor emigration from Malawi to its neighbors, 1890 to the present. 1974.
8. Gerrit D. Groen, Gerrit. The Afrikaners in Kenya, 1903-196. 1974.
9. Keefer, Edward Coltrin. The career of Sir John L. Harrington: Empire and Ethiopia, 1884-1918. 1974.
10. Anchak, George Ronald. An experience in the paradox of indigenous church building: a history of the Eastern Mennonite Mission in Tanganyika, 1934-1961. 1975.
11. Moniba, Harry Fumba. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute and Liberia: institutional and moral assistance, 1908-1969. 1975.
12. Reed, Harry A. Cotton-growing in Central Nyanza province, Kenya, 1901-1939: an appraisal of African reactions to imposed government policy. 1975.
13. Barnes, Carolyn. An experiment with African coffee growing in Kenya: the Gusii, 1933-1950. 1976.
14. Breen, Rita Mary. The politics of land: the Kenya Land Commission (1932-33) and its effects on land policy in Kenya. 1976.
15. McKinnon, Murlene E. Commerce, Christianity and the gunboat: an historical study of Malawi Lake and river transport, 1850-1914. 1977.
16. Page, Melvin E. Malawians in the great war and after, 1914-1925. 1977.
17. McClellan, Charles. Reaction to Ethiopian expansionism: The case of Darasa, 1895-1935. 1978.
18. Chiteji, Frank M. The development and socio-economic impact of transportation in Tanzania, 1884-present. 1979.
19. Elkiss, Terry H. The quest for an African Eldorado: Sofala, Southern Zambezia and the Portuguese, 1500 to 1865. 1979.
20. Dosunmu, Joshua Toye. The missionary impact on the Igbomina. 1980.
21. Al-Subaiy, Abdullah Nasir. Anglo-Egyptian relations under Lord Salisbury, 1885-1892. 1980.
22. Al-Thakakfi, Yosif Ali. The diplomatic relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Empire in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. 1981.
23. Dorsey, Learthen. The Rwandan colonial economy, 1916-1941. 1983.
24. Decker, David Fred. Hikimdar vs Jellaba: the impact of the Turkiyya on the political economy of 19th century Sudan (Kordofan). 1984.
25. McCann, James. Households, peasants and recent history in Lasta, Northern Ethiopia, 1900-35. 1984.
26. Ellingson, Lloyd Schettler. Eritrea: separatism and irredentism, 1941-1985. 1986.
27. Tessema Ta’a. The political economy of Western Central Ethiopia: from the mid-16th to the early 20th centuries. 1986.
28. Kane, Moustapha. A history of Fuuta Tooro, 1890s-1920s: Senegal under colonial rule: The protectorate. 1987.
29. Edwards, Jon Russell. The Economic Reorganization of Ethiopia during the Interwar Period: 1918-1935. 1988.
30. Hanson, John Henry. Umarian Karta (Mali, West Africa) during the late nineteenth century: dissent and revolt among the Futanke after Umar Tal’s holy war. 1989.
31. Clark, Andrew Francis. Economy and society in the Upper Senegal valley West Africa 1850-1920. 1990.
32. Jones, Laird Revis. The district town and the articulation of colonial rule: the case of Mwanza, Tanzania, 1890-1945. 1991.
33. Towghi, Malik Muhammed. Foundations of Muslim Images and treatment of the world beyond Islam. 1991.
34. Woods, Tony. Accumulation and order: state and society in Colonial Malawi, 1891-1929. 1991.
35. Cheeseboro, Anthony Quinn. Administration and change in the Gezira Scheme and the Sudan, 1938-1970. 1993.
36. Bivins, Mary Wren. Women, ecology and Islam in the making of modern Hausa cultural history. 1994.
37. Conte, Christopher Allan. Transformations along the gradient: ecological change in the mountains and plains of Northeastern Tanzania’s West Usambara mountains, 1860-1970. 1994.
38. Kendie, Daniel. The internal and external dimensions of the Eritrean conflict. 1994.
39. Callahan, Michael. Mandates and Empire in Africa: Britain, France and the League of Nations mandates system, 1914-1931. 1995.
40. Gemede, Guluma. Land, agriculture and society in the Gibe region, southwestern Ethiopia, c. 1850-1974. 1996.
41. Ngalamulume, Kalala J. City growth, health problems, and colonial government response: Saint-Louis (Senegal) from mid-nineteenth century to the First World War. 1996.
42. Hino, Abannik Ohure. Eastern Equatoria and the White Nile trade: the political economy of a trading frontier, 1840-1900. 1997.
43. Jenkins, Earnestine. A kingly craft: manuscripts, ideology, and society in 18th-19th century Ethiopia. 1997.
44. Gebissa, Ezekiel. Consumption, contraband and commodification: a history of khat in Harerge, Ethiopia, c. 1930-1991. 1997.
45. Beswick, Stephanie F. Violence, ethnicity and political consolidation in South Sudan: a history of the Dinka and their their relations with their neighbors. 1998.
46. Cohen, Brett. “Something like a blowing wind”: African conspiracy and the coordination of resistance to colonial rule in South Africa, 1876-1882. 1999.
47. Genge, Manelisi. Power and gender in Southern African history: power relations in the era of Queen Labotsibeni Gwamile Mdluli of Swaziland, ca 1875-1921. 1999.
48. Walker, Ezekiel Ayodele. The rise and decline of cocoa farming in Western Nigeria. 1999.
49. Benti, Getahun. The dynamics of migration to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and the over-urbanization of the city, c.1941-c.1974. 2000
50. Lydon, Ghislaine. On trans-Saharan trails: trading networks and cross-cultural exchange in Western Africa, 1840s-1930s. 2000.
51. Brown, Kevin K. The military and social change in colonial Tanganyika, 1919-1964. 2001.
52. Carmichael, Tim. Approaching Ethiopian history: Addis Abäba and local governance in Harär, c.1900 to 1950. 2001.
53. Fikru Gebrekidan N. Bond without blood, a study of Ethiopian-Caribbean ties, 1935-1991. 2001.
54. Macgonagle, Elizabeth. A mixed pot: history and identity in the Ndau region of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, 1500-1900. 2001.
55. Babou, Cheikh. Ahmadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya: The history of a Muslim Brotherhood in Senegal, (1853-1913). 2002.
56. Creary, Nicholas Matthew. Domesticating a foreign import? African cultures and the Catholic Church at Jesuit missions in Zimbabwe, 1879-1980. 2002.
57. Geysbeek, Timothy William. History from the Musadu epic: the formation of Manding power on the southern frontier of the Mali empire. 2002.
58. Sereke-Brhan, Heran. Building bridges, drying bad blood: elite marriages, politics and ethnicity in 19th and 20th century Imperial Ethiopia. 2002.
59. Jones, Hilary. Citizens and subjects: Métis society, identity and the struggle over colonial politics in Saint-Louis, Senegal, 1870-1920. 2003.
60. Bekele, Getnet. Knowledge, power and a region: the making of Ethiopia’s South Central Rift Valley: agricultural environment and society, 1892-1974. 2004.
61. Getahun, Solomon Addis. The history of Ethiopian immigrants in the United States in the twentieth century, 1900-2000. 2004.
62. Miran, Jonathan. Facing the land, facing the Sea: commercial transformation and urban dynamics in the Red Sea port of Massawa, 1840s-1900s. 2004.
63. Curry, Dawne Y. Community, culture and resistance in Alexandria [i.e. Alexandra], South Africa, 1912-1985. 2005.
64. Eshete, Tibebe. Growing through the storms: the history of the Evangelical movement in Ethiopia, 1941-1991. 2005.
65. Mwiandi, Mary. The Jeanes School in Kenya: the role of the Jeanes teachers and their wives in “social transformation” of rural colonial Kenya, 1925-1961. 2005.
66. Cele, Nokuthula Peace. Building a community on the Zulu frontier: the history of the Machi chieftaincy from the early 19th century to 1948. 2006.
67. Esese, Danson P. Lumumba. The changing system of land ownership and its socio-economic effects in Lugari Division, Western Province of Kenya, c. 1880-2000. 2007.
68. Sene, Ibra. Crime, punishment, and colonization: a history of the prison of Saint-Louis and the development of the penitentiary system in Senegal, ca. 1830-ca. 1940. 2008
69. Harris, Shannon Vance. Politics, discourses and contradictions: Galandou Diouf in French colonial Senegal, 1890-1941. 2009.
70. M’bayo, Tamba Eadric. African interpreters, mediation, and the production of knowledge in colonial Senegal: the lower and middle Senegal valley, ca. 1850s to ca. 1920s. 2009.
71. Antoine, Mikelle. Practice and conversion of Asante market women to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in the late 20th century. 2010.
72. Hadfield, Leslie Anne. Restoring human dignity and building self-reliance: youth, woman, and churches and Black consciousness community development, South Africa, 1969-1977. 2010.
73. Odamtten, Harry Nii Koney. A history of ideas: West Africa, “The Black Atlantic,” and Pan-Africanism. 2010.
74. Sarr, Assan. Land and historical changes in a river valley: property, power and dependency in the lower Gambia basin, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 2010.
75. Diawara, Marieme A. Islam and public health: French management of the Hajj from colonial Senegal and Muslim responses beginning in 1895. 2012.
76. Kelly, Jill E. “Only the fourth chief”: conflict, land, and chiefly authority in 20th century KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 2012.
77. Saho, Bala. Islam, gender, and colonialism: Social and religious transformations in the Muslim Court of the Gambia, 1905-1970. 2012.
78. Grace, Joshua Ryan. Modernization bubu: Cars, roads, and the politics of development in Tanzania, 1870s–1980s. 2013
79. Mbah, Leonard Ndubueze. Emergent masculinities: The gendered struggle for power in southeastern Nigeria, 1850-1920. 2013.
80. Obasi, Winifred Uche. From shrines to prayer houses: A religious history of Igbo women, 1900–1970. 2013.
81. Shabaka, Lumumba Hamilcar. Transformation of “old” slavery into Atlantic slavery: Cape Verde Islands, c. 1500–1879. 2013.
82. Brühwiler, Benjamin Amani. Moralities of owing and lending: Credit, debt, and urban living in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam. 2015.
83. Chipande, Decius H. Chipolopolo: A Political and Social History of Football (Soccer) in Zambia, 1940s-1994. 2015.
84. Davey, Joseph Miles. Replanting the seeds of home: Slavery, King Jaja, and Igbo connections in the Niger Delta, 1821-1891. 2015.
85. Lewis, Amanda. Amboseli landscapes: Maasai pastoralism, wildlife conservation, and natural resource management in Kenya, 1944-present. 2015.
86. Owen, Caleb Edwin. Lands of leisure: Recreation, space, and the struggle for urban Kenya, 1900-2000. 2016.
87. Park, Matthew James. Heart of Banjul: The history of Banjul, The Gambia, 1816-1965. 2016.
88. Liu, Shaonan. “The Chinese Are Coming”: A History of Chinese Migrants in Nigeria. 2018.
89. Felipe González, Jorge. Foundation and Growth of the Cuban-based Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1790-1820. 2019.
90. Timbs, Elizabeth H. The Regiments: Cultural Histories of Zulu Masculinities and Gender Formation in South Africa, 1816-2018. 2019.
91. Glovsky, David. Belonging Beyond Boundaries: Constructing a Transnational Community in a West African Borderland. 2020.
92. Bradshaw, Joseph. The Bandiagara Emirate: Warfare, Slavery and Colonization in the Middle Niger, 1863-1903. 2020.
93. Stevenson, Russell Wade. “The University of the Village”: The University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Making of Post-Independence Nigeria. 2020.
94. Blackwell, Jr., James K. Igbo Migration, Entrepreneurship, and the Creation of the ‘Igbo Scare’ in British Southern Cameroon, 1900-1975. 2020.
95. Reyelts, Tara. Law, Justice, and Gender: (Re)gendering the Legal System in Ogidi, Igboland. 2020.
96. Marshall, Jodie. Immobility in a Sea of Migration: Biographical Histories of Transnational Families in Zanzibar and Oman, 1856-2019. 2021.
97. Crigler, Robin K. Laughter and Identity: a Social and Cultural History of South African Humor, 1910-1961. 2021.
98. Cornelius, Akil A. The Armory: Warfare, Gender, and Technology in South Africa, 1820-1904. 2022.
99. Carline, Katie. Black Women’s Christian Associations and the Making of Urban Cultures in a South African city, c.1900-1994. 2023.
100. Jabang, Abdouli. Reproducing Environmental (In)Equalities: Power, Dispossession, and Injustice in the Gambia River Region, 1600-1960. 2023.
101. Kesse, Nana. Living with Water: Environment, Slavery, & Spirituality in Nzulezo (West Africa), 1750s-1850. 2023.
102. Moore, Bernard C. Land, Labor, and Karakul in Namibia, 1910s-1960s. 2025.