Overview

As an undergraduate, I was educated in comparative studies in society and history at Cornell University and received a Ph. D. in sociology from Binghamton University. My principal focus of interest over the past few years has been understanding forms of social power as they change over time, and the way economic systems intertwine with cultural forms in those transformations. I am particularly interested in development processes viewed from a broadly comparative and historical perspective, together with the various theories that attempt to account for them.

Research Focus

I am currently engaged in two overlapping research projects. The first is a comparative study of national development trajectories in Northeast Africa in the context of divergent colonial pasts and the post-World War II international political and economic order. The second seeks to examine the complex coping and adaptive mechanisms of local societies in the semi-arid regions of Eritrea ? from crop and herd diversification to careful exploitation of ecological niches ? and how these are being undermined by the State's drive to fix agro-pastoral communities in particular places, and to pursue a development strategy centered on intensive mechanized agriculture.

Outreach and Extension Focus

My current outreach work is focused on the development of a new social science curriculum for Eritrea`s school system. This is being conducted in collaboration with the Curriculum Department of the Ministry of Education in Eritrea and entails the design of a reference text that can serve as a guide and template for the production of social science textbooks.

Instruction Focus

My courses focus on theories of development and social change that are foundational for the undergraduate and graduate program in the department of development sociology. Courses Taught: DSOC 6060: Sociological Theories of Development; DSOC 3010: Theories of Society and Development; DSOC 872.5: The Historical Sociology of Modernity.

Additional Links

• Department of Development Sociology
• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Professional Activities

• Social Sciences in a Globalizing World. Workshop with the Curriculum Department, Ministry of Education ? Asmara, Eritrea. July. Invited to lead a one-week workshop. - 2006
• "Power and Nationalism in Modern Africa. " Conference organized by the Africana Studies & Research Center, Cornell University. September 22-23, 2006. Invited Panelist. - 2006
• "Globalization Theory or a Theory of Globalization? " New York State Sociological Association Annual Conference. October 14, 2005. Invited Panelist. - 2005
• "Themes in the History of Colonial and Post-Colonial Northeast Africa. " Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS), School of Oriental & African Studies, London. June 29, 2005. Invited Panelist. - 2005
• Disciplinary Politics and the Politics of Disciplines. Workshop organized under the auspices of the International Studies Association. Honolulu, Hawaii. March 1-5, 2005. Invited participant. - 2005

Selected Publications

• "Society and Politics: Eritrea," New Encyclopedia of Africa (Gale-Cenage Learning, 2007). "Eritrea," Nations and Nationalism in Global Perspective: An Encyclopedia of Origins, Development, and Contemporary Transitions (ABC-Clio, forthcoming 2008). This is a chapter length contribution. 2007
• "Ethiopia: Empire and Modernity," in Salah M. Hassan and Petrine Archer-Straw (eds.) Imaging Ethiopia: Monarchy and Modernity (Munich and New York: Prestel Publishing, forthcoming 2008). 2007
• "Social Science Reference Text." This is a 165-page draft manuscript produced for the Ministry of Education in Eritrea. It is meant to serve as a guide and template for the production of age-appropriate social science textbooks for the nation`s secondary schools. 2007
• "The Empire of Capital and the Remaking of Center-Periphery Relations. " Third World Quarterly, Volume 25, no. 1. 2004
• "The Aporias of Nationalism: Political Culture, Ideology and Democracy, " in Hartmut Quehl (ed.) Living in Wartimes, Living in Postwar Times (Felsberg, Germany: Edition Eins, 2002). 2002

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