Doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford
Teaching Fellow in the Department of Political Science at University College London
DPhil in Politics
Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
Job market candidate
I am an early career researcher. I read for my DPhil at the University of Oxford. I completed my doctorate in November 2018. My research interests fall within the fields of political communication, comparative politics and African electoral politics. My thesis is about election campaigning, and in particular, the transformative effect of the mass rally. I write on the politics of sub-Saharan Africa in general, and the politics of Tanzania in particular.
My first two journal articles were published in The Journal of Democracy (impact factor 3.0) and African Affairs (impact factor 2.5, the highest of any area studies journal). My work has been accepted for the Oxford Encylopedia of African Politics. I have a proven track record in winning research grants. I won a research grant of €22,000 from International IDEA with Nic Cheeseman to conduct work about programmatic politics.
My research has an impact beyond the academy in my work. My succession of policy publications have influenced government policy. I often advise governments on politics in East Africa. My public-facing articles have been read by hundreds of thousands of people. I have been quoted on several international media.
Postdoctoral research
My postdoctoral research has three strands.
First, I study political discourse in Tanzania. I examine the changing discursive content of political messages, and in particular, the social groups that are constructed, the antagonisms that are generated between them, the destinations that are anticipated, and narratives that are woven.
Second, I examine the proliferation of digital media in sub-Saharan Africa. I consider how the ongoing proliferation of social media affects peoples’ media diets, and thereby, their opinions and partisanship. I interrogate how this in mediated by the national character and penetration of conventional broadcast media.
Third, I build on the third part of my book project, and examine in greater detail how innovations in rally production drive changes in party organisation.