Heike I. Schmidt

My passion for Africa began during a study abroad year at the University of Zimbabwe. I have since become a historian of modern Africa, with my area of specialty being the history of East Africa and Southern Africa, in particular Tanzania and Zimbabwe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. My research focuses on violence & conflict; gender; nation & nationalism; compared colonialisms (British & German); race & white privilege; religion; memory. In my research I have applied a range of approaches, notably social history, gender history, 'new' colonial history, and historical anthropology. My research and my publications are rooted in extended fieldwork which includes undertaking oral history as well as archival studies in Africa.

Throughout my career I have focused my research, teaching, and institutional citizenship on decolonising narratives and representations. My current research projects focus on doing so by questioning colonial violence and racial allyship.