My research specialisation is in African Economic History. In particular, I have published on the following areas:

1. The History of the political economy of Money and Finance in Southern Africa.

2. The transactional aspects of parrallel markets and artisanal mining in Africa.

3. Migration and remittances.

4. African Economic Thought and it informs policy in state and economy-making.

My book manuscript, Money in Colonial Zimbabwe:Money, Sanctions and War Economy (under contract with Routledge) explores Zimbabwe's transition from a British colony to an independent state (1965 - 1980) from a financial and economic perspective. It demonstrates the centrality of financial and economic arrangements to the survival of the late colonial Unilateral of Declaration (UDI) Rhodesian state as it defended itself from African liberation forces pursuing majority rule. It also reveals the extent to which monetary and economic considerations informed independence negotiations on the eve of political independence. The book also considers Rhodesia's interactions with Britain and the Commonwealth, looking at the ways in which other global economic developments such as the commodity boom of the 1960's and the recession of the 1970's informed Rhodesian economic performance under the sanctions imposed on it for rebelling against Britian by maintaing white rule and refusing to accept the principle of the inevitability of majority rule in the 1960's and 1970's. 

With Richard Saunders, I co-edited Facets of Power: Politics, profits and People in the Making of Zimbabwe's Blood Diamonds (Weaver Press and Wits University Press, 2016). The collection was amongst the first comprehensive accounts of the emergence, meaning and profound effect of the discovery and illicit trade of diamonds in eastern Zimbabwe's Chaidzwa communal area. It drew on various scholars' research and fieldwork on various aspects of Chiadzwa's diamonds. The major impact the book had was to influence the Kimberley Process Certaification Scheme (KPCS)'s definition of conflict diamonds. Hitherto, it defined conflict diamonds as those sourced from wartone areas where military conflict was ongoing. The impact of this definition was that such blood diamonds would not recieve a KP certificate to be traded on the international markets like diamonds from conflict-free countries. Facets of Power shed light on how, even in the absence of armed conflict in Zimbabwe, diamonds were being looted by an illegitimate predatory state for the personal aggrandisement of a few well connected political elites at the expense of displaced communities, the environment and the Zimbabwean economy which was prejudiced of an income either from tax reciepts. The book made a major contribution to the discourse of predatory states in the exploitation of valuable mineral resources. Because of our contribution, the definition of conflict diamonds was extended to include predatory states, even in the access of military conflict, insuring that they would not recieve KP certificate if they did not meet the standard of taccountability, management and ransparency set by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). 

To facilitate my research, I have benefited from a number of grants. An example includes:

1. The American Council for Learned Scholars (ACLS)'s African Humanities Program (AHP) grant.

2. I am a team member and co-investigator in the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences grant.

3. Until recently, I was co-investigator of an Economic and Social Council (ESRC) grant examining the "The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Transnational Young People of African Migrant Backgound". 

I am currently working on a number of projects that include, for example:

1. Currency, Economy and State-Making in the South African Colonies between the 1650's and Union in 1910.

2. International Finance and government bonds.

3. The Cost of Migration: Agency Transactions, Certificate of Sponsorships and Care workers from Zimbabwe to the United Kingdom.

I have held a number of fellowships that have facilitated a number of international networks and connections. These include, among others:

1. Cadbury Fellowship (Birmingham University, UK).

2. Smut Visiting Fellowship (University of Cambridge, UK).

3. British Academy Visiting Fellowship (University of Liverpool, UK).

4. Visiting Research Professor (Osaka University, Japan).

5. Visiting Research Professor Residency (University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA], USA) 

Before joining the University of Glasgow, I held various positions in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In Zimbabwe, I held positions at the University of Zimbabwe and Africa University. In South Africa, I held positions at the University of the Free State, Slo Plaatje University, North West University and the University of Pretoria. 

List by: Type | Date

I welcome any proposals from postgraduate students up to PhD level of anyone interested in working in my broad areas of interest.

I have received a number of grants, for example:

• British Academy Fellowship (University of Liverpool - 2023): £29000.
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as co - Investigator (2023): £882000.
• National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHHS) grant (as co - I and team member 2023-2024: R982000. 
• The American Council for Learned Scholars (ACLS)'s African Humanities Program (AHP) grant (2017 - 2018): US$18000.
• Smut Fellowship (University of Cambiridge - 2018): £19000. 
• National Research Foudantion (NRF) of South Africa's Freestanding, Innovation and Scarse Skills (FISS) Postdoctoral Fellowship: R300000.
• Cadbury Fellowship (University of Birmingham 2015): £3500.

Ongoing supervision

• Leilt Assefa Gebeyehu - MA Glocal Student, Impact Investment in Africa: "The Case of Selected Companies in Kenya, 2006 - 2020".
• Lisa McDermid - MA student (Pretoria): "Abandoned Promises: Domestic Violence Legislation in South Africa, 1993 - 2021".

Past PhD Supervision

1. Victor Muchineripi Gwande, "Organised Secondary Industry and the State in Zimbabwe, 1939 - 1979", PhD Thesis, University of the Free State, 2018.

2. Tawanda Valentine Chambwe, "A History of African Entreprenuership in Southern Rhodesia", University of the Free State, 2021.

3.Honest Elias Koke, "A History of Southern Rhodesia's Fiscal System: the Political Economy of Revenue Collection and Expenditure, 1890 - 1953", University of the Free State, 2021.

4. Geraldine Jacquline Sibanda, "Finance, Economic Planning and Power in Zimbabwe, 1980 - 2013", PhD Thesis, 2021.

4. Osariemen Osunde
Uwagboe, "A History of the Nigerian Federal Government's National Tourism Governance System, 1962 - 2006", PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2024.

I am currenctly convening:

1. Business in the Global economy (SPS 5004).

2. Development and African Economies, 1945 - present.