I’m a Doctoral candidate in the Department of History. My current research project examines the meanings and practices which African men attached to boxing, and how those cultural practices contradicted colonial ideas about play and sportsmanship.
Using oral and archival sources, my research illuminates how indigenous medicines used by African boxers for performance enhancement became so popular that they were seen as subversive by colonial authorities. The research project also underscores how ideas of white racial superiority around the world shaped boxing throughout the British empire, leading to colonies such as apartheid South Africa and colonial Zimbabwe co-ordinating to police the sport. I’m currently a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia.
Educational Background
- MA: African History, University of Zimbabwe, 2015
- BA Honors: African History, University of Zimbabwe, 2013
Specialties
- Colonialism
- Sport
- Africa