Dr Hannah Whittaker
Senior Lecturer in Modern African History
Marie Jahoda 225
- Email: hannah.whittaker@brunel.ac.uk
- Tel: +44 (0)1895 267174
- Politics
- Politics and History
- Social and Political Sciences
- College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences
Summary
I am an historian of modern Africa. My research is mainly focused on issues relating to colonialism, borders, development and conflict, particularly in eastern Africa.
Before joining Politics and History at Brunel in September 2013, I taught History at SOAS. I completed my PhD in African History at SOAS in 2011.
Qualifications
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
PhD African History from SOAS, University of London
MA Imperial History from Durham University
BA (hons) History from the LSE
Responsibility
2023-present Co-lead of the Brunel African Studies Research Group
2021-present Co-Senior Tutor for the Department of Social and Political Sciences
2020-2021 Deputy Senior Tutor for Politics and History and Co-Chair of the Crossing Borders Research Cluster in the Centre for Global Lives
2019-2020 Student Experience Leader for History
2017-2020 Member of University Senate
2017-2018 Director of Postgraduate Research for Politics and History
Newest selected publications
Dornan, I. and Whittaker, H. (2025) 'Unleashing the Lion’s Roar: A Grassroots Countercampaign and the Memorialization of the “Glorious” British Empire'. Radical History Review, 2025 (152). pp. 111 - 128. ISSN: 0163-6545 Open Access Link
Whittaker, H. (2024) 'Terje Østebø. Islam, Ethnicity, and Conflict in Ethiopia: The Bale Insurgency, 1963–1970.'. The American Historical Review, 129 (1). pp. 356 - 357. ISSN: 0002-8762
Whittaker, H. (2022) 'East Africa after liberation: conflict, security and the state since the 1980s'. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 60 (3). pp. 329 - 331. ISSN: 0306-3631
Whittaker, H. (2020) 'We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya by Keren Weitzberg: Athens, Ohio University Press, 2017; pp. xiv +274. $80.00 hardback; $32.95 paper'. Northeast African Studies, 20 (1-2). pp. 185 - 188. ISSN: 0740-9133 Open Access Link
Whittaker, H. (2020) 'Youth on the margins: criminalizing Kenya's pastoral frontier, c. 1930-present'. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 14 (4). pp. 763 - 779. ISSN: 1753-1055 Open Access Link