I am an historian of modern Africa, focusing on southern African history, especially working-class cosmopolitanisms and identities in African port cities, transnational cultural exchange through maritime connection, dockside prostitution, and post-apartheid memory in Cape Town.

I hold a BA in English from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, an MA in African Studies from Yale University, an MPhil in African History from Yale, and am currently finishing up my PhD dissertation at Yale titled, “Port Culture: Cape Town’s Dockside World Since 1945.”

I am the author of three books:

• Cape Town: A Place Between (2020)
• Seeking Impact and Visibility: Scholarly Communication in Southern Africa (2014)
• Sugar Girls & Seamen: A Journey into the World of Dockside Prostitution in South Africa (2008/2011)

I am also the author eighteen journal articles and book chapters about “Coloured” identity and post-apartheid memory in Cape Town, dockside prostitution in Cape Town and Durban, South African maritime history, and various higher education issues across the Global South, including open educational resources and social justice.

I have lived for more than two decades in Africa, splitting my time between traveling on the continent, researching and writing about African history, and working as a higher education researcher at the University of Cape Town.