Moses Ochonu

Moses Ochonu is associate professor of African history at Vanderbilt University. He holds a Ph.D. in African history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a graduate certificate in conflict management from Lipscomb University, Nashville. Ochonu is the author of Colonialism by Proxy: Hausa Imperial Agents and Middle Belt Consciousness in Nigeria (Indiana University Press, 2014), and Colonial Meltdown: Northern Nigeria in the Great Depression (Ohio University Press, 2009). Ochonu’s articles have been published in numerous academic journals, and as book chapters. His op-eds have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Tennessean.com, Pambazuka, Saharareporters.com, and in several African newspapers and magazines. Ochonu was twice a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies, ACLS. His research has also received support from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Ford Foundation, the American Historical Association, and the British Library. He is currently working on a book of essays entitled Africa in Fragments: Nigeria, Africa, and Global Africanity. Ochonu’s research interests include colonial and postcolonial processes of state making, ethno-religious politics and conflicts, elite political cultures and narratives, and contests around resources and economic rights.