Profile

Prof. Dr. Dmitri van den Bersselaar

Prof. Dr. Dmitri van den Bersselaar

Institute Head

Institute of African Studies
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum
Beethovenstraße 15
04107 Leipzig

Prof. Dr. Dmitri van den Bersselaar

Prof. Dr. Dmitri van den Bersselaar

Professor

History of Africa
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum
Beethovenstraße 15, Room 2.208
04107 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97 - 37035
Fax: +49 341 97 - 37048

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Website

Abstract

I am a social and cultural historian with an interest in economic history. I specialise in West Africa, specifically Ghana and Nigeria during the 19th and 20th centuries. Current interests include: the impact of multinational business on local African cultures of work and labour; employability in African knowledge economies; and the history of knowledge production in and about Africa.

I previously worked on: African responses to - and involvement in - colonialism, missionary enterprise, trading and business; the impact of colonial interaction on identity, community, and personhood; changing perceptions of status, culture, ethnicity and identity in colonial and postcolonial West Africa; and the ways in which people appropriate ideas and commodities from outside and make them meaningful as emblems of local communities and identities.

I am keen to supervise research students working on projects relating to any of the above areas of interest.

Office hour: Wednesdays 9-11am.

Professional career

  • 01/1996 - 01/1999
    Leiden University: Lecturer; Study Advisor
  • 01/1999 - 01/2012
    University of Liverpool: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in History (1999-2012); Reader (2012-2017)
  • since 10/2017
    University of Leipzig: Professor in African History

Education

  • 01/1992
    Leiden University: MA in History
  • 01/1998
    Leiden University: PhD in Social Science

  • SFB 1199/B02: Spatial and Temporal Limitations of “Berlin’s Africa”: Between the Decline of a Spatial Format and the Dissolution of a Spatial Order
    van den Bersselaar, Dmitri
    Duration: 01/2020 – 12/2023
    Funded by: DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe); Institut für Afrikastudien; SFB 1199: Verräumlichungsprozesse unter Globalisierungsbedingungen
    show details
  • Precarious and Informal Labour in South Africa and Nigeria
    van den Bersselaar, Dmitri
    Duration: 07/2019 – 12/2019
    Funded by: Stiftungen Inland
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Geschichte und Kulturgeschichte Afrikas
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more projects

  • van den Bersselaar, D.
    Nigerian Resource Wars and Economic Development in Historical Perspective
    In: Uchendu, E. (Ed.)
    Nigeria's Resource Wars. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press. 2020. pp. 3–31.
    ISBN: 978-1-62273-831-1
    show details
  • van den Bersselaar, D.; Shyiramunda, T.
    Local community development and higher education institutions: Moving from the triple helix to the quadruple helix model
    International Review of Education. 2024.
    DOI: 10.1007/s11159-023-10037-7
    show details
  • van den Bersselaar, D.; Lecocq, B.
    Aeromobility, space and modernity: civil aviation in postcolonial African history
    Flux. Cahiers Scientifiques Internationaux Réseaux et Territoires. 2024. pp. 89–102.
    show details
  • van den Bersselaar, D.; Edeagu, N. (Eds.)
    Uncovering Non-Official Expectations of Independence in Africa
    Comparativ. 2024. 34 (3).
    ISBN: ISBN 978-3-96023-608-5
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  • van den Bersselaar, D.
    African Enterprise, Foreign Business and Economic Development: The Relationships Between the United Africa Company (UAC) and Local Entrepreneurs in Nigeria
    In: Muritala, M.; Oladejo, M.; Ajiola, F.; Alabi, W. (Eds.)
    Nigeria and the Global Economy Since 1900. Ibadan: John Archers. 2024. pp. 205–225.
    ISBN: 978–978–60834–2–1
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more publications

  • Andere Ehrungen: ASA Service Award
    van den Bersselaar, Dmitri (Geschichte und Kulturgeschichte Afrikas)
    awarded in 2019 by African Studies Assocation (ASA) USA.
    show details

more awards

  • Geschichte und Kulturgeschichte Afrikas
    Kooperation Universität Leipzig - Universität Ibadan (Geschichte und Afrikastudien)
    Start Date of Collaboration: 01/01/2019
    Involved persons: van den Bersselaar, Dmitri; Adesina, Olutayo C.; Olaniyi, Rasheed; Lukasiewicz, Mariusz
    show details

more cooperations

  • winter semester

    BA:

    03-AFR-1100 Einführung Afrikastudien

    03-AFR-1506 Geschichte und Gesellschaft in West- und Zentralafrika


    MA:

    03-AFR-2100 Introduction to African Studies

    03-AFR-1703 African Political Economy

  • summer semester

    BA:

    03-AFR-1200 Übung Wirtschaft in Afrika

    03-AFR-1606 Geschichte und Gesellschaft in Ost- und Südafrika


    MA:

    03-AFR-2113 Debates about Development

    03-AFR-2108 Theory from the South