Staff Profile

Professor Justin Willis

Professor in the Department of History

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 41073

Justin Willis' work has been largely concerned with identity, authority and social change in eastern Africa over the last two hundred years. He has conducted extensive archival and oral historical research in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan, has held research awards from the ESRC, AHRC, and Leverhulme Trust.

With Dr George Gona, from the University of Nairobi, Professor Willis has recently completed a project on the history of representation and authority in Kilifi District, Kenya. Professor Willis' current research particularly relates to the history of elections in eastern Africa since the 1950s.

From 2006 to 2009 Professor Willis was seconded from Durham to serve as Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, in Nairobi.

Areas of Postgraduate Supervision

Professor Willis has supervised doctoral students working on various aspects of modern eastern African history, and British imperial history relating to Africa. Prospective students who would like to discuss ideas for doctoral research are very welcome to contact him.

Research Interests

Modern East Africa
Sudan in the 19th and 20th centuries
The social history of alcohol in Africa

Indicators of Esteem

: Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques

Publications

Books: authored

2002 Potent Brews. A Social History of Alcohol in East Africa 1850-1999, British Institute in Eastern Africa in association with James Currey, 304 pp.
1993 Mombasa, the Swahili and the Making of the Mijikenda, Clarendon Press, 231 pp.

Books: edited

2011 (co-edited with Ryle, J., Baldo, S. & Jok, J. M.) The Sudan Handbook, James Currey.

Essays in edited volumes

2010 'Protecting young people. Alcohol, advertising and youth in Kenya', in Burton, Andrew. & Charton-Bigot, Helene. (eds.), Generations Past. Youth in East African History, Ohio University Press, pp. 279-90
2009 'The King of the Mijikenda, and other stories about the kaya. Heritage, politics and histories in multi-party Kenya', in Peterson, Derek. & Macola, Giacomo. (eds.), Recasting the past. History writing and political work in modern Africa, Ohio University Press, pp. 233-250

Journal papers: academic

2013 (co-authored with Gona, G.) 'Pwani C Kenya? Memory, documents and secessionist politics in coastal Kenya', African Affairs 112, pp. 48-71
2013 (co-authored with Gona, George) 'Tradition, tribe and state in Kenya: the Mijikenda Union, 1945-1980', Comparative Studies in Society and History 55, pp. 448-473
2011 'Sudan's election: voting for authoritarians', Africa Review 3, pp. 47-64
2011 'Tribal gatherings: colonial spectacle, native administration and local government in Condominium Sudan', Past and Present 211, pp. 243-268
2010 (co-authored with al-Batthani, Atta) '"We changed the laws." Electoral practice and malpractice in Sudan since 1953', African Affairs 109, pp. 191-212
2009 (co-authored with Mutisya, Dorothy.) 'Budget drinking: alcohol consumption in two Kenyan towns', Journal of Eastern African Studies 3, pp. 55-73
2008 'What has he got up his sleeve? Advertising the Kenyan presidential candidates in 2007', Journal of Eastern African Studies 2, pp. 264-71

Teaching Areas

Africa, particularly East and North-eastern Africa, since 1800