Lynn Thomas

I am an historian of politics and gender in twentieth-century Africa. As a student, I was drawn to the discipline of history by a desire to gain knowledge of the past in order to better understand the problems and possibilities of the present. In recent years, I have taught undergraduate courses on the history of sub-Saharan Africa since 1880, the history of South Africa, and the history of health and illness in Africa. My graduate course offerings include African historiography, comparative colonialisms, and comparative gender. In addition to my position in the History Department, I am an Adjunct Professor in the Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Department, and in the Anthropology Department, and an active member of the African Studies Program.