LUCAS Seminar: David Harris 'A Laboratory for Social Change? A political history of Sierra Leone'

Dr David Harris specialises in West African politics, in particular in Sierra Leone and Liberia. His first book was published by IB Tauris in 2011 and a second book comes out through Hurst & Co in 2013. An article on the 2011 Liberian elections emerged in early 2013. He is a member of the editorial board for the recently re-launched Journal of Sierra Leone Studies. Two recent strands of collaborative research have led to two book chapters on Indian-West African relations and several papers on state-building and social change in Sierra Leone.

Formerly at the School of Oriental and African Studies, he became Lecturer in African Studies at Bradford University in 2013. He teaches African and comparative politics, has been Visiting Lecturer at King’s College, London and has also taught courses at University of Nottingham, London Metropolitan University and the Instituto Rio Branco in Brasilia. He has worked on several election monitoring missions in Liberiaand Sierra Leone for the Carter Center and NDI. He has also undertaken work for various European government departments and NGOs and written recent media pieces for Channel 4 and Fair Observer.