DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Biography

Mitch Edwards is a doctoral candidate focusing on social histories of refugee mobility within twentieth-century East Africa. His research interests revolve around historical displacement in a way that privileges the everyday influence of transnational networks, state-specific governance, and distinct cultures on people living outside their presumed homelands. He is a fellow of the interdisciplinary African Studies Cluster.

While completing his BA in History at Houghton College (NY), Mitch participated in three study abroad programs, two of which were located in the Great Lakes region of East Africa. He has since taught English in South Korea, managed a university-level study abroad program in Kigali, Rwanda, and earned a Master’s in History from Concordia University (Montreal, QC). His final MA project, titled, “Cultivating the Land of Milk and Honey: The Narrativization of Nationness Amongst Banyarwanda in Uganda, 1959-1990,” was awarded a Graduate Scholarship by Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Most recently, he spent three months studying Swahili in Iringa, Tanzania.