Research interests:
19th & 20th century history, eastern Botwana/western Transvaal, 19th century Kenya coastal history, East African and Southern African slavery.
Editorial responsibilities:
Chair, Editorial Committee, The Botswana Society
Lectures:
"Return to the Time of MEDU (1978-1985)." MEDU poster seminar, National Museum and Art Gallery, 27 November 2009
Current projects:
"From Initiates to Militia: Formation of the Tswana Mephato system, since c. 1750"
Publications (recent):
Books & monographs.
- When Rustling became an Art: Pilane's Kgatla and the Transvaal Frontier, 1820-1902. Cape Town: David Philip, 2009.
- Historical Dictionary of Botswana, 4th edition. With J. Ramsay and P. Mgadla. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2008.
Book chapters:
- 'Fenders of Space: Kgatla Territorial Expansion under Boer and British Rule, 1840-1920," pp. 21-46 in P. Limb, N. Etherington, P. Midgley, eds. Grappling with the Beast: Indigenous Southern African Responses to Colonialism, 1840-1930. 21-46. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming (2010).
- 'Small Change: Children in the 19th Century East African Slave Trade,' pp. 55-70 in G. Campbell, S. Miers and J.C. Miller, ed., Children in Slavery. Vol. I (Children and Slavery through the Ages). Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009.
- "Female Inboekelinge in the South African Republic, 1850-1880," pp. 191-212 in G. Campbell, S. Miers and J. C. Miller, ed. Women and Slavery, Vol. I (Africa, the Indian Ocean World, and the Medieval North Atlantic). Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007.
Periodical articles:
- 'Family Memory and Historical Fiction: Botlhale Tema's The People of Welgeval.' South African Historical Journal, forthcoming (2010).
- 'Creating Maps as Historical Evidence: Reconsidering Settlement Patterns and Group Relations in the Rustenburg-Pilanesberg Area before 1810.' New Contree, 56 (2008): 1-22.