Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga is an assistant professor of science, technology, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a historian of science, technology, and society in Africa. His articles appear in Social Text, Journal of Southern African Studies, Conservation & Society, Oryx, Journal of International Affairs, Comparative Technology Transfer and Society, and other journals and books. He is co-editing (with Gijs Mom) Inside Mobility: A Kaleidoscopic Introduction (MIT Press). Currently, he is splitting his dissertation manuscript into two books. The first, Incoming Technology and African Innovation: Guns as State-Crafting Tools in Zimbabwe since 1500, will focus on African use of guns to engineer nation states, with the environment as a venue. The second, Guns as Environmental Engineering Tools: The Role of African Hunters and Indigenous Knowledge of Wildlife in Zimbabwe, is an ethnography of magocha (men who barbeque), the men the colonial state deployed to ‘vaccinate’ the countryside of the tsetse fly and vermin.
RCC Research Project: Incoming Technology and African Innovation (pdf, 10 KB)
Film Interview with Clapperton Mavhunga