Participant Info
- First Name
- Kristen L.
- Last Name
- Connor
- Country
- Portugal
- State
- kristenlconnor@gmail.com
- Affiliation
- Independent Scholar, PhD in Anthropology and History, University of Michigan
- Website URL
- Keywords
- British Empire in East Africa, global environmental history, history of sicence, colonial science, imperial expeditions, knowledge production, natural history collection, STS and infrastructure, labor studies
- Availability
- Media Contact
- Additional Contact Information
- PhD
- PhD
Personal Info
- Photo
- About Me
My research interrogates the history of colonialism and high-altitude science in East-Central Africa, specifically in the eastern Rwenzori Mountains (Lwa-Nzururu, Rwenjura) of Uganda. It aims to understand the violence of 19th and 20th century colonial scientific and collecting practices within the context of the 18th and early 19th century trades in enslaved people and ivory that expanded labor and transport infrastructures to the East African coast. Bridging historical and ethnographic approaches, my work conveys and analyzes the social and material field of high-altitude scientific practice, technological innovation, and knowledge exchange/breakdown between colonial scientists, foreign and indigenous guides and porters, and mountain communities. A combination of methods including walking ethnography, oral history, archival, object, and provenance research allow me to follow ideas, objects, and specimens from the field to metropolitan museums and institutions, tracing the impact of their movement on imperial and colonial ideologies and policies.
- Recent Publications
Connor, Kristen L. “Lips of Knowledge are Precious Jewels: The Makerere Scientific Society and the production of scientific knowledge at Makerere University College, 1956-1972.” In Makerere’s Century of Service to East Africa and Beyond, 1922-2022, edited by ABK Kasozi, Josephine Ahikire, Dominica Dipio, Helen Byamugisha, and Isaac Tibasiima. Kampala, Uganda: Makerere University Press, 2024.
Connor, Kristen L. “Knowledge in High Places: Labor and the Scientific Industry in Western Uganda, 1860-1970.” PhD Diss. (Univ. of Michigan 2024).
- Media Coverage
- Social Media
- Country Focus
- Uganda
- Expertise by Geography
- Africa
- Expertise by Chronology
- 19th century, Modern, 20th century
- Expertise by Topic
- Capitalism, Colonialism, Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Labor, Libraries & Archives, Material Culture, Museums, Science, Slavery, Technology
