Africa Initiative

Nancy Jacobs is a historian of South Africa, of colonial Africa, of the environment, of animals, and of knowledge about the more-than-human world. Her work seeks out workings of power in obscure corners, in a quiet South African town, in scientific collaborations, in everyday lives of Africans living under European rule, and in interspecies relationships. In one sense, she is a traditional social historian: The workings of class, race, and gender have been central to all her research. In considering those categories, she has tried to find fresh insights by looking at the environment, power/knowledge relationships, and micro political negotiations. With her current project, a transnational history of African Grey Parrots, she adds species to groups that know each other, negotiate with each other, and exercise power over each other. Her work has previously been featured in leading publications such as the Journal of African History, Southern African Historical Journal, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Environmental History as well as the American Historical Review.