International experts

Pascale Barthélémy is a historian of women and gender in western Africa during the colonial period. After having worked on the issue of girls’ education during the early 20th century, her research has since focused on questions of politicisation and citizenship in French African colonies after the Second World War. Latest book and journal articles: ‘Macoucou à Pékin. L’arène internationale : une ressource politique pour les Africaines dans les années 1940-1950’, Le Mouvement social n° 255, June 2016. Africaines et diplômées à l’époque coloniale (1918-1957), Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2010, 345 p.

Member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Project "The General History of Africa," Bahru Zewde is Emeritus Professor of History at Addis Ababa University. He has authored several books and articles, most notably "A History of Modern Ethiopia 1855-1991" (Second Edition) and "Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century." He served as Chair of the Department of History at Addis Ababa University (1982-1986) and Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at the same University (1993-1996). Bahru Zewde was also Executive Director of the Forum for Social Studies and is currently Vice President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

Journalist, historian and writer, Sylvia Serbin resides in France. With Afro-Caribbean origins, she was born and raised in Senegal and lived for 30 years on the African continent where she visited a number of countries. She is the author of "Queens of Africa and Heroines of the Black Diaspora" (Editions Sépia), one of the first piece of work devoted to African women who played a significant role in the history of some fifteen countries on the Continent as well as in the American and Caribbean diaspora, from antiquity to the start of the 20th Century.

Frederic Regent is a lecturer in History at the l'Institut d'Histoire de la Révolution française (University Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne). He previously taught at the University Antilles-Guyane for 6 years and at colleges in Guadeloupe for 9 years. Frederic Regent specializes in colonial questions during the Revolution and slave societies in French colonies. He is the author of "Esclavage, métissage, liberté, la Révolution française en Guadeloupe" (Grasset, 2004), and "France et ses esclaves", (Grasset, 2007, réed Pluriel-Fayard, 2012), and co-author of "Pour quoi faire la Révolution" (Agone, 2012).

Jean-Claude Rabeherifara is a sociologist, lecturer and researcher, and the deputy director of CILDA (Centre International des Industries de la Langue et du Dévelopment – Afrique, Amériques, Asia) where he began Africanist anthropological research on work and workers, social communication, and new social movements. He is currently a visiting professor at the Universities of Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Bangangté (Cameroon) and Antananarivo (Madagascar). Author of over fifty articles in the quarterly journal Africa Today, he is responsible for publishing and co-authoring several books (in collaboration with the French publishing companies Karthala and Temps des Cerises, among others) on Africa and especially on Madagascar, on the subject of identity, orality, and social and political processes. Jean-Claude Rabeherifara is also a columnist for Echoes of Capricorn, a radio program on Radio Fréquence Paris-Plurielle. He is the vice president of the Consortium of Solidarity with Madagascar and director of the NGO SoaMad (Solidarity with Madagascar).

Obioma Ofoego was born and raised in London to an Irish mother and a Nigerian father. He obtained his BA at Oxford University, before gaining a three-year scholarship to study in Paris, at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Paris IV-Sorbonne. He has also studied at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, the Université de Toulouse-II Le Mirail, and, briefly at the, Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, Nigeria. His PhD, under the joint supervision of Christiane Fioupou and ’Biodun Jeyifo, is on the theatrical work of Wole Soyinka. He has translated academic articles on the translation of African oral poetry, the genetic history of Aimé Césaire’s “Les Armes miraculeuses”, as well as a documentary on Touareg poetry. He is currently co-translating the work of Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo, into Spanish (Argentina).

Prof. Florida Amakobe Karani is a Professor of Education, University of Nairobi and has been Chancellor of Maseno University since 2008. She holds a doctorate in Education (Honoris Causa) from Maseno University (2009), a Ph.D in Education from the University of Pittsburgh (1979), an MA in History and Education, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education, both from the University of Nairobi (1974 and 1976 respectively). Prof. Florida Amakobe Karani also has a BA (Hons) in History from the University of East Africa (1968). Positions she has held at the University of Nairobi include Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs), College Principal, and Dean, where she also taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in education. Some public positions she has held in Kenya include Chair of the Governing Council of the Kenya Institute of Education, Chair of the Board of Adult Education, Commissioner in the Commission for Higher Education and Vice-Chair of the Commission of Inquiry into the education system of Kenya. Her areas of research and publication include curriculum design, educational technology, adult education, teacher training through distance education, and the development of education. In 1995, Prof. Amakobe Karani led a study for the World Bank and the Ministry of Education on the cost and financing of education in Kenya, access, quality and equity in secondary education. . She has been a member of the UNESCO Scientific Committee for the Pedagogical Use of the General History of Africa since 2009. She has received national honors. Fellowships she has received include those of Senior Women Visiting - Association of Commonwealth Universities/Canadian International Development Agency (ACU/CIDA) (1998), the British Council (1995) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (1997).