Africana-Board Members


The Board of Africana

Editorial Co-ordinator		Mr Yilma Tafere Tasew
Editor-in-Chief		Dr Christopher LaMonica
Board Members		Prof Margaret Clark,
		Dr Ramon Das,
		Dr Mourtada Deme,
		Dr Marion Maddox,
		Dr Victoria Mason
		Dr Douglas Yates
		Dr J. Shola Omotola



	Mr Yilma Tafere Tasew, Editorial Co-ordinator
	Yilma Tafere Tasew was born and grew up in Ethiopia. There, he was a teacher by profession. He left Ethiopia in 1991, to exile in Kenyan refugee camps. While he was in Kenya, Yilma was a refugee community leader. He was an advocate for the refugee community and worked as a social worker for the Lutheran World Federation at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. While residing at the Kakuma Camp, he also established the first Refugee news bulletin, KANEBU/ Kakuma News Bulletin. Then in 1995, with the assistance of two Australian students who came to visit the camp, he helped to be published a book entitled Tilting Changes: An Anthology of Refugee Writing, which is a collection of poems and stories written by refugees, including Yilma. In 1997 Yilma was invited by the UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) to work for the social and community services section of their Kenyan operation base at Nairobi. In July 1999, he came to New Zealand under the Refugee Quota Programme. Since his arrival to New Zealand Yilma has worked in a number of capacities in Wellington, including: Education Consultant at Karori Learning Centre; Cross-Cultural Worker for the Refugee and Migrant Service; and at the New Zealand Immigration Service. Yilma is also a Public Speaker on Refugee and Diaspora issues. He has presented papers for government, NGOs, universities, and at national conferences throughout New Zealand. Yilma is also a co-founder of the highly successfull group, Writers International (NZ), a writers group in Wellington, New Zealand and co-founder and Editorial Coordinator of Africana He recently published two volumes of books: Diasporic Ghosts (2005), and Agonising Wounds (2006). In 2006 Yilma completed a BA in International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington.


	Dr Christopher LaMonica, Editor-in-Chief
	Chris LaMonica is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics. His research interests include the politics of development, international relations theory and practice, African politics, and African-American history. He earned a BA in Economics at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, an MA in International Relations at Boston University (International Graduate Program/Paris), an MPP in International Development at Harvard University's Kennedy School, and a PhD in Comparative Politics at Boston University. He has taught courses on Comparative Politics, International Relations, African Politics, Sub-Saharan African History, African-American History and other subjects at Boston University, the University of Rhode Island, and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. From January 2010 Chris will be teaching at the US Coast Guard Academy. Prior to entering academia Chris worked for ten years in international development with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and USAID/Zambia. Among his many research projects, Chris is currently working on a political history of sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to African political thought.


	Ms Elise Googe, Co-Editor
	A Kiwi Pom who grew up in Wanganui, Elise returned to the UK in 1996 to study Performing Arts before returning to New Zealand in 2000 to study Film and Television Production. Elise has worked for TVNZ and currently Te Papa as a Production Assistant and Event Producer. Elise has also worked extensively in Theatre, Lighting, Stage Managing, and Producing. Her hobbies include rock climbing and scouring second hand shops for old, collectible, ceramic pieces. She also dabbles in the odd bit or creative writing, producing poems for friends, family and her own personal journals.


	Prof Margaret Clark, Board Member
	Margaret Clark is Professor of Political Science. Before joining the staff of Victoria University she taught in Malaysian, Australian and North American universities. In conjunction with the Stout Research Centre and the Association of former Members of Parliament she has organised a series of conferences and publications on New Zealand political leaders. She maintains an interest in Southeast Asian as well as New Zealand politics. She co-ordinates the School's first year and honours programmes.


	Dr Ramon Das, Board Member
	Ramon holds a BA from Carleton College, an MA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a PhD from the University of Maryland. He has been teaching at Victoria since 1999. Research Areas Ramon works mainly in moral and political philosophy. He is especially interested in questions about ethics and international relations, as well as questions about what responsiblities ordinary citizens have to alleviate global suffering. Other research areas include philosophy of law, philosophy of economics, and moral psychology. He is currently writing a book on the ethics of globalization.


	Dr Mourtada Deme, Board Member
	Dr Mourtada Deme is currently Director for a CEPPS program in Nigeria working on electoral reform after the controversial 2007 elections held in Nigeria. His research interests include institution building, good governance, the rule of law and elections in developing countries, with a particular focus on international election observation. Most recently, Dr Deme coordinated the National Democratic Institute's Long Term Observer Mission to Sierra Leone's 2007 national elections. He previously served on UN pre-electoral assessment missions and published a book entitled Law, Morality, and International Armed Intervention: The United Nations and ECOWAS in Liberia (Routledge, 2005), analyzing the effects of international democracy promotion efforts on domestic politics by using Liberia as a case study. He has also taught North-South Relations and African Politics at Boston University and African History at University of Rhode Island. Dr Deme received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Boston University and his Master's in international law from the University of Bordeaux, France.


	Dr Marion Maddox, Board Member
	Associate Professor Marion Maddox is Director of the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. She writes regularly on religion and politics. Her books include God Under Howard: The rise of the religious right in Australian politics (Sydney: Allen and Unwin 2005).


	Dr Victoria Mason, Board Member
	Victoria Mason is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Lancaster University in the U.K. Born in South Africa, her areas of specialization are the politics of North Africa and the Middle East, human rights, peace studies, Islamophobia, anti-Arab discrimination in the West, and issues related to migration, refugees and minorities. Dr Mason earned her PhD at Curtin University in Australia on the consequences of the 1990-91 Gulf conflict for Palestinians in Kuwait.


	Dr Douglas Yates
	Dr Yates is a professor of political science in Paris, France. He earned his PhD at Boston University and published his dissertation entitled The Rentier State in Africa: Oil Dependency and Neo-colonialism in the Republic of Gabon (Trenton/Asmara: Africa World Press, 1996). Yates is a regular contributor to West Africa magazine, a London-based weekly covering France's highly controversial African policy.


	Dr J. Shola Omotola
	J. Shola Omotola, currently completing a PhD in political Science at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, is an emerging scholar of Nigerian/African politics, who teaches political science at Redeemer’s University, Nigeria. Before relocating to Redeemer’s University, he has taught at the University of Ilorin and Kogi State University, both in Nigeria. Omotola’s research interests are in Comparative African Democratisation, Oil and Environmental Politics, Development Studies and Identity Politics, including Ethnic Minority and Gender on which he has published extensively in reputable international peer reviewed journals, including African Affairs, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Journal of African Law, Representation, Africa Today, African and Asian Studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism; African Study Monographs, Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, Politeia: South African Journal of Political and Administrative Studies, Africa Insight, and South African Journal of International Affairs, among others. He has also contributed chapters to many reputable peer reviewed books published in Europe and America. He is the author of the widely circulated monograph: The Next Gulf: Oil Politics, Environmental Politics and Rising Tension in The Niger Delta, Occasional Paper Series 1 (3), African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), Durban, South Africa. His reviews have also appeared in African Affairs, Review of African Political Economy, Contemporary Security Policy, Canadian Journal of African Studies, Journal of Conflict Studies, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Journal of Asian and African Studies and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, among others.