I recently defended my PhD in Anthropology from the University of Cologne. I hold an MA in Culture and Environment in Africa, also from the University of Cologne; a post-graduate diploma in Peace and Conflict Management from Gulu University, Uganda; and a BA in Social Sciences from Makerere University, Uganda. 

My research and work experiences span three east African countries: In North Eastern Kenya, I studied the intensification of honey production among the Pokot pastoralists in East Pokot; In Tanzania I carried out research on agricultural improvement with a focus on the continuity of agricultural development ideas in the Kilombero valley since the colonial times. I have also worked extensively with local and international development organizations including World Vision, CARE and Winrock International. I have experience implementing programs on food security and community development in my home country, Uganda

I have been privileged to have worked within the framework of the GSSC because the GSSC offered me an office space with all the infrastructure needed for an ample atmosphere to research, analyze and write up my thesis. Beyond the office space, the GSSC events were fundamental in my progress as a researcher, student and a member of society with interest in processes and dynamics in the Global South. The GSSC workshops on methods of research, presentations and data analysis enhanced my academic skills. The public lectures were widely informative. One of the lectures given by Prof. Dr. Julia Tischler pointed me towards the theoretical underpinning I used in the thesis and inspired a historical approach I applied. I later asked her to be my second advisor for the thesis.   

My research looks at agricultural improvement with a focus on the continuity of agricultural development ideas in the Kilombero valley since the colonial times. Despite failures of many of the agricultural development plans in the valley, similar ideas are still being devised and implemented with minimal variations. Therefore, if actors within the development agencies and the colonial and post-colonial governments know that their past and present agricultural development projects and policies in this valley have not achieved their intended goals, why do they continue to offer a similar recipe for agricultural development? With the awareness that development projects have certain effects, intended or unintended, I ask the question, following the footsteps of Ferguson (1990) and Li (2005); what have these agricultural development strategies done in the valley such that they are replicated over time? This dissertation then puts forward an argument with three main aspects. The first is that the colonial, socialist and neoliberal governments in Tanzania and their development partners have limited their agricultural development initiatives within the context of five discursive practices; secondly, the logic behind failure within these discursive practices is premised in the disconnect between the agricultural policies and the socio-economic conditions and expectations of farmers. And thirdly, the persistence of these practices rests not only on the interests that some parties have in expanding the power of the state, global institutions, and corporations through these agricultural development initiatives, but also on the interests of various actors, including smallholder farmers themselves, who benefit from such initiatives. This dissertation can, therefore, be read in two ways: On the one hand, as a critique of agricultural development in the Kilombero valley, and on the other, as an exploration of the history of agricultural development in the valley.