Stephen Ellis (historian)
Stephen Ellis (born June 13, 1953 in Nottingham , † July 29, 2015 in Amsterdam ) was a British historian and Africanist. His research focus was on the modern history of Africa. In addition to his academic work, he was active as a human rights activist.
Life
Ellis studied modern history at the University of Oxford and received his doctorate there in 1981. From 1979 to 1980 he was a lecturer at the University of Madagascar . From 1982 to 1986 he was part of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London . He then worked as an editor for Africa Confidential . From 1991 to 1994 Ellis was first general secretary and then director of the African Studies Center in Leiden . After working for the Dutch Foreign Ministry, he later returned to the African Studies Center and was a Senior Researcher there until his death . In addition, he was appointed Desmond Tutu Professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in 2008 .
His book External Mission: The ANC in Exile 1960-1990 received the Recht Malan Prize for Non-Fiction .
Ellis was married to the Africanist Gerrie ter Haar . In 2012 he was diagnosed with leukemia . After successful therapy for the disease, his condition worsened four weeks before his death in July 2015.
Publications (selection)
- Rising of the Red Shawls (1985, Cambridge University Press )
- Un Complot à Madagascar (1990, Karthala)
- with Tsepo Sechaba: Comrades against apartheid: the ANC & the South African Communist Party in exile (1992)
- Africa Now (1996)
- with Jean-François Bayart, Béatrice Hibou: The Criminalization of the State in Africa (1999)
- The Mask of Anarchy: the destruction of Liberia and the religious dimension of an African civil war (2001)
- with Gerrie ter Haar: Worlds of power: Religious thought and political practice in Africa (2004)
- West Africa's international drug trade (2009)
- Season of rains: Africa in the world (2012)
- External Mission: The ANC in Exile 1960-1990 (2013)
- This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organized Crime (2016)
Web links
- In Memoriam Stephen Ellis, 1953-2015 , African Studies Center website
- Open Access publications
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ellis, Stephen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British historian and Africanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nottingham |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 29, 2015 |
| Place of death | Amsterdam |