Dr Thomas Lowman
I am an interdisciplinary historian of Sub-Saharan Africa with an interest in the history of state-society relations and coercive institutions in Africa from the pre-colonial through to the present day.
I completed my PhD thesis, focused on political violence in Idi Amin's Uganda 1971-1979, at Durham University in 2019. I taught at SOAS University of London and the University of Warwick for two years before joining Cambridge University as an Assistant Professor of world history in 2022. My current research is focused on human rights organisations and Africa in the 1970s, and coercive institutions in East African history.
My primary research interests are:
- Violence and militarism in African history
- Human rights organisations and Africa in the 20th century
- State-society relations in African history
- The history of colonialism in Africa
My fieldwork has primarily focused on Uganda but I am broadly interested in Sub-Saharan Africa and am preparing a comparative regional project on East Africa for after my monograph. I welcome inquiries and proposals for MA and MPhil collaboration around my interests.
I have lectured and taught on Papers 21, 23, 29, and Outlook 10 this past year, as well as teaching on the Evidence and Argument module. I have contributed to MPhil teaching and am designing a Research Project on colonialism for 23-24.
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Key publications
Lowman, Thomas. "Amin reframed: the UK, Uganda, and the human rights ‘breakthrough’of the 1970s." Cambridge Review of International Affairs (2022): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2022.2090896