Stephen ellis biography

Stephen Ellis (13 June – 29 July ) was a British historian and Africanist whose research focused on post-colonial West Africa and South Africa.

Stephen ellis biography

He was a former editor of Africa Confidential and African Affairs, a senior researcher at the African Studies Centre Leiden, and a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Life and career

Ellis was born in Nottingham, England on 13 June At the age of 18, he volunteered as a secondary school teacher in Douala, Cameroon.

Upon his return to England, he studied modern history at St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford and obtained his doctorate there in In and , he was a lecturer at the University of Madagascar, while conducting research for his doctoral thesis on the history of Madagascar.

Parts of his thesis became the basis for his first book, published as Rising of the Red Shawls (), about the Menalamba rebellion in colonial Madagascar. While writing the book, between and , he