Interview with Dr Rita Abrahamsen
Dr Rita Abrahamsen joins OSGA in Hilary Term 2026, as Professor of African Studies. At the time of this interview, Dr Abrahamsen was still in Canada, where she has been Professor at the University of Ottawa since 2011. Thank you to her for making time to talk to us while dealing with temperatures of -20OC and getting ready to move to Oxford, having already shipped her belongings.
Dr Abrahamsen has always been extremely interested in African and international politics. Her fascination with the way Africa fits into world politics led her to a career in journalism, with the ambition of becoming a foreign correspondent in Africa. However, these plans changed when she went on to write her PhD in Politics and International Relations at the University of Swansea and became a professor. Africa’s place in world affairs has remained her driving interest.
The main focus of Dr Abrahamsen’s research in recent years has been on the crossover between African and international politics, specifically on how Pan-Africanism as an ideology influences African action in the world and how we should take Pan-Africanism as a form of political thought seriously and not just as an activist movement. She is also researching the rise of the radical right and was a co-author of World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order (Cambridge University Press) published in 2024. Dr Abrahamsen is exploring how the white Afrikaner minority in South Africa fits into the radical right’s political imagination and its transnational connections with the global radical conservative movement. This has involved extensive field work, interviewing South Africans as well as research in Europe and the United States.
This work will continue in Oxford, at what Dr Abrahamsen calls ‘a crucial time for the world to catch up with Africa.’ She will be focusing strongly on trying to situate Africa within the contemporary geopolitical environment and is excited to be joining a dedicated African Studies centre, something she has not experienced before, and to work with the many people directed on Africa at the University. On joining OSGA, Dr Abrahamsen will be teaching a course entitled ‘Pan-Africanism: Past, Present, Futures’, offering a lens through which to understand how Africa and Africans interact and position themselves in international politics, bringing in political theory, history and contemporary geopolitics.
Having lived and worked in many parts of the world, Dr Abrahamsen is looking forward to the new challenge of joining the University of Oxford. She welcomes the idea of working at an institution that has so many amazing scholars focused on Africa and the many opportunities to work with the crossover in regional expertise in OSGA. As she put is, it is exciting to be at ‘a world leading centre for African Studies at a time when Africa is so central to the future of world politics and try to be part of shaping how we study that in terms of both the opportunities for Africa and the contributions it can make to future world politics. We used to say there's never a dull moment to study African politics and I think that's definitely the case now.’
We are delighted to welcome Dr Abrahamsen to OSGA.
