Research/Areas of Interest
Medical anthropology; history of medicine; science and technology studies; reproduction, gender, and sexuality; health and African religion; media and medicine; colonial and postcolonial studies
Education
- PhD, History, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2025
- MBE, Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States, 2025
- MA, History, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, 2014
- BA, International Relations, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, 2008
Biography
My research lies at the intersection of medical anthropology, history of medicine, and science and technology studies, with a particular focus on reproduction, gender, health, and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. I am interested in how medicine and reproductive technologies are shaped by histories of colonialism and population governance, as well as by contemporary forms of medical authority, markets, religion, media, and social inequality.
My current monograph project, tentatively titled From Excess to Loss: Reproductive Technologies, Inequality, and the Politics of Fertility in Postcolonial Nigeria, traces a major transformation in Nigeria's reproductive history: the shift from efforts to manage so-called "excess fertility" through contraception and population-control programs to the treatment of infertility as a biomedical and social crisis increasingly addressed through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF). Drawing on archival research, policy analysis, and more than 150 oral history interviews conducted in Lagos, the project examines contraception and ART as interconnected histories of reproductive governance rather than separate developments.
My interdisciplinary approach is shaped by my background in journalism and media, where I worked for over a decade before moving into academia, and by my training in history, bioethics, and international relations. I am also the founder of Eureka Health Advocacy Network (EHAN), a nonprofit organization focused on reproductive health education and research. My teaching has similarly crossed disciplinary boundaries and has included courses in medical anthropology, African history since the nineteenth century, world history from 1500 to the present, global health and social medicine, and media and medicine.
My current monograph project, tentatively titled From Excess to Loss: Reproductive Technologies, Inequality, and the Politics of Fertility in Postcolonial Nigeria, traces a major transformation in Nigeria's reproductive history: the shift from efforts to manage so-called "excess fertility" through contraception and population-control programs to the treatment of infertility as a biomedical and social crisis increasingly addressed through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), particularly in vitro fertilization (IVF). Drawing on archival research, policy analysis, and more than 150 oral history interviews conducted in Lagos, the project examines contraception and ART as interconnected histories of reproductive governance rather than separate developments.
My interdisciplinary approach is shaped by my background in journalism and media, where I worked for over a decade before moving into academia, and by my training in history, bioethics, and international relations. I am also the founder of Eureka Health Advocacy Network (EHAN), a nonprofit organization focused on reproductive health education and research. My teaching has similarly crossed disciplinary boundaries and has included courses in medical anthropology, African history since the nineteenth century, world history from 1500 to the present, global health and social medicine, and media and medicine.