Lahra smith

I am a political scientist studying citizenship, migration and political institutions in Africa, particularly in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.

I seek to better understand the dynamic relationships between states and the constellations of citizens, non-citizens and citizens-in-the-making. That takes me from classrooms to refugee camps to government offices throughout the region, and occasionally beyond.

I use ethnographic and qualitative methods because I want to understand politics as they are made and deployed by the people who are politicians and the people who use everyday politics to ‘act back.’ I have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays, and the US Fulbright Program.