Lahra Smith
I study how ordinary people become citizens, and the dynamic relationships between states and constellations of citizens, non-citizens and citizens-in-the-making in Africa.
I am a political scientist studying citizenship, migration, and political institutions in Africa, particularly in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.
My work takes me from classrooms to refugee camps to government offices across the region. I use ethnographic and qualitative methods because I want to understand politics as they are actually made and lived on the ground.
My work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays, and the US Fulbright Program, among others. As a first-generation college student, I care deeply about opening the same doors that were opened for me through teaching and mentorship. Read more →
My work
A new book on migration as escape when asylum and refugee protection fail in the Horn of Africa, with Lauren Carruth. Illustrated by Moussa Ali Miguil. Indiana University Press.
A volume investigating the diverse and dynamic forms of migration within Africa, with Meron Zeleke. Routledge.
A book offering a fresh perspective on Ethiopian political development and the creation and expansion of meaningful citizenship across Africa. Cambridge University Press.
