Lee Cassanelli

Lee Cassanelli teaches African history and historiography, the history of foreign aid in Africa, African environmental history, and comparative world history. His research interests focus on the Greater Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, and their neighbors) from the 18th to the 20th century.  Books and monographs include The Shaping of Somali Society 1600-1900; Victims and Vulnerable Groups in Southern Somalia; a co-edited collection on The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War;  and 'Hosts and Guests':  A historical intepretation of land conflicts in southern and central Somalia.His recorded interviews formed the basis of the recently published memoir A Woman of Firsts by Edna Adan Ismail, a pioneer of women’s health in Somaliland, a former First Lady of Somalia, and the first female Foreign Minister of Somaliland.

He is currently working with African colleagues to train early career researchers in a project 'Local HIstories of Climate Change in the Horn of Africa', with support from Penn Global and the Rift Valley Institute based in Nairobi, Kenya.  He also continues to explore how individuals and communities rethink and remake their histories in times of war, displacement, and resettlement.  This includes research on history and memory in Somali refugee and diaspora communities in eastern Africa and oversseas.

Note: Prof. Cassanelli is no longer accepting new Ph.D. advisees.