Girma Negash

Dr. Girma Negash is an Associate Professor of History and former Head of the Department of History (2019- Sept. 2023) at Addis Ababa University. He did his PhD in History in 2014. He has been an educator all his life with research interests ranging from History Education, Textbook Research, Labor History and Economic History. He has authored a book  (2017,“The Education of Children Entangled in Khat Trade in Ethiopia”),  and several research articles in reputable journals. He was also editor of high school history textbooks published in 2005/2006, and  was  a member of the Core Research Team, leading a national research project entitled "National Study on Administrative Boundary, Identity and Self Administration Issues" under the auspices of Addis Ababa University.

Currently he is a Visiting Fellow at the African Studies Centre Leiden for three months from April to the end of June 2025. He intends to develop a book proposal on a very topical issue in postcolonial Africa, even more so in recent times. It is about teaching a common past/history to pupils in secondary schools in plural/multi-ethnic states – a subject not unique to Ethiopia but an issue several other states in sub-Saharan Africa are grappling with. It has become increasingly contentious to develop a common curriculum and teach a National history in such countries owing to the multiple divides, legacies of internal conflict, and not less so contending historiographies. The intended book would explore these outstanding issues in the context of Ethiopia, review and analyse the literature as well as empirical data, and recommend some pathways as how to deal with those challenges in such a way that important lessons could be drawn for the future of History Education (or didactic history as secondary school history teaching is also known among some segments of historians and pedagogues).

Girma is affilated to the CRG Conflict Continuities.