Francesco Moze

PhD Student

francesco.moze@ed.ac.uk

Edinburgh

Profile

Research interests

Uganda, Congo, Borders, Bordering, Borderscapes, Territory, Territoriality, Territorialization, Imperialism, Colonialism, History, Geography, Cartography.

Background

PhD title: 'Marking the Confines of Empire: the Historical Geographies of the Uganda-Congo Boundary, ca. 1885-1915'

My PhD project examines the historical geographies of Uganda-Congo boundary between the late imperial era and early colonial period. During the late 1890s, Anglo-Belgian diplomatic settlements delimited the Protectorate of Uganda and the Congo Free State through the 30th meridian East of Greenwich up to its intersection with the Nile-Congo watershed. Yet, when demarcation was completed in 1915, the shape of the Uganda-Congo border had changed dramatically – now a natural line running across Lake Albert, along the Rivers Semliki and Lamia, through the Rwenzori massif and then into Lake Edward via the Lubiliha, finally reaching Mount Sabinio after snakily following the Ishasha River across what was once the kingdom of Mpororo. Shuttling between geographical scales and focusing on the complex constellations of actors, practices and technologies involved in imperial boundary-making, the project investigates the hidden spatial dynamics and forgotten agencies that have shaped the delimitation of the Uganda-Congo boundary between 1885 and 1915.

Supervisors

Dr. Sam Spiegel, Dr. Kevin Donovan.

Education

2019-present: PhD in African Studies, The University of Edinburgh.

2017-2018: Master of Science in African Studies, The University of Edinburgh (Distinction).

2015-2017: Laurea Magistrale in International Relations, University of Bologna (110/110 cum laude).

2011-2015: Laurea Triennale in International and Diplomatic Sciences, University of Bologna (110/110).

Academic publications

Moze, F., & Spiegel, S.J. (2022) The aesthetic turn in border studies: Visual geographies of power, contestation and subversion. Geography Compass, 14(04). DOI: 10.1111/gec3.12618.

Research

2021-present: Co-research assistant, Principal's Teaching Award Scheme project “Exploring Online Learning as an Avenue for Equity and Decolonial Praxis amid the COVID Crisis: Re-Imagining Africa-UK Connections and International Development Curricula” (Principal Investigator: Dr. Sam Spiegel).

I have also contributed as a peer-reviewer for Political Geography and the Journal of Borderlands Studies.

Teaching

2022: Course tutor and guest lecturer in “Displacement and Development”, The University of Edinburgh (Postgraduate, Online Distance Learning, Semester 2).

2022: Course tutor in "Africa in the Contemporary World", The University of Edinburgh (Undergraduate, Semester 2).

2022: Course tutor in "International Development, Aid and Humanitarianism", The University of Edinburgh (Undergraduate, Semester 1).

2021: Course tutor and guest lecturer in “Displacement and Development”, The University of Edinburgh (Postgraduate, Online Distance Learning, Semester 2).

2021: Course tutor in “Comparative Politics in a Globalized World”, The University of Edinburgh (Undergraduate, Semester 2).

Conferences

Flags, firearms and uniforms: Indigenous leaders and the production of authority around Lake Katwe (Uganda-Congo frontier), 1891-1906 - European Conference on African Studies, Cologne, 31 May - 3 June 2023.