The 2025-2026 Anthony D. Smith Fellowship, hosted by LSE IDEAS, The London School of Economics’ foreign policy think tank, was awarded to Dr. Goitom Gebreluel for his research proposal, 'The Colonial Origins of Competing Nationalisms in Africa'.
The 2025-2026 Anthony D. Smith Fellowship, funded by the Smith family and hosted by LSE IDEAS, has been awarded to Dr. Goitom Gebreluel for his research proposal 'The Colonial Origins of Competing Nationalisms in Africa' which explores why some African states have been prone to competing nationalisms while others have not.
He will be conducting research at the National Archives and working on a book project on the historical origins of nationalist conflict in Africa. The project covers the period 1800–2000, and he argues that institutional instability during the colonial era increases the likelihood that a post-colonial state will experience nationalist conflict.
From 2022 to 2024, Goitom was a Henry Chauncey Jr. ’57 Postdoctoral Fellow in the International Security Studies program at Yale University, where he was also affiliated with the MacMillan Council on African Studies. He holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MSc from LSE.
Professor Chris Alden, Director at LSE IDEAS, says:
‘’I am very pleased that Dr Goitom Gebreluel will be joining us as our Anthony D. Smith fellow in 2025. We remain ever grateful to Dr. Diana Smith and Joshua Smith for their generous support for this important intellectual endeavour.’’
Dr. Goitom Gebreluel , says:
"I am honoured to be awarded the Anthony D. Smith Fellowship. I had the privilege of meeting Prof. Smith while studying nationalism at the LSE, so this fellowship is especially meaningful to me. I am also grateful to LSE IDEAS for providing a welcoming and academically stimulating environment. I look forward to drawing on the LSE’s rich intellectual tradition in nationalism research and engaging with leading scholars in the field, such as Elliott Green, John Hutchinson and John Breuilly.2
For more information about the fellowship, organised by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) and Nations and Nationalism, hosted by LSE IDEAS, visit: Anthony D. Smith Visiting Fellowship.
If you would like to support LSE IDEAS to provide more fellowships such as this and in many other ways please visit our supporters page here.