Position Title
Assistant Professor
Shingirai’s academic training encompasses three interconnected fields: Comparative Political Science, International Relations, and International Development. His interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the international political economy (IPE) of development in sub-Saharan Africa, with emphasis on natural resource governance. His work seeks to understand why the presence of high-value natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa, such as oil and minerals, has seldom resulted in sustainable and equitable development but has instead produced harmful outcomes (a phenomenon commonly known as the Resource Curse), and to develop strategies to overcome this ‘paradox of plenty’. He employs qualitative research methodologies that entail synthesizing data from field interviews and site visits, as well as primary and secondary sources.
His first monograph, entitled “Resourceful Kingdoms: Contested Ownership and Development in Africa”, in press with Ohio University Press (January 2027), is the first comprehensive, book-length account of the politics of ownership over the first-ever commercial oil deposits discovered in Uganda in 2006. The book also reveals highly significant insights into resource-funded development in Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa at large, along with other themes such as state formation in Africa, customary institutions in contemporary states, the politics of ownership over land, oil, and minerals; profit-sharing; global resource capitalism and extractivism; the environmental impacts of resource extraction; rural life; and the true meaning of ‘development’. Shingirai is also finalizing a co-edited book volume of essays on Natural Resources and Development in Uganda (under contract with Routledge Press) and revising a journal article on Resource Nationalism in Uganda and Tanzania.
Before joining UC Davis, he spent several years at Wellesley College, where he held pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships and senior administrative appointments, including coordinating the prestigious Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF). He is also a Mellon Mays Fellow and has mentored junior fellows at Bowdoin College, Amherst College, and the University of the Witwatersrand.
His scholarly work has received support from several organizations, including the Social Sciences Research Council (SSRC)-Mellon Mays Graduate Initiatives, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly Woodrow Wilson), the Society of Hellman Fellowship, the UC Davis Academic Senate, the Offices of Research and Global Affairs, and the Davis Humanities Institute.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Shingirai has contributed his expertise on mining and political dynamics in southern and eastern Africa to government and intergovernmental organizations. For several years, he also worked as a regional consulting expert for a United Kingdom-based political risk consulting company, providing business-critical analysis and reports to corporate clients and media organizations. Originally from Zimbabwe, he has also lived in South Africa, Uganda, and Canada.
Publications:
Taodzera, S (2026). “African Statehood”, in the Encyclopedia of African Politics, Anne Mette Kjaer, Moses Khisa, and Xichavo Ndlovu (Eds), Edwin Elgar Publishers, pp 458-466
Taodzera, S (2023), (with Dendere, C) “Zimbabwean civil society survival in the post-coup environment: A Political Settlements analysis”, Interest Groups and Advocacy Journal, Springer Publishing, pp 132-152
Taodzera, S. (2022) (with J. Andrew Grant, Evelyn N. Mayanja, and Dawit Tesfamichael) “Natural Resource Governance in Africa.” In Nukhet Sandal, ed. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 1- 46
Taodzera, S. (2020) “A Natural Resource Boon or Impending Doom in East Africa? Political Settlements and Governance Dynamics in Uganda’s Oil Sector,” In Nathan Andrews and J. Andrew Grant, eds. Corporate Social Responsibility, and Canada’s Role in Africa’s Extractive Sectors, University of Toronto Press, pp 221-243
Taodzera, S, (2019) (with Ashaba, I). “A Political Chronicle of Uganda, 2017-2018,” In Reyntjens, F. (Ed). L’Afrique Des Grands Lacs Annuaire, Antwerp, pp 91-120
Taodzera, S, (with Ashaba, I.) “A Political Chronicle of Uganda, 2017-2018,” In Reyntjens, F. (Ed). L’Afrique des grands lacs Annuaire, Antwerp, 2019
Taodzera, S. A comparative analysis of community natural resource ownership between South Africa’s Bafokeng and Uganda’s Bunyoro kingdoms (In Progress)
Media: Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-week-on-the-frontiers-december-1st-2018-1543676477
- Ph.D. International Development, University of Ottawa
- M.A. Political Science, Dalhousie University
- M.A. International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand
- Political economy of development in post-colonial sub-Saharan Africa
- Governance of extractive natural resources, energy, and the environment
- International development theory, policy, and practice
- Liberation movements and politics of nation-building in Africa
- Traditional kingdoms in post-colonial politics in Africa
- Presidential politics and leadership in Africa
- Comparative analysis of state systems
- Political violence, civil war, and post-conflict reconstruction
- Research methods and critical theory
- African Studies Association, International Political Science Association, International Studies Association