Sarah Runcie 
Assistant Professor of History
Ettinger 300D
484-664-3530
Education
PhD, Columbia University (African History)
MA, Teachers College, Columbia University (Health Education)
BSFS, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service
I am a historian of modern Africa, with particular interests in public health and decolonization in West and Central Africa. I am currently working on a book manuscript exploring how Cameroonian doctors negotiated international health programs and enduring colonial medical institutions as they built a national health administration in the first decade of independence. This project draws on archival research I conducted in Cameroon, France, Switzerland, and the United States, as well as interviews with Cameroonian former medical personnel.
My survey courses focus on understanding African history as an interplay of local, regional, and global dynamics. In classes on Africa before and after 1800, students will thus gain both an introduction to specialized study of the continent and a greater understanding of the centrality of Africa in the making of the modern world. My broader teaching interests include the history of health and healing in Africa, global health, women and gender in West Africa, historical memory and commemoration, decolonization, and Africa and World War II. All my courses draw on diverse primary sources including oral histories, music, film, and literature to engage students in the study of the African past.
Recent publications:
“Decolonizing “La Brousse”: Rural Medicine and Colonial Authority in Cameroon.” French Politics, Culture & Society 38, no. 2 (2020): 126-147.
“From Malaria Eradication to Basic Health Services: Decolonization and Public Health Futures in 1960s Cameroon.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 53, no. 1 (2020): 27–45.
“Networks of the Unnamed and Medical Interventions in Colonial Cameroon.” In Viral Networks: Connecting Digital Humanities and Medical History, edited by E. Thomas Ewing and Katherine Randall, 15-30. Blacksburg, VA: VT Publishing, 2018.
