Trust-Based, Qualitative Field Methods: A Manual for Researchers of Violent Extremism

Why should anyone tell you the truth? All field research with human subjects must address this question. The research approach detailed in this manual addresses this challenge. It emphasizes trust, an appreciation of surveillance and power, understanding gender and class issues and analyzing youth dynamics. (2019) 

The Outcast Majority: War, Development, and Youth in Africa

The Outcast Majority invites new thinking about war, development and youth. It starts with this irony: while African youth are demographically dominant, most see themselves as members of an outcast minority. The book contrasts the priorities of development agencies with those of youth. (2015)

Awards: 
Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award, Comparative and International Education Society
Senior Book Prize, American Ethnological Society (Runner-up)

Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood

This book tells the dramatic story of young Rwandans who are "stuck," striving against near-impossible odds to become adults. It features an ambitious, controlling government and an exceptionally young and poor population. This pioneering book sheds new light on the struggle to come of age, in Africa and beyond. (2012)

Award:
Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize, African Studies Association (Honorable Mention)

Islands of Education: Schooling, civil war and the Southern Sudanese (1983-2004)

Schooling in southern Sudan (now South Sudan) has mainly consisted of island-like schools surrounded by oceans of educational emptiness. Islands of Education is the first book to comprehensively examine this harrowing educational reality. It also recommends ways to boost access to quality education and enhance South Sudan’s education system. (2005)

Co-ordinating Education During Emergencies & Reconstruction: Challenges & responsibilities

This book explains why the co-ordination of humanitarian and post-conflict education activities is so difficult to accomplish. It also suggests ways to overcome barriers to effective co-ordination in the education sector. (2004)

Parallel Worlds: Rebuilding the education system in Kosovo

At the end of Kosovo’s civil war, the United Nations established the Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK). Rebuilding education for people of all ethnic origins was an enormous challenge. The authors describe the many ‘parallel worlds’ of education that arose in Kosovo and highlight lessons to be drawn from this experience. (2004)

Fear In Bongoland: Burundi Refugees in Urban Tanzania

This book is the first full-length study of urban refugees in hiding. It tells the story of Burundi refugee youth, second generation survivors of ethnic genocide, who live in fear in one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, Dar es Salaam. These male youth join migrants in “Bongoland” (meaning “Brainland”) where, as the nickname suggests, only the shrewdest and most cunning can survive. (2001)

Award:
Margaret Mead Award

The Dynamics of Coordination

This book takes a fresh look at humanitarian coordination by contrasting coordination for a country (Sierra Leone) with coordination for refugee camps (Rwandans in Tanzania). It examines how six sets of actors – UN agencies, NGOs, the Red Cross, governments, military contingents and recipient populations – respond to challenges in the field. The book concludes that donor governments command more far power than any other set of actors. (2000)

NATO and Humanitarian Action in the Kosovo Crisis

This book examines the game-changing role of NATO forces in the Kosovo crisis to highlight the militarization of humanitarian action. (2000)