Amanda Hammar

Amanda Hammar is a Professor at the Centre of African Studies within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. Her work focuses on African studies with a particular emphasis on Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. She leads the CERTIZENS project (2020-2024) on certifications of citizenship in Africa and has published 38 research outputs across multiple disciplines.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Development Studies (awarded October 26, 2007)
• MSc in Social Policy and Planning for Developing Countries (awarded October 31, 1991)
• BA Hons in Sociology and African and Asian Studies (awarded August 31, 1982)

Professor Hammar's research spans several interconnected themes. Her current focus is on 'certifications of citizenship' in Africa, examining how identity documents co-produce citizens and states. This builds on her long-standing interest in marginality, displacement, belonging, property, authority and citizenship. She initially focused on land and agrarian change in Zimbabwe and Mozambique (1997-2012), then developed a relational approach to displacement economies (2006-2014), and later shifted to urban studies (from 2012), exploring urban displacement, property, and citizenship in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on African political dynamics, particularly around citizenship, displacement, and state formation. The trend shows increasing attention to documentation regimes and their effects on citizen-state relations, as seen in her CERTIZENS project. Her work bridges theoretical innovation with deep empirical engagement, particularly in Zimbabwean contexts but increasingly through comparative work with Ghana and Uganda.

Professor Hammar has held significant external positions including:

• President of AEGIS (Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies) from June 2019 to June 2023
• Board member of AEGIS since June 2015
• Board member of NARN (Nordic Africa Research Network) since 2015
• Board member of the Journal of Southern Africa Studies

She has supervised over 70 MA theses since 2010 and currently supervises multiple PhD students both at the University of Copenhagen and through collaborative arrangements in Ghana and Uganda as part of the CERTIZENS project. Her teaching includes core courses on Politics, Development and Change in Africa, Critical Development Planning and Policy Analysis, and Introduction to African Studies for the MA program at CAS.