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Teresa Ann Barnes is a Professor with joint appointments in the Department of History and the Department of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Since August 2017, she has served as the Director of the Center for African Studies at UIUC. Her academic career spans over two decades, with significant experience living and working in southern Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Professor Barnes' research focuses on the intersection of political, gender, and institutional histories in southern Africa. Her work explores:
- Political and institutional histories of South African universities
- Political history of Zimbabwe
- Gender studies, memoir, and autobiography
- African-American family history
- The experiences of the "insane" in historical contexts
Her recent scholarly output demonstrates a continued focus on African history and decolonization, with particular attention to educational institutions and gender dynamics. Professor Barnes has authored several influential books including "Uprooting University Apartheid in South Africa: From Liberalism to Decolonization" (2019) and "We Women Worked So Hard": Gender, Urbanization and Social Reproduction in Colonial Harare, Zimbabwe, 1930-1956 (1999). Her work often blends personal narrative with historical analysis, reflecting her interest in alternative ways of writing history.
Professor Barnes teaches courses including:
- 20th Century African Intellectual History
- History of Southern Africa
- Truth Commissions in Comparative Perspective
- Memoir and Autobiography
- Introduction to Gender & Women's Studies
She earned her PhD in African Economic History from the University of Zimbabwe in 1994, following an MA with distinction in the same field in 1987. She completed her undergraduate studies with a BA in International Relations from Brown University in 1979.
