Our Lagos History Coordinators

Dr. Halimat Somotan is an Assistant Professor of African Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is a historian of twentieth-century Africa, with research interests in decolonization, postcolonial rule, urban history, and women’s history. Her first book manuscript, The Decolonizing City: Popular Politics and the Making of Postcolonial Lagos, 1941-76, explores how various actors, including tenants, landlords, female traders, and traditional rulers, struggled to make the former capital of independent Nigeria more livable. Dr. Somotan’s research has been supported by fellowships from Carnegie Mellon University; the Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities; Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)-Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in Original Sources; and the University of Virginia’s Carter G. Woodson Institute’s Predoctoral Fellowship, among others.

She has published on topics such as cemetery preservation, neighborhood formation, and popular protests against urban displacements. Her research has appeared in venues such as The Journal of Social History, The Journal of Urban History, Time Magazine, and The Conversation.

She received her MA, MPhil, and PhD. in history from Columbia University and her BA. in history and theater arts from Fairfield University.

Mufutau Oluwasegun Jimoh obtained a PhD from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and International Studies, Federal University Birnin-Kebbi. He has published widely in urban history, medical history, history of migration and memory. His articles have appeared in reputable journals such as, Canadian Journal of African Studies, African Notes, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Journal of African and Asian Studies, Ife Journal of History, Journal of Global South Studies, Lagos Historical Review, Odu: Journal of West African Studies, and Bulletin of World History Congress. He is a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Benjamin Leong is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, pursuing a degree in International Politics with a minor in International Development and a certificate in African Studies. As an Undergraduate Scholar in the African Studies Program, he serves as a Research Assistant for Dr. Halimat Somotan’s ongoing research and maintains Our Lagos History. Named a Paul F. Pelosi Scholar, he is interested in social and economic integration for immigrants and refugees, stemming from his positionality as a child of Chinese and Malaysian immigrants.