Daniel Thompson is an anthropologist and geographer who specializes in analyzing urbanization, human migration, and political and economic trends in the greater Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan). His past analytical projects include academic research from 2010-2012 on the economic strategies of Somalis and Ethiopians living in Johannesburg, South Africa (see publications); and consulting in conflict analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) for The Carter Center Conflict Resolution Program in Sudan and South Sudan (2011-2013).
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Daniel Thompson is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Merced. He writes about borderlands trade, investment, and urbanization in the Horn of Africa. His current project, Capital in the Borderlands, explores the political economy of diaspora investment and “contraband” trade in the borderlands between Ethiopia and the self-declared Somaliland Republic. About the time of the 2008 global financial crisis, thousands of people who had fled Ethiopia and Somalia as refugees during the regional upheavals around 1991 began returning to invest in the region, often while retaining homes and businesses in Europe or North America as well.
Pictured here: “Minesota Supermarket & Electronics” in Tog Wajale, on the Ethiopia-Somaliland border.
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Daniel Thompson is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Merced. He writes about borderlands trade, investment, and urbanization in the Horn of Africa. His current project, Capital in the Borderlands, explores the political economy of diaspora investment and “contraband” trade in the borderlands between Ethiopia and the self-declared Somaliland Republic. About the time of the 2008 global financial crisis, thousands of people who had fled Ethiopia and Somalia as refugees during the regional upheavals around 1991 began returning to invest in the region, often while retaining homes and businesses in Europe or North America as well.
Pictured here: “Minesota Supermarket & Electronics” in Tog Wajale, on the Ethiopia-Somaliland border.