Dr Albert Sharra

Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Albert Sharra

Dr Albert Sharra

Postdoctoral Fellow, September 2023 - June 2024

Home institution: University of the Witwatersrand / University of Edinburgh

 

Dr Albert Sharra is a joint-postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). He is a recipient of the IASH and the Wits centennial sandwich postdoctoral research fellowships. He completed his split-site PhD at Wits in 2023 which involved spending a year at the UoE’s Centre of African Studies. He has won several scholarships including the 2021 Commonwealth Split-site PhD Scholarship to the UoE where he conducted an in-depth investigation into how African governments respond to networked political social movements. His research interests include digital political activism, comparative African politics, revolutions, government, platforms and artificial intelligence, state surveillance, cybersecurity, journalism and media practice and interactive digital media.

His PhD work analyses the rise of networked social movements in Southern Africa and how governments respond to these. The study introduces the concept of self-made activists, creativity in social movements with a focus on how activists and participants engage with creativity at different stages of building and sustaining a networked collective action, what drives hashtags and their virality and the transformation of state repression against political activism in Southern Africa. This research involved interviewing 70+ participants in three countries and analysing three Facebook posts and comments that initiated and sustained #ThisFlag, #Koswemumpoto and #GandhiMustFall protests in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi respectively. During his PhD, Albert published nine papers outside of his PhD. His latest co-authored paper 'Agency and Incentives of Diasporic Political Influencers on Facebook Malawi' was published by Social Media + Society. He is currently co-editing two edited volumes.

Project title: The Roots, Colonial Legacy and Transformation of State Surveillance against Political Activists in Southern Africa

This fellowship will support Albert’s research work to publish his monograph Digital Political Activism and State Repression in Southern Africa. This research investigates the history of state repression, particularly state surveillance against political activists from the colonial era to the early years of state building in three former British colonies namely Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, including how it has been consolidated and transformed over the years.