Making Citizens in Africa Hardback: Ethnicity, Gender, and National Identity in Ethiopia (African Studies, Series Number 125) - Hardcover

'Smith examines the substantial expansion of what she calls 'meaningful citizenship' in the country since the 1970s, by which she means the actual exercise of rights inscribed in formal institutions but too often ignored ... One particularly worthwhile chapter narrates the evolution of the role of ethnicity in Ethiopian politics and includes a nuanced analysis of the interaction between cultural norms and formal institutions in shaping the role of women in the country.' Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs

'Ethiopia's policies of ethnic federalism have generated a great deal of analysis and debate among scholars. Lahra Smith develops the concept of 'meaningful citizenship' to make a valuable intervention in these debates ... Smith's conception of 'meaningful citizenship' and attention to gender are valuable contributions to scholarship of Ethiopia and African politics, and her balanced accounts of Ethiopia's history and politics provide a very useful introduction for students who are new to the Ethiopian case.' Daniel Mains, African Studies Review

Lahra Smith is Assistant Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She has written extensively on ethnic identity, elections and political reform, and gender and politics in Africa. Her research has been published in The Journal of Modern African Studies, Democratization and policy briefs for organizations such as the United States Institute of Peace. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Fulbright-Hays program. In 2010 she was the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship at Queen's University, Canada. She has also worked for USAID in Kenya and Ethiopia.