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Olivier J. Walther

Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Florida

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About

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Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida (UF) and the coordinator of the UF African Networks Lab. I am also an Affiliate Faculty at the Center for African Studies, the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the UF Food Systems Institute, and the Sahel Research Group.

My current research focuses on cross-border trade and transnational political violence in West Africa. Using social network analysis, I study how borders affect the social networks and spatial patterns of West African traders and violent extremist organizations.

Before coming to Florida, I held faculty appointments at the University of Southern Denmark and Rutgers University and worked as a researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research. I received a joint Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and the University of Rouen in France (2006).

Crossing borders is something that I have done a lot over the years. Born in Switzerland, I spent part of my youth in West Africa, did fieldwork in Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Ghana, Benin, and Mauritania, and worked as a professor and international consultant in Europe and the United States.

A geographer by training, I also enjoy crossing disciplinary boundaries. Over the last years, I have worked with historians, economists, and political scientists at Rutgers, Northeastern, Hunter College, Queen’s,  Bordeaux 3, and Uni.lu. I am currently the coordinator of the OECD West Africa research program at the University of Florida.

I am the Africa Editor of the Journal of Borderlands Studies (JBS), a “chief” of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) and on the advisory board of the African Governance and Space (AFRIGOS) project. I am also on the editorial board of Connections, the journal of the International Network for Social Network Analysis.

Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Scholar, and Academia.

Click here for a pdf version of my CV.

Research

My research focuses on trade and political violence in West Africa using social network analysis.

Read more Research

Papers

Recent publications on trade, conflict, borders, social networks in West Africa.

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African Border Disorders now available in Open Access

Our edited book “African Border Disorders. Addressing Transnational Extremist Organizations” is now available in Open Access, thanks to the generous support of the University of Florida. African Border Disorders explores the complex relationships that bind states, transnational rebels and extremist organizations, and borders on the African continent. Combining cutting edge network science with geographical analysis, the book highlights…

Read more African Border Disorders now available in Open Access

Contact

Olivier J. Walther, Ph.D.
Department of Geography
3205 Turlington Hall
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
owalther(at)ufl.edu
1-352-273-4739
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