NEWS

LEAP researchers attend the African Economic History Network meetings in Las Palmas, October 2022

LEAP researchers attend World Economic History Congress in Paris, July 2022
ABOUT LEAP
The Laboratory for the Economics of Africa’s Past (LEAP) is dedicated to the quantitative study of African economic and social history. It brings together scholars and students interested in understanding and explaining the long-term economic development of Africa’s diverse societies. LEAP is affiliated to the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Stellenbosch University has a proud record of Economic History teaching and research. Prof. Sampie Terreblanche, appointed Professor of Economic History in 1968 and who died in February 2018, may ultimately be remembered for his fearlessness in speaking truth to power, and a public intellectual who constantly reminded apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa of the injustice inherent in economic inequality. The Department of Economics now honours Sampie, as he was widely known, with a dedicated website and repository of his written work.
The global renaissance of African economic history since the early 2000s has spurred a new generation of Stellenbosch economists to carry on the work of Prof. Terreblanche. Instrumental in this was the hosting of the 2012 World Economic History Congress. The Congress, held during a cold July in the picturesque town of Stellenbosch, attracted more than 800 international scholars and positioned Stellenbosch as one of the leading centres of economic history on the African continent. Following the Congress, plans were made to formalise the Economic History group at Stellenbosch University, with the aim of expanding and improving quantitative African economic history research.
Success depended on recruiting high-potential students and exposing them to the leading thinkers in African economic history and economic and social history more generally.
The Department of Economics now teach an undergraduate and graduate Economic History course annually. To build the essential collaborative networks across Europe, North America and Africa, the department has appointed five Research Associates and one Extraordinary Professor in Economic History, Jan Luiten van Zanden, Professor of Economic History at Utrecht University. The economic history cluster, consisting of staff and students interested in African economic history, has met weekly since 2014 for a brown-bag seminar. The cluster was formalised at the beginning of 2015 when LEAP was launched.
In the last five years, LEAP has grown from a handful of students to a group of more than 25 students, postdocs and faculty.
The Biography of an Uncharted People project, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has facilitated greater interaction with the History department at Stellenbosch University. The scope of work has expanded beyond economic history, to also include social, demographic, financial and family history.
LEAP has identified five traits that characterise our work:
Creativity
Courage
Credibility
Collaboration
Compassion
With these exciting developments going on, the future of quantitative African economic and social history research looks extremely promising.
LECTURES






Since 2016, LEAP hosts an annual lecture series. Our first LEAP Lecture was presented by Marianne Wanamaker of the University of Tennessee. Our second LEAP Lecture was presented by Emmanuel Akyeampong of Harvard University. Watch their lectures below.
OUR TEAM
Faculty and Students
Dieter von Fintel
Faculty (Economics)
Johan Fourie
Faculty (Economics)
Calumet Links
Faculty (Economics)
Anton Ehlers
Faculty (History)
Edward Kerby
Researcher

Esté Kotzé
Postdoc (Economics)

Kate Ekama
Postdoc (Economics)

Leoné Walters
Postdoc (Economics)

Jonathan Schoots
Postdoc (Economics)

Karen Jennings
Postdoc (History)

Nobungcwele Mbem
PhD student (History)

Karl Bergemann
PhD student (History)

Munashe Chideya
PhD student (History)

Lauren Stevens
PhD student (Economics)
Timothy Ngalande
PhD student (Economics)

Lisa Martin
PhD student (Economics)

Kereeditse Tsokodibane
Graduate student (History)

Christiaan Burger
Graduate student (History)

Benjamin Crous
Graduate student (History)

Kara Ranwell
Graduate student (Economics)

Tessa Hubble
Graduate student (Economics)

Jan-Hendrik Pretorius
Graduate student (Economics)
Extraordinary professors and Research affiliates
Jan Luiten van Zanden
Extraordinary professor

Price Fishback
Extraordinary Professor

Marianne Wanamaker
Research affiliate
Martine Mariotti
Research affiliate
Erik Green
Research affiliate
Leigh Gardner
Research affiliate

Johannes Norling
Research affiliate
Abel Gwaindepi
Research affiliate
Former students and visitors
Nonso Obikili
Visitors & Friends

Laura Helfer
Visitors & Friends

Pablo Cebrian
Visitors & Friends
Igor Martins
Visitors & Friends
Mattia Bertazzini
Visitors & Friends
Stefania Galli
Visitors & Friends
Angus Dalrymple-Smith
Visitors & Friends
David Bijsterbosch
Visitors & Friends
Felix Meier zu Selhausen
Visitors & Friends

Joachim Wehner
Visitors & Friends
Francisco Marco
Former postdoc (History)

Young-ook Jang
Former Postdoc (Economics)
Kara Dimitruk
Former Postdoc (Economics)

Elie Murard
Former Postdoc (Economics)
Lloyd Melosi Maphosa
Former PhD (History)
Jeanne Cilliers
Former PhD (Economics)
Farai Nyika
Former PhD (Economics)
Christie Swanepoel
Former PhD (Economics)
Roy Havemann
Former PhD (Economics)
Heinrich Nel
Former PhD (Economics)
Omphile Ramela
Former Masters (Economics)
Cailin McRae
Former Masters (History)
Thoko Gausi
Former Masters (Economics)
Laura Richardson
Former Masters (History)
Beaurel Visser
Former Masters (History)
Leila Bloch
Former Masters (History)

Jason Lord
Former Masters (History)
Bokang Mpeta
Former Masters (Economics)

Betty Chiwayu
Former Masters (Economics)

Brittany Chalmers
Former Masters (History)

Paige Smith
Former Masters (History)

Jonathan Jayes
Former Masters (Economics)

Deporah Kapenda
Former Masters (Economics)

Katherine Steinke
Former Masters (History)

Zander Prinsloo
Former Masters (Economics)

Kudzai Chidamwoyo
Graduate student (History)

Anelisa Majokweni
Graduate student (History)

Lusungu Mkandawire
Graduate student (Economics)

Kelsey Lemon
Graduate student (History)

Amy Rommelspacher
PhD student (History)

Tiaan de Swardt
Graduate student (Economics)

Lauren Coetzee
Graduate student (History)
PROJECTS
PAPERS & BOOKS
TEACHING
The programmes we offer.
ECONOMIC HISTORY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
An undergraduate course in Economic History and Economic Development is taught annually in the Department of Economics.
INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS
A graduate course in Institutional Economics is taught biannually in the Department of Economics.
ECONOMIC HISTORY
A graduate course in Economic History is taught annually in the Department of Economics. Download the Work Programme below (PDF).
BUSINESS HISTORY
A graduate course in Business History is taught annually in the Department of History.
SAMPIE TERREBLANCHE RESEARCH REPOSITORY
The first professor to be appointed in economic history at Stellenbosch was professor Sampie Terreblanche. Prof Sampie, as he was affectionately known, produced several books and monographs on economic history and the history of economic thought, with a particular focus on South Africa.
His full research repository is now available on a dedicated website.
Agency is a complex phenomenon. It has many dimensions: it concerns political participation, but also the degree to which people can decide about their marriage. It is related to economic decision making, to free access to markets and how much coercion there is in the organization of the labour supply, but also to the development of a civil society.
And ‘freedom’ as such is perhaps not a very meaningful thing in a complex, highly literate world; one has to possess the right skills – the human capital – to really participate in markets, political events and the civil society. Human capital is therefore a crucial link in the process: it is an essential precondition for real participation and autonomy.
Agency is a complex phenomenon. It has many dimensions: it concerns political participation, but also the degree to which people can decide about their marriage. It is related to economic decision making, to free access to markets and how much coercion there is in the organization of the labour supply, but also to the development of a civil society.
And ‘freedom’ as such is perhaps not a very meaningful thing in a complex, highly literate world; one has to possess the right skills – the human capital – to really participate in markets, political events and the civil society. Human capital is therefore a crucial link in the process: it is an essential precondition for real participation and autonomy.
Jan Luiten van Zanden, In Good Company (EHDR 2012, p. 5)
CONTACT LEAP
Get in touch if you have any questions or need more information.
POSTAL ADDRESS
LEAP, Department of Economics
Private Bag X1
Matieland 7602
PHYSICAL ADDRESS
LEAP, Department of Economics
Schumann building, Bosman Street
Stellenbosch 7600
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