Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is a professor of history and African Studies at the University of Illinos at Urbana-Champaign. A historian, literary critic, novelist, and short story writer, he has taught at universities in Malawi, the Caribbean, Kenya, and Canada. He was the winner of the 1994 Noma Award for his book, a Modern Economic History of Africa and in 1998 was awarded the Special Commendation of the Noma Award for Manufacturing African Studies and Crises