State of Origin: Florida
Degree Program: PhD
Entered Program: Fall 2019
Expected Graduation: Fall 2023
Dissertation Topic: Pastoralist insecurity and responses to recent insecurity in Mali and the Central Sahel
Research Interests: Insecurity and adaptation of pastoralist groups; spatiality of violence; civil war, extremism, and conflict; urbanization and sedentarization; mobility, migration, and borders in the Sahel.
Research Statement: Matthew is interested in the livelihoods of pastoralist groups in the Sahel region, particularly as they relate to violence, mobility, networks, borders, and space. He wants to clarify the roles of different factors in insecurity and how groups adapt and respond to these insecurities. The inherent uncertainty of the region has produced various long-term responses by groups, and the mobility of pastoralists is one feature that is constantly challenged by internal and external factors like borders, extremism, and ethnic violence.
Adviser: Dr. Olivier Walther
Educational Background
- M.Sc. in African Studies and International Development, University of Edinburgh, 2017
- M.P.H. in Global Health and Infectious Disease, Emory University, 2008
- B.A. in Physical Anthropology, Grinnell College, 2004
- B.A. in Biology, Grinnell College, 2004
Publications
Pflaum, M. (2021). Pastoralist Violence in North and West Africa. Paris, OECD West African Paper 31.
Pflaum, M. (2015). The Limitations of Reductive Wealth Redistribution Strategies for Curtailing Inequality in the Era of Global Capitalism. Journal of Economics and Political Economy, 2(3), 383-399.