Leigh Gardner

Leigh Gardner is Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Research Associate at the University of Stellenbosch. Her work focuses on the economic and financial history of Sub-Saharan Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She is particularly interested understanding how the capacities of African states changed over time, and in bringing Africa into comparative research in global economic history. Her most recent book, Sovereignty Without Power: Liberia in the Age of Empires, 1822-1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2022) won the 2023 Lindert-Williamson Prize for Outstanding Book in Global Economic History.