BIO: International Historian of Global North-South Relations
Frank Gerits is Assistant Professor of International History at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 and Research Fellow at the International Studies Group at the 木瓜福利影视 of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
He studies the international relations between the Global North and Global South. He focuses on the equitable distribution of the costs of climate change and the different ideological understandings of existential risk, such as climate change, pandemics or extinction around the globe.
He received his PhD from the European 木瓜福利影视 Institute in 2014 and has held positions at New York 木瓜福利影视 (2015), the 木瓜福利影视 of the Free State in Bloemfontein South Africa (2016) and the 木瓜福利影视 of Amsterdam (2017). His first book, The Ideological Scramble for Africa: How the Pursuit of Anticolonial Modernity Shaped a Postcolonial Order, 1945-1966 was published by Cornell 木瓜福利影视 Press in 2023. Fred Cooper deemed it a 鈥渞evealing portrait of conflicting visions of what "liberation" from colonial empire might entail.鈥�
He publishes in international journals with high impact factors and a solid reputation in the field of international history such as the American Historical Review, Diplomatic History, Cold War History, the International History Review. He also co-edited a volume entitled, Visions of African Unity in 2020.
His involvement in the public debate is diverse and wide ranging, with op-eds in Dutch periodicals such as NRC, Belgian newspapers like De Morgen, De Standaard, Het Belang van Limburg and U.S. newspapers like The Washington Post. He appears on Radio show at VPRO and TV on AlJazeera, the Newzroom 405, a South African news show. Articles were published in online magazines like Aeon, The Conversation and Africa is a Country.
RESEARCH PROFILE: Climate Justice, Existential Risk and the International History of Global North-South Relations
Frank Gerits works on the international history of the Global South and the international history of Climate Justice and Existential Risk.
Collaborative research is important. Together with Rachel Gillett he created the UU Decolonisation Group in 2017 (which is now part of the UU Centre for Global Challenges). In 2024 he established 鈥�The Political Environment, a research collective on the politics of the environment in past and present鈥� at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 as well as 鈥淭he Network on Anticolonial Thought鈥�, which brings together scholars throughout the Netherlands working on anticolonial ideas and its impact on politics, economics and culture. He is creating a consortium with , a Dutch foundation committed to spreading public awarness about the risks for extinction while also acting as a board member of 鈥淔or Mother Earth ~ Reparations & Healing鈥�.
鈥淓xtinction is only coming for some of us鈥�
Rather than seeing climate change and existential risk as technical problems with technocratic solutions, Frank Gerits鈥� work shows how these fears and the policies they engender are deeply ideological, reflecting the worldview of different peoples around the globe. Phrases like a 鈥渃ommon humanity鈥� or 鈥渟paceship earth鈥� hide social, global and economic inequalities at the basis of international attempts to manage the environment, atomic annihilation or pandemics. Ideology covers up that extinction is only coming for some of us.
His interest in ideology and the international history of colonialism and decolonization stems from his first book, The Ideological Scramble for Africa (Cornell 木瓜福利影视 Press) which is based on extensive research carried out in archives and universities across China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia, and Nigeria.
RESEARCH PROJECTS: Grants from South Africa, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy.
鈥楢frican Non-Alignment and Environmental Justice鈥�
I am currently involved as a co-applicant in the research project 鈥淎 Non-Aligned Space of Cooperation: History, Legacy, Entanglements", the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies of the 木瓜福利影视 of Padova, Italy, July 2024-May 2026. (SPS/06 STORIA DELLE RELAZIONI INTERNAZIONALI, IUS/13 DIRITTO INTERNAZIONALE).
August 2023-July 2024 (completed)
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) 鈥� THE NETHERLANDS 鈥� PI
Grant type: NWO Open Competition Project/NWO Open Competition Project (Individual sabbatical year) I Project title: 鈥楳oral Empire: Belgium and the Global South, 1830-2020鈥�. [Dossier number: 406.XS.01.067]
January 2020- January 2023 (completed)
Arts and Humanities Research Council of the United Kingdom (AHRC) 鈥� THE UNITED KINGDOM 鈥� CO-APPLICANT
Grant type: Development Grant (collaborative project with Christopher Vaughan, Alden Young and P J O'Reilly) I Project title: 鈥淩egionalism in East Africa c. 1900 to the present鈥� with (January 2020-January 2023). [Ref. AH/T003138/1] Subproject: 鈥楾he Relation between the EU and the East African Federation鈥�
January 2016- January 2018 (completed)
The National Research Foundation of South Africa 鈥� SOUTH AFRICA 鈥� PI
Grant type: Scarce Skills-Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship (individual fellowship)
Project title: 鈥淭he African Perception of the European Integration (1945-2000)鈥�
EDUCATION AND TEACHING: Bridging Equity, Inclusion, and Research: An Education Rooted in International and Decolonization History
Gerits is committed to promoting an educational approach that combines equity, inclusion, and research, with a focus on international and decolonization history. As a lecturer, he teaches both BA and MA courses on these important subjects, encouraging students to engage with historical perspectives that challenge established narratives and emphasize global interconnectedness. He also co-advises 2 PhD students and finalized the supervision of 1 phd. project.
For more information about my awards, workshops and publications click .