Kate Frederick

Kate Frederick (1988) obtained a BA in History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2010. Thereafter, she studied Modern History at Utrecht University and received a Research MA in 2013. Her RMA thesis investigated the impact of foreign cotton cloth imports on British West African cloth industries during the late pre-colonial and colonial eras. While studying at Utrecht University, Kate worked at Wageningen University as a Research Assistant on prof. dr. Ewout Frankema's "Is Poverty Destiny?" project, compiling and processing import and export trade statistics for British African colonies. In 2013, Kate was awarded an NWO Graduate Programme grant (200K) by the N.W. Posthumus Institute to undertake an individual PhD project at Wageningen University. The "Unravelling the African Textile Mystery" project explores the relationship between international trade and the deterioration of local cloth industries in east Africa, with a comparative eye toward west Africa. The project is due to be completed in 2017. Kate currently co-edits the African Economic History Network blog.