Achim von Oppen is Professor of African History at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. He has published widely on the history of social and economic change; space-making and translocality; religious change; and 'development', mainly in rural settings in Zambia and Tanzania.

Silke Strickrodt is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham, UK. Her research focuses on the history of pre-colonial and early colonial West Africa, particularly on Afro-European encounters in the context of trade, Christian mission and scientific exploration.