Olemo Gordon Brian is an economics and political science major from Apac, Uganda. He will be assisting Prof. Jaimie Bleck with revisions of her upcoming book on “Social Capital, Youth, and the Mali Crisis”. He will also work on a project about the dynamics of the township economy. For his senior thesis, Olemo is investigating the potential role of domestic capitalists in Uganda’s special economic zones (SEZs) in driving wealth creation through manufacturing. In 2023, Olemo received a Kellogg Experiencing the World (ETW) Fellowship which saw him interact with members of the youth wing of South Africa’s then third biggest political party – Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFFSC) in university campuses in order to explore political education, mobilization and organization in their ranks. In the summer of 2024, he used the Summer Language Abroad (SLA) Grant from the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures (CSLC) to advance his Kiswahili language skills in Tanzania. Olemo is also a fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) and programs associate at the Future Africa Fellowship. During the pandemic, he undertook a qualitative research project dissecting the strategies employed by different African states to enforce COVID-19 regulations and the attendant impact on human rights. This effort culminated in a research paper titled “Curtailing State Policing Power During Crises to Safeguard Human Rights.” Olemo’s research interests include African political economy, local governance and service delivery, and wealth creation and poverty alleviation.
Thesis Adviser: Kyle Jaros