John McCracken

Born in Scotland, John McCracken studied history as an undergraduate and postgraduate at Cambridge. In 1964, while completing his PHD, he taught briefly at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and made his first extended research visit to Malawi. The next year he joined the new History Department, headed by Terence Ranger, at the University College of Dar es Salaam where he worked for four years. In 1969 he came to Stirling University where he introduced African history and served...See more

Born in Scotland, John McCracken studied history as an undergraduate and postgraduate at Cambridge. In 1964, while completing his PHD, he taught briefly at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and made his first extended research visit to Malawi. The next year he joined the new History Department, headed by Terence Ranger, at the University College of Dar es Salaam where he worked for four years. In 1969 he came to Stirling University where he introduced African history and served as founding Director of the Centre of Commonwealth Studies. He was Professor of History at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, 1980-1983 and returned as Visiting Professor in 2008. He is a past President of the African Studies Association from whom he received the award of Distinguished Africanist in 2008. See less