Trevor Getz

Trevor R. Getz

Department Chair, Professor
Phone: (415) 338-7537
Email: tgetz@sfsu.edu

Trevor R. Getz is a Professor of African and World History and Acting Chair of the Department of Secondary Education at at San Francisco State University. His work focuses on history education – especially in the field of world history – as well as the social history of Africa. He is the author or co-author of eleven volumes, including Abina and the Important Men, which won the 2014 James Harvey Robinson Prize.  His work has been published by Duke UP, Oxford UP, Ohio UP, Bloomsbury, Prentice Hall, Westview, and James Currey.  It has also appeared in The American Historical Review,  The Journal of West African History, Slavery and Abolition, African Economic History, and Ghana Studies.    He is the recipient of the American Historical Association’s 2020 Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. History of Africa, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, 2000
  • M.A. History, University of Cape Town, 1997
  • B.A. History & Anthropology, University of California Berkeley, 1995

Recent publications (books)

  • Abina and the Important Men. Oxford University Press, 2023 (3rd edition).
  • The Long Nineteenth Century, 1750-1914: Crucible of Modernity, Bloomsbury Press, 2018
  • A Primer for Teaching African History. Duke University Press, 2018.
  • Slavery and its Legacy in Ghana and the Diaspora. Bloomsbury Press, 2017. (co-edited with Rebecca Shumway)

Recent publications (articles)

  • “Historians and High School Students as Partners: Community-based learning experiences as a tool for democratizing research”, accepted for publication in History in Africa. (with Tony Yeboah, Talia Kertsman, and Gordon George.)
  • “Can a constructivist, community-based intervention increase student motivation to study History?: A case study from Ghana”, accepted for publication in History Education Research Journal. (with Fredrick Ayirah, Tony Yeboah, Stacey Kertsman, and additional authors)
  • “Collaborating on the Intro Course: The History for the 21st Century Project”, Perspectives on History. With Steve Harris. December 2020.
  • “Getting Serious about Comic Histories,” a special article-length section of the “Feature Reviews” of the American Historical Review, 123 (2018), 1596-1605. Invited editorial curator and introductory author.
  • “’We Should Have Maintained This Unity, Then There Would Be More Development:’ Lessons from a Pop-Up Museum of the Fante Confederation”, forthcoming in History in Africa 46 (2019): 195-216, Spring 2019. (lead author with Lindsay Ehrisman and Tony Yeboah)

Curricular Projects

  •   OER Project/ Gates Ventures - Principal Content Development and Evaluation Manager
  •   New York City Board of Education, Hidden Voices of the African Diaspora – Associate Lead
  •   XQ Institute/ Emerson Collective –Content Development Specialist
  •   Washington DC State Board of Education, World History Standards – Content Expert