DR. MARIE HUBER – Historian: African Aviation, Postcolonial Business, Development

What I’m working on

The Problem of Flying — I’m completing a trade monograph on African airlines and the politics of air transport after decolonization, tracing the histories of Air Afrique, Ethiopian Airlines, and East African Airways. Manuscript due December 2026.

Research Projects: As Principal Investigator of an ERC Starting Grant and Co-PI of an ANR-DFG project, I lead two research projects examining multinationals, industrialisation and development in Africa.

Current Projects

Current Research Project

MAGIC — Manufacturing Modernity in Africa

As Principal Investigator of an ERC Starting Grant, I lead a four-year project examining Bata shoe factories as sites of industrial modernity in postcolonial Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. MAGIC combines business history, labour history, and postcolonial studies to ask how a transnational company shaped everyday life — and how workers and managers shaped it in return.

Current Research Project

TRIBECA — Tackling the Responsibility of International Business and Enterprises as a Transnational Cause

is a Franco-German research project tracing how corporate social responsibility became the dominant framework for understanding business's role in society. My contribution examines how European multinationals in colonial and postcolonial Africa, Asia, and Latin America publicly championed workforce training and local staff promotion while internal records reveal a persistent reluctance to give up managerial control, showing that CSR has always been as much about power as it is about responsibility.

Fellowship

A. Verville Fellow — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

In 2025–2026, I held the A. Verville Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, conducting archival research for my monograph on African aviation after decolonization.

Publications

Article

“Higher up, further”

This paper, published in 2024 in the „Journal of Transport History“, proposes a fresh methodological take on aviation in postcolonial Africa, by assembling the biographies of the first African jets, following them from their inauguration all the way to their end, and the different purposes and values attached to them throughout this process.

Article

Die Politisierungs-maschine

For the Zurich-based blog "Geschichte der Gegenwart", I wrote about international cultural politics and the civil war in Ethiopia.

Article

State-owned success in the air

This paper, published in the "Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte", shows how Ethiopian Airlines and the multinational Air Afrique were able to break into the global air transport market and stay competetive during the 1960s and 1970s.

Article

Äthiopiens Kulturerbe ist in Gefahr

I contributed an article to the renowned German newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel, delving into the intersection of cultural heritage and the conflict in northern Ethiopia. My article highlights the imminent threat to Ethiopia's cultural heritage in the face of military conflicts, dwindling cultural tourism, and precarious historical narratives.

Research Project

Aviation in Africa after 1950

Between 2019 and 2023, I led a DFG-funded research project on aviation and airlines in postcolonial Africa, using Air Afrique and Ethiopian Airlines as case studies. The project produced four research articles and a co-edited journal special issue. A trade monograph, The Problem of Flying, is in progress.

Research Project

German Trade with Africa and Asia

DFG-funded research project on foreign trade securitization and economic security beyond the nation-state. I joined the project in its 3rd funding period, taking into focus German economic relations with developing countries during the postcolonial period and the emerging international economic networks.

About me

Hello, I'm Marie, a historian specializing in global economic history, postcolonial business history, and the history of development.

My research helps to better understand how people, governments and businesses navigated the economic legacies of colonialism, and what their experiences tell us about the making of the modern global economy.

Research Publcation

State enterprises in Africa: a postcolonial history

Together with Alexander Keese, I co-edited a special issue for the Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, in 2022, and our introduction is open access. Four papers look into agrarian, transport, financial and energy-related state enterprises after 1950.

Research Article

UN Tourism Development in the 1960s

This paper, published in 2021 in the "Journal of Contemporary History" explores the relationship between UN development programs and the built-up of tourism sectors in the developing countries during the 1960's.

Article and Online Course

Patrimónios Contestados

For this project, I contributed a lecture on UNESCO World Heritage in Ethiopia; two of my texts were translated into Portuguese to appear in an edited volume and the Sunday edition of Público newspaper.

Article

Ideologies of (In)competence

This paper, published in 2023 in „Comparativ“, looks into management, education and Africanisation efforts in West Africa, and the racialised discourse of skills and competences in the context of development and modernisation after independence.

Developing Heritage - Developing Countries

My first book investigates the historical development of UNESCO’s World Heritage program, concentrating on Ethiopian World Heritage sites from the 1960s to the 1980s. It explores how UNESCO, in collaboration with Ethiopian elites, played a pivotal role in shaping a “useful past” during the nation-building process and also highlights UNESCO’s shift from a knowledge producer to a direct provider of development policies.

Research Network

(Post-)Colonial Business History

Funded by the DFG, together with some colleagues, we established a research network on (Post-)Colonial Business History, for exchange on methodology and theory. We will meet six times of the course of three years and develop joint publications and follow up projects. Watch out for results on our blog!

Research Article

Putting a Nation on the Map

This 2022 paper for "Comparativ", explains how the Project of publishing a National Atlas of Ethiopia helped to construct a geographical imaginary of Ethiopia that has an impact until today.

Article

Zeit für ein Institut der Zukunft

I wrote an article on my vision for a forward-thinking university institute of the future for the Utopia. - series of the science portal of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. Imagine an institute that opens doors to collaboration and emphasizes openness, as well as embracing technological advances, fostering diverse perspectives, and providing inclusive opportunities for people of all backgrounds and abilities in the field of history.

Media & Public Writing

Interview

Live Aid-Skandal – Die Welt spendete, doch das Geld floss in Waffen

Wim Orth interviewed me about the Live Aid Scandal and the repercussions in Ethiopia for the "AHA!History" Podcast of Welt.

Interview

The International Podcast

Obinnaya Chukwu of York University interviewed me for episodes 8 & 9 of his podcast project on pivotal historical events that are important for understanding African International Affairs today.

Interview

[Anno...]

I was interviewed about my research on Ethiopian heritage and tourism with the German history podcast AnnoPunktPunktPunkt.

Teaching & Community

Workshop

Fractured Skies

Together with Waqar Zaidi, I organised a digital workshop on the history of aviation in the Global South. In June 2022, we hosted an interdisciplinary range of scholars from across the world.

#metoohistory

Deutsche Unis haben ein MeToo-Problem

Together with Janine Funke I wrote an opinion piece for the German weekly "Die Zeit" on the institutional failure of German universities to adequately acknowledge and deal with sexual misconduct and power abuse.

#metoohistory

#metoohistory: Radio-Interview

I was interviewed for Deutschlandfunk Kultur “Studio 9. Der Tag mit…” as one of the co-founders of #metoohistory following the panel discussion on the abuse of power in the sciences at German universities at the 54. Historikertag 2023 in Leipzig

#metoohistory

#metoohistory: discussion panel at Historikertag 2023

The #metoo initiative organised and hosted a panel discussion on the abuse of power in the German academic system during the annual meeting of the German association of historians, bringing together senior and junior scholars, students and experts. The event turned out to be highly anticpated, intensively debated afterwards and was a huge sucess.

Workshop

Fractured Skies

Together with Waqar Zaidi, I organised a digital workshop on the history of aviation in the Global South. In June 2022, we hosted an interdisciplinary range of scholars from across the world.

Workshop

Global History of State Enterprises

In November 2020, I hosted a digital workshop which brought together international scholars working on the history of state enterprises in developing countires.

Discussion

Systemwandel (fach)gerecht?

I was invited as a postdoc to speak on a panel of the VHD in summer 2023, to discuss career prospects and working conditions for postdocs and recent proposals for reforming the WissZeitVG.

Article and Online Course

Patrimónios Contestados

For this project, I contributed a lecture on UNESCO World Heritage in Ethiopia; two of my texts were translated into Portuguese to appear in an edited volume and the Sunday edition of Público newspaper.

Passion Project

Perspektiven .Blog

I founded this blog, which I now run together with a team of volunteers, to share the individual career paths and biographies of people who ventured from research in the humanities and social sciences towards new careers outside of the academic system.

Research Network

(Post-)Colonial Business History

Funded by the DFG, together with some colleagues, we established a research network on (Post-)Colonial Business History, for exchange on methodology and theory. We will meet six times of the course of three years and develop joint publications and follow up projects. Watch out for results on our blog!

#metoohistory

#metoohistory: Creating a platform for dialogue and change

After two cases of sexual misconduct in my department at my Alma Mater caused outrage among colleagues and in the media in 2023, I founded the #metoohistory initiative, which is active on social media, with events, and with networking and consulting behind the scenes.