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

About Me

Hello, I'm Marie, a historian and Senior Lecturer at Leipzig University, 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 modern global economy.

What I'm working on

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

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

Current

Current Research Project

Manufacturing Modernity in Africa

As Principal Investigator of an ERC Starting Grant, I lead a five-year project (2026–2031) 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.

Edited Volume

Security and Risk

Together with Nina Kleinöder and Christian Kleinschmidt, I co-edited this volume (Nomos, 2026) on security and risk as challenges for economy and business in the global 20th century.

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!

Book Chapter

Navigating Postcolonial Landscapes

Together with Shakila Yacob, I analyse the strategies of German corporations, primarily trading companies, in postcolonial Malaysia during the 1970s (in „Security Strategies in International Business History“, 2025).

Current Research Project

Tackling the Responsibility of International Business

is a Franco-German research project tracing how corporate social responsibility (CSR) became the dominant framework for understanding business's role in society. I examine how European multinationals in colonial and postcolonial Africa, Asia, and Latin America publicly championed workforce training and local staff promotion while internally were reluctant to give up managerial control.

Book Chapter

Cherries for the Emperor

My chapter in „Wings of Globalization“ (De Gruyter, 2026), edited by Andreas Greiner and Stefan Rinke, looks into African airlines and the political economy of postcolonial air cargo.

Edited Volume

Security Strategies in International Business History

Together with Shakila Yacob and Christian Kleinschmidt, I co-edited this open-access volume (Routledge, 2025) on how German companies managed security challenges in Asia in the 20th century.

Book Chapter

Securitising Development

My chapter in „Security and Risk“ (2026) shows how the BDI’s „AG Entwicklungsländer“ turned investment risks in developing countries into economic security policy between 1960 and 1975. A French translation was published in Revue d'Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande, 58/1, 2026.

Article

The Postcolonial ‘Future Shock’

This paper, co-authored with Jonathan Krautter and published in 2026 in „Business History“, examines decision-making at the multinational Air Afrique in the 1960s and early 1970s and the interplay between business expectations and hopeful imaginaries.

Book Chapter

Entrepreneurial Expectations in Colonial and Postcolonial Contexts

Together with Nina Kleinöder and Jonathan Krautter, I examine entrepreneurial expectations in colonial and postcolonial Africa, from railway construction in German colonies to aviation in West Africa (Routledge Handbook of Economic Expectations, 2025, open access).

Book Project

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 and Ethiopian Airlines.

Publications and Projects

Research 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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Special Issue

Civil Aviation in the Global South

Together with Waqar H. Zaidi, I guest-edited a 2024 special issue of „The Journal of Transport History“ on civil aviation in the Global South.

Research 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.

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.

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, D.C., conducting archival research for my monograph on African aviation after decolonization.

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.

Media & Public Writing

Op-Ed

Afrikas Luftfahrt muss sich dekolonisieren

In January 2025, I wrote an op-ed for the Africa Briefing of Table.Media, arguing that African aviation needs to decolonise.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Article

Die Politisierungs-maschine

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

Workshops & Teaching

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

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.

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.

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.

Passion Project

Perspektiven .Blog

I founded this blog in 2021, and was part of the team of volunteers until 2024. Our aim was 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.

#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.