Martha Saavedra has served as Associate Director of Cal’s Center for African Studies since 1993. She received a PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley. She has taught at St. Mary’s College of California, Ohio University, the Escuela de Estudios Universitarios Real Madrid, and at UC Berkeley, including in Global Studies, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and the Graduate School of Journalism. Her research has ranged from agrarian politics and ethnic conflict in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, to representations of Africa in Chinese popular culture, and to gender, development, and sport in various Africa countries. She recently worked on a collaborative project on sport and development in Cape Verde, Nepal, and Timor-Leste and on African athletic migration to the European Union.