Martha Saavedra was the Associate Director of the Center for African Studies from 1993 to 2025. She received a PhD and MA in a Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in International Studies from Rhodes College. She taught at St. Mary’s College of California, Ohio University, the Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid Universidad Europea 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. Projects have included a collaboration on sport and development in Cape Verde, Nepal and Timor-Leste, and a workshop on African athletic migration to the European Union. She has been on the editorial boards of Soccer and Society; Sport in Society; Sociology of Sport Journal; and Impumelelo: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Sports in Africa. She continues serving on the boards of Sport Africa and Soccer Without Borders. A veteran of Title IX battles, she has played soccer for most of her life and coached boys teams for over 15 years. In 2021, Martha received the African Studies Association Outstanding Service Award.
Gender, Sport, Agrarian politics, development