Rachel’s work explores political struggles for human rights, justice and memory in Africa.
My work explores the politics of human rights, justice and memory, focusing on sites of atrocity, conflict, and displacement in Eastern Africa. I am interested in non-violent political agency and in interactions between local activists, authorities and international humanitarian, peacebuilding and human rights interventions.
My research draws on ethnography, collaborative action, and archival approaches, and has received funding from Volkswagen Stiftung/ Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Social Science Research Council, Justice and Security Research Programme (LSE), and Global Challenges Research Fund.
I have published a book, South Sudan’s Injustice System: Law and Activism on the Frontline (Zed Books, 2019), and articles in academic journals, including The Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Memory Studies, Journal of Civil Society and African Affairs. I am a co-editor of the Journal of Genocide Research. I am Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa.
Teaching and supervision
I teach Global Governance and World Order (second year).
I supervise research on human rights, conflict, genocide, humanitarian response, migration, the politics of law and justice, and African politics.
Ibreck, Rachel and Weslety, Souhayel. 2024. Border Violence in Africa. In: Obert Bernard Mlambo and Ezra Chitando, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Africa. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 119-139. ISBN 9783031407536
Ibreck, Rachel. 2016. Memory. In: Tim Allen; Anna Macdonald and Henry Radice, eds. Humanitarianism: a dictionary of concepts. Routledge: Routledge. ISBN 9781857432817
Ibreck, Rachel. 2011. The Resistance Memorial, Bisesero, Rwanda. In: Maggie Andrews; Charlie Bagot-Jewitt and Nigel Hunt, eds. Lest We Forget: Rethinking Cultures of Remembrance. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, pp. 210-214.
