Halimat Somotan is an Assistant Professor of African Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she teaches courses on urban history, archival methods, West African history, and decolonization. A historian of twentieth-century Africa, her research focuses on decolonization, postcolonial rule, urban history, and women’s history. Her current book manuscript, The Decolonizing City: Popular Politics and the Making of Postcolonial Lagos, 1941-76, examines how tenants, women traders, and homeowners challenged policies like urban renewal that threatened their continued presence from the end of colonial rule to the rise of military rule in Lagos, Nigeria. The project offers a new history of African decolonization by shifting attention from nationalist elites toward urban political engagements and residents’ visions for the future. Her research has appeared in venues such as The Journal of Urban History, Time Magazine, and The Conversation. Born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, Somotan earned her Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and her B.A. in history and theater arts from Fairfield University.