Biography

Abraham T. Seda is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. His dissertation project “A Contested Ring: African Boxing, Social Control and Subversive Culture in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1890-1980” examines how boxing and the boxing ring were appropriated by African men and used as platforms for cultural expression. Using oral and archival sources, his research illuminates how indigenous medicines used by African boxers for performance enhancement and as “power objects,” came to be seen as subversive by the colonial government, leading to their regulation. The research project also underscores how ideas of white racial superiority within the British empire led to colonies such as Zimbabwe and apartheid South Africa working together to ban interracial fights and regulate the sport.