Our goal
Our Lab develops innovative ways to model the social structure and spatial patterns of trade and violent networks in Africa. Our goal is to spatialize social networks over time by bringing together three approaches that have been developed separately: spatial analysis, network analysis, and temporal analysis. Our work opens new directions for geographers that are interested in more than the metaphor of the network.
Our history
Our Lab build on numerous research and policy projects conducted since the early 2010s. Our study of cross-border trade networks pioneered the introduction of social network analysis to the study of borderlands in West Africa. Since then, our team has contributed to map and model the impact of gender, religion, income, borders, cities and ethnicity on trade and violent networks. In 2025, we introduced the concept of spatial conflict life cycle to the geography and conflict literature.
Contact
Follow us on LinkedIn, contact us by email, or visit us in 3131 Turlington Hall, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611, United States. We post our data on this GitHub account.