He studied at Oxford, Manchester and SOAS, and previously taught at the Universities of Edinburgh and Sussex. His research is based on a long-term engagement with Annang villagers in southeastern Nigeria and focuses on themes of history, violence and the state. His initial work was an historical ethnography of colonialism, which examined the events surrounding a series of mysterious deaths in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1940s. More recently, his research has looked at issues of youth, democracy and disorder in post-colonial Nigeria, with a particular focus on vigilantism and new masquerade performances.