Bulelani Jili

Dr. Bulelani Jili is an Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, affiliated with the African Studies Program and the Science, Technology, and International Affairs Program. His research focuses on the political economy of digital infrastructure, with particular attention to Africa–China relations, cybersecurity, and AI governance. He is the author of Infrastructures of Dependency, forthcoming with Stanford University Press, which examines how Chinese surveillance technologies reshape sovereignty across African contexts. His work has appeared in Nature, African Affairs, Theory, Culture & Society, The Economist, Financial Times, Lawfare, and The Guardian. He has advised leading think tanks, governments, firms, and watchdogs including the U.S. State Department, OpenAI, Microsoft, the United Nations, and Smart Africa. He is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and has held fellowships at Yale Law School, the Atlantic Council, and Harvard’s Belfer Center. He holds a PhD from Harvard University.