My present research explores the Royal Bafokeng Nation in South Africa as an example of the persistence of "traditional" forms of patriarchal governance in Africa in the midst of democratisation, modernization, and new discourses of universal and individual "rights." An ethnic group formed in part as a means of consolidating the community's claims to significant mineral wealth (platinum), the Bafokeng are preserving "tradition" by corporatizing their assets and administration. "The Business of Being Bafokeng" not only analyses the legal, economic, and political process of corporatization, but also the symbolic and ideological aspects of this change.

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Previously, I was visiting Assistant Professor (research) at the Watson Institute for International Studies from 2001-2003, and Director of the Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale from 1999-2001. In addition to research on contemporary South Africa, I have worked and published extensively in the field of comparative genocide studies. I recently published an edited volume entitled "Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda: New Perspectives" (Transaction Publishers 2006).

Research Description

My present research explores the Bafokeng Nation as an example of the persistence of "traditional" forms of patriarchal governance in Africa in the midst of democratisation, modernization, and new discourses of universal and individual "rights." An ethnic group formed in part as a means of consolidating the community's claims to significant mineral wealth (platinum), the Bafokeng are preserving "tradition" by corporatizing their assets and administration. This research project, called "The Business of Being Bafokeng" not only analyses the legal, economic, and political process of corporatization, but also examines how images of "the corporate" circulate, and how idioms of corporate life have come to dominate how Bafokeng people speak about, think about, and engage their own bodies and communities. I am presently conducting the field research for this project, and plan to complete the book manuscript in early 2008. In connection with this project, I am collaborating with a group of US-based scholars on a project called "Corporate Socialities: Theoretical, Methodological, and Ethnographic Interventions," which has preliminary funding commitments from Wenner-Gren and the School for American Research.

Awards

Research Development Program Grant, University of Pretoria (2005-6)
Group Research Project Award, Brown University (2002-3)
University Dissertation Writing Fellowship, Yale University (1997-8)
National Science Foundation Grant for dissertation research (1996-7)
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research grant for dissertation research (1996-7)
Yale Center for International and Area Studies Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (1996)
FLAS awards from Yale University and Boston University to study Setswana at the Summer African Languages Institute, Ohio State University (1996)
Mellon Foundation and Yale Center for International and Area Studies grants for pre-dissertation research in South Africa (1995)
Mellon Foundation and Williams Fund grants for language study in Cambodia (1994)
Yale University Fellowship (1993-6)

Affiliations

American Anthropological Association
African Studies Association
International Association of Genocide Scholars

Funded Research

I am currently conducting fieldwork with a two-year research grant from the University of Pretoria.

Teaching Experience

"Language, modernization, and ethnicity in Africa" (Brown U)
"The Anthropology of Children: Youth, Human Rights, and the Politics of Culture." (U of Pretoria)
"Philosophies of Language" (U of Pretoria)
"Introduction to Socio-cultural Anthropology" (U of Pretoria)
"The Anthropology of Power" (U of Pretoria)

Courses Taught

• Language Modernization and Ethnicity in Africa (IR 180-51)

Selected Publications

• "Language Policies and the Erasure of Multilingualism in South Africa." In Silence: the Currency of Power, Maria-Luisa Achino-Loeb, ed. Berghahn Books. (http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=AchinoSilence) (2005)(2005)
• "Chiefs, Kings, Corporatization, and Democracy: A South African Case Study." Brown Journal of World Affairs 11.2(Summer/Fall):125-37. (2005)(2005)
• Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda: New Perspectives (edited volume). Piscataway: Transaction Publishers. (http://www.transactionpub.com/cgi-bin/transactionpublishers.storefront/43327ad204c243249c4dc0a80a7306df/Product/View/0&2D7658&2D0308&2D9) (2005)(2005)
• "The Politics of Preservation in Rwanda." In SE Cook (ed.) Genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda: New Perspectives. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers. (2005)(2005)
• "New Technologies and Language Change: Towards an Anthropology of Linguistic Frontiers." Annual Review of Anthropology 33:103-115. (2004)(2004)
• Return to Nisa, by Marjorie Shostak (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) and Shadow Bird, by Willemien Le Roux. Cape Town: Kwela Books. African Studies Review. (2003)(2003)
• Ethnography in Unstable Places: Everyday Lives in Contexts of Dramatic Political Change, edited by Carol J. Greenhouse, Elizabeth Mertz, and Kay B. Warren. Durham: Duke University Press. American Ethnologist Volume 30 Number 2 May 2003.(2003)
• "On Democratization and Peacebuilding" (with Charles Call). In "Governance After War: Rethinking Democratization and Peacebuilding" A Special Issue of Global Governance, edited by Charles Call and Susan E. Cook. Volume 9, No. 2 (April-June). (2003)(2003)
• "Governance After War: Rethinking Democratization and Peacebuilding" A Special Issue of Global Governance, edited by Charles Call and Susan E. Cook. Volume 9, No. 2 (April-June). (2003)(2003)
• "Documenting Genocide: Lessons from Cambodia for Rwanda." In Cambodia Emerges from the Past: Eight Essays. Chandler, David P. and Judy Ledgerwood, eds. Southeast Asian Studies Program, Northern Illinois University. Pp. 224-237. (2002)(2002)
• "Urban Language in a Rural Setting: the Case of Phokeng, South Africa." In Urban Life, 4th ed. G. Gmelch, W. Zenner, eds. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. (2002)(2002)
• "Prosecuting Genocide in Cambodia: The Winding Path Towards Justice." www.crimesofwar.org. (2001)(2001)
• "Documenting the Cambodian Genocide: A Truth Commission on the World Wide Web." www.fathom.com. (2000)(2000)
• "Ethnicity and genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda" Searching for the Truth No 7 (July 2000): 40-43.(2000)
• Of Revelation and Revolution: The Dialectics of Modernity on a South African Frontier, by John L. and Jean Comaroff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Africa Today 45(3-4):497-501. (1998)(1998)
• "Documenting Genocide: Cambodia's Lessons for Rwanda." Africa Today 44(2):223-227. (1997)(1997)
• "The Linguistic Formulation of Emotion in Rwanda: Practical Implications for a Post-genocidal Society." (With Charles K. Mironko) In SALSA IV: Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Symposium about Language and Society--Austin. Eds. A.M. Guerra, C. Tetrault, and A. Chu. (1995)(1995)
• Book Reviews