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John Comaroff

John Comaroff headshot

Research Professor

  • 750 N. Lake Shore Drive
  • 4th Floor
  • Chicago, IL 60611

Joint appointment

Harold W. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Anthropology and the College, University of Chicago

Education

Ph.D., Anthropology, University of London

Research focus

Legal and political anthropology with a current focus on the tensions between the governance of the new South Africa and the rising incidence of informal justice and cultural policing.

Projects

Popular Justice, Communal Violence, and Alternative Policing in the New South Africa (2004-2008)
Latest finding: Jan 22, 2008, with Jean Comaroff
South Africa is currently beset by so-called “vigilantism,” a term that covers a range of different kinds of “alternative” policing, retributive violence, and popular justice,…

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Commentary

John & Jean Comaroff discuss the phenomenon of "Ethnicity, Inc."

Apr 30, 2010

Listen to the podcast from BBC 4's "Thinking Allowed" program, broadcast Februay 8, 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcjwn (Comaroff segment begins at 12.40) Ethno-theme parks, Native…

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Publications

Cover of Ethnicity, Inc Ethnicity, Inc
Book
“Reflections on the Rise of Legal Theology: Law and Religion in the 21st Century”
“Reflections on the Anthropology of Law, Governance, and Sovereignty in a Brave Neo World”

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Presentations

Detective Fictions: Further Notes on Policing the Postcolony
Oct 2009
On the Rise of Legal Theology: Law and Religion in the 21st Century
Sep 2009
The Politics of Law
Jul 2009

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Professional Service & Recognition

  • Mellon Learning Associate, Bates College
  • Awarded the Anders Retzius Gold Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, presented by the King of Sweden, April 2007
  • Member, Editorial Group, Journal of Anthropological Research
  • Member, Editorial Group, Annual Review of Law and Social Science
  • Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Hagar: International Social Science Review
  • Member, Editorial Board, Afrika Spectrum
  • Member, International Review Committee, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany
  • Member, International Advisory Board, Social Dynamics
  • Member, International External Panel of Reviewers, Kuwait University
  • Member, College of Reviewers, Canada Research Chairs Program, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
  • Awarded Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize, Law and Society Association
  • Associated Scholar, Center on Law and Globalization, American Bar Foundation and the University of Illinois College of Law
  • Member, Board of Directors, Human Rights Program, University of Chicago

Links

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