John Comaroff

John Comaroff headshot

Affiliated Research Professor

Department of African and African American Studies
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
ude.dravrah.saf@fforamocj
Phone: (617) 496-2658

Joint appointment

Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology, Oppenheimer Fellow in African Studies, Harvard University

Education

Ph.D., Anthropology, University of London

Bio

John Comaroff is an ABF Affiliated Research Professor and Professor of African and African-American Studies and Anthropology at Harvard University. Before joining the Department of African and…

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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. Democracy and difference in post-revolutionary societies, and postcolonial political economy in the global south.

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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Publications

“Theory from the South: or, How Euro-America is Evolving Toward Africa”: Anthropological Forum
“Anthropologists are Talking’: About Anthropology and Post-Apartheid South Africa”: Journal of Anthropology
“Foreword: Thinking Anthropologically, About British Anthropology”: Sage Handbook of Social Anthropology

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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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Presentations

Theory from the South Revisited: Oct 2012
The Return of Khukenai Khumalo, Zombie Captive: Imposture, Personhood and the Law in Postcolonial South Africa: Sep 2012
Divine Detection: Crime and the Metaphysics of Disorder: Sep 2012

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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
Patron, Organisation of Intra-Cultural Development
Member, Board of Directors, Human Rights Program, University of Chicago
Honorary Professor, University of Cape Town, 2010-2015