Prof Jeremy Seekings

Professor Jeremy Seekings is interested in a wide range of topics concerning politics and society, in the present and historically, in Southern Africa and some other parts of the world. His first work was on the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s and the transition to democracy in the 1990s. In the 2000s and 2020s he has continued to work on South Africa, including on social stratification and inequalities (class, status, race, gender), the transformation of kinship and families, and the history and contemporary politics of poverty reduction and welfare-state-building. Over the past decade he has worked increasingly elsewhere in Southern Africa (and parts of East Africa), the Caribbean and (most recently) parts of the Mediterranean, focusing on (a) public policy with an emphasis on poverty reduction and social protection and (b) political parties, elections and voting. His most recent research has focused on Botswana, Zambia and Malta. He has been the Director of the Centre for Social Science Research since 2012 and also Acting Director of the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa. He has a strong interest in the combination of quantitative and qualitative research.