Professor Emeritus Roger Southall

Roger Southall is Emeritus Professor in Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa.

Over his career, he lectured in Politics and International Relations at the National University of Lesotho (1975–80), Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (1980–82, 1983–85), and the University of Leicester in the UK. In 1989, he moved to Rhodes University in South Africa, where he became Professor of Political Studies. In 2001, he joined the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) as Executive Director of its Democracy and Governance programme before moving to Wits.

Research & Scholarship

His work has focused on diverse aspects of political economy across Southern Africa. Key research areas include:

• The political economy of Transkei as a bantustan.

• Trade union and labor links during the apartheid period.

• Race, class, and post-liberation dynamics in South Africa.

• The rise and role of the black middle class.

• How white South Africans adjust to democracy.

• Comparative political analysis, including recent work on Nelson Mandela.

During his career, he has written extensively on politics and society and has contributed frequently to the public media.