Sean Jacobs

Sean Jacobs "is an assistant professor of Communication Studies and Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His research focuses on media and democracy, social movements, as well as citizenship and identity. Jacobs contributes occasionally to Comment is Free at The Guardian’s website and blogs at Africa is a Country."

Professor Jacobs, a native of Cape Town, South Africa, holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of London and a M.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University. He is working on a book examining the intersection of mass media, globalization and liberal democracy in postapartheid South Africa. He is co-editor of Thabo Mbeki's World: The Politics and Ideology of the South African President (Zed Books, 2002) and two other books. His most recent scholarly articles have appeared in Politique Africaine (2006) and Media, Culture, and Society (2007). CV


 * Cochair, Concerned Africa Scholars (2006-Present)
 * Contributing Editor, Chimurenga magazine, Cape Town (2002-Present)
 * Trustee, Kalakuta Trust, South Africa, (2002-Present)

Awards

 * South African Initiatives Office, Travel Grant, Summer 2007.
 * Postdoctoral fellowship, International Center for Advanced Studies, New York University, 2003
 * Stein Rokkan Award, International Political Science Association, 2003
 * Commonwealth Scholarship, Association of Commonwealth Universities, 2002-2004
 * New Social Science Fellowship, Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, 2001
 * Graduate Studentship, School of Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck College, 2000-2001
 * Joan Shorenstein Fellowship on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 1998
 * Fulbright Scholarship, Northwestern University, 1995-1996.

Books

 * Wasserman, H.J. and S Jacobs (Eds.) Shifting Selves: Postapartheid essays on Mass Media, Culture and Identity (Kwela Books, 2003).
 * Jacobs, S. and R Calland (Eds.) Thabo Mbeki’s World: The Ideology and Politics of the South African President (Zed Books and University of Natal Press, 2002).
 * Jacobs, S., Media, Globalization, Democracy and the Rainbow Nation (In Preparation).