Foreign Policy Blogs

Glen Elder, Rest in Peace

Sad news has stricken the African Studies community. Glen Elder, a geographer at the University of Vermont, died of a heart attack while jogging this weekend. He was only 42 years old.

I only knew Glen slightly based on interactions I have had with him in his capacity as one of the leading lights in the Northeastern Workshop for Southern African Studies (NEWSAS). He was set to go up for promotion to full professor this coming academic year and there is little doubt that he would have succeeded and continued to be an important voice in the African studies community. My deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends.

 

Author

Derek Catsam

Derek Catsam is a Professor of history and Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. He is also Senior Research Associate at Rhodes University. Derek writes about race and politics in the United States and Africa, sports, and terrorism. He is currently working on books on bus boycotts in the United States and South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and on the 1981 South African Springbok rugby team's tour to the US. He is the author of three books, dozens of scholarly articles and reviews, and has published widely on current affairs in African, American, and European publications. He has lived, worked, and travelled extensively throughout southern Africa. He writes about politics, sports, travel, pop culture, and just about anything else that comes to mind.

Areas of Focus:
Africa; Zimbabwe; South Africa; Apartheid

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