John T. Friedman
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John T. Friedman | |
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| Born | June 28, 1968 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
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| Occupation | Anthropologist, educator |
| Employer | University College Roosevelt |
| Known for | Ethnographic research on the state, development, and political processes in Namibia and Southern Africa |
John T. Friedman (*June 28th 1968 in St. Louis) is an American socio-cultural anthropologist and educator. He is known for his ethnographic research on the state, development, and political processes in Namibia and Southern Africa, and for public engagement in anthropology and higher education advocacy.
Academic Career
Friedman completed a Bachelor of General Studies (B.G.S.) in Liberal Arts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.[1][2]
He was a founding faculty member and Associate Professor of Socio-cultural Anthropology at University College Roosevelt (UCR), a liberal arts and sciences college affiliated with Utrecht University in the Netherlands.[3] He taught at UCR for over twenty years until 2025, when his position was terminated as part of a university reorganization.[4][5][6]
Research
Friedman’s research focuses on political anthropology, the anthropology of development, and the legacies of colonialism and apartheid in Southern Africa. His work includes studies on the state, chiefship in Namibia, post-apartheid governance, development projects such as the Epupa dam, and global citizenship.[7][8][9][10]
His 2011 monograph, Imagining the Post-Apartheid State: An Ethnographic Account of Namibia, was based on extensive fieldwork in Kaokoland, Namibia.[7] The work has been reviewed in several academic journals, including American Anthropologist, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and African Affairs. [11][12][13]
Public Engagement
Following his dismissal from UCR in 2025, Friedman and his students shared lectures and discussions publicly, including in outdoor venues in Middelburg, the Netherlands. During these talks, Friedman addressed topics including anthropology, liberal arts education, and higher education policy. International media coverage - including reports from De Volkskrant, RTL and Taz - highlighted these sessions as innovative approaches to pedagogy and public scholarship during a period of university restructuring.[5][14][15]
Friedman has also participated in applied projects relating to international eye health, global citizenship education, refugee assistance, and youth development in Namibia.[16][17]
Selected Publications
Books and Special Issues
- Imagining the Post-Apartheid State: An Ethnographic Account of Namibia. New York & Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0857450913.
- Going Glocal in Higher Education: The Theory, Teaching, and Measurement of Global Citizenship (Co-edited with V. Haverkate, B. Oomen, E. Park & M. Sklad) Middelburg: De Drvkkery, 2015. ISBN: 978-94-92170-10-1.
- Namibia at 25, special issue of Journal of Namibian Studies, (Co-edited with S. van Wolputte), Volume 18, 2015.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
- "Going Glocal: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Global Citizenship Education at a Dutch Liberal Arts and Sciences College." Higher Education, vol. 72, no. 3, 2016, pp. 323–340.
- ‘On Text and Con-text: Towards an Anthropology in Development’, in T. Yarrow and S. Venkatesen (eds.), Differentiating Development: Beyond an Anthropology of Critique, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Publishers, 2012. ISBN 978-0-85745-303-7.
- "Beyond the Post-Structural Impasse in the Anthropology of Development." Dialectical Anthropology, vol. 30, no. 3/4, 2006, pp. 201–225.
- "Making Politics, Making History: Chiefship and the Post-Apartheid State in Namibia." Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 2005, pp. 23–51.
References
- ↑ Michiganensian. Vol. 94. University of Michigan. 1990.
- ↑ "Glasses for the masses: John Friedman". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
- ↑ "Dr. John Friedman". University College Roosevelt. Archived from the original on 7 March 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ↑ "Zeeuws University College fires a quarter of its staff; students strike in solidarity". independent journalistic platform TU Delft. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "In Middelburg is nu al te zien wat het hoger onderwijs te wachten staat: 'Er is geen sterke basis meer'". de Volkskrant. 9 April 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ↑ "Hard times for the university college. Austerity measures to affect a quarter of UCR workforce". DUB. 30 January 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Friedman, John T. (2011). Imagining the Post-Apartheid State: An Ethnographic Account of Namibia. Berghahn.
- ↑ Friedman, John T. "Beyond the Post-Structural Impasse in the Anthropology of Development". Dialectical Anthropology. 30 (3/4). doi:10.1007/s10624-007-9006-9.
- ↑ Friedman, John T. "Making Politics, Making History: Chiefship and the Post-Apartheid State in Namibia". Journal of Southern African Studies. 31 (1): 23–51.
- ↑ Sklad, Marcin; Friedman, John T.; Park, Eri; Oomen, Barbara. "'Going Glocal': a qualitative and quantitative analysis of global citizenship education at a Dutch liberal arts and sciences college". Higher Education. 72 (3): 323–340. doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9959-6.
- ↑ Hays, Jennifer. "Review of Imagining the Post-Apartheid State". American Anthropologist. 115 (4): 691–692.
- ↑ Van Wolputte, Steven. "Review of Imagining the Post-Apartheid State". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 19 (1): 200–201.
- ↑ "Review: Imagining the Post-Apartheid State". African Affairs. 111 (443): 324–325.
- ↑ "Ontslagen professor geeft nu colleges in buitenlucht in Middelburg, video's gaan viral". RTL. 14 March 2025. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
- ↑ "Prof gefeuert, Unterricht läuft". Taz. 14 April 2025. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
- ↑ ""I Can See Clearly Now..."". HuffPost. 31 December 2025. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
- ↑ "Namibia COI". AsyLex. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
External links
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