Sharlene Swartz

Sharlene Swartz is Divisional Executive of the Inclusive Economic Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa, an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Fort Hare, and past Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Cape Town. She holds undergraduate degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Zululand in South Africa; a Master's degree from Harvard University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her expertise and current research centres on the just inclusion of youth in a transforming society that includes interpersonal and communal notions of restitution. Her work is characterised by a focus on Southern theory, emancipatory methodologies and critical race theory. Before embarking on graduate studies, Sharlene spent 12 years at a youth NGO where she pioneered peer-led social justice programmes for school-going youth.

Selection of Publications

She has over 80 academic publications that include 11 books, amongst them The Oxford Handbook of Global South Youth Studies (2021); Society, Research and Power (2021); Moral eyes: Youth and justice in Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa (2018); Studying while black: Race, education and emancipation in South African universities (2018); Another Country: Everyday Social Restitution (2016); Youth citizenship and the politics of belonging (2013); Ikasi: the moral ecology of South Africa’s township youth (2009); Teenage Tata: Voices of Young Fathers in South Africa (2009). She is the producer of the documentary, Ready or Not: Student experiences of South African universities and is a Commissioner of the Lancet Adolescent Health and Wellbeing inquiry, current President of the International Sociological Association’s Sociology of Youth research committee, and a member of the Human Development Report steering committee for South Africa.

Education

• Ed.M Harvard Graduate School of Education (2002 — 2003)
• B.Th University of Zululand (1988 — 1991)
• B.Sc University of the Witwatersrand (1985 — 1989)

Companies

• Division Head: Inclusive Economic Development HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council) (2020)
• Adjunct Professor University of Fort Hare (2019)
• Executive Director: Education and Skills Development HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council) (2018 — 2020)
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Sociology University of Cape Town (2012 — 2020)
• Deputy Executive Director: Human and Social Development HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council) (2008 — 2020)
• Founder The Youth Institute (2007 — 2017)
• Researcher University of Cambridge; Harvard University (2001 — 2007)
• National Field Director Scripture Union, South Africa (1989 — 2001)