Achille Mbembe

Achille Mbembe is a Research Professor of History and Politics at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Visiting Professor at Duke University's Department of Romance Studies and Harvard University. He holds a Professorship at the European Graduate School/EGS. His academic career includes positions at Columbia, Berkeley, Yale, and the University of California.

Mbembe earned his doctoral degree from Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) in 1989 and a D.E.A. in Political Science from the Institut d'études politiques, Paris.

His research focuses on postcolonial theory, African history and politics, and the concept of necropolitics. He examines the socio-political dynamics of the postcolony, Afro-cosmopolitan culture, and the legacy of colonialism. Key works include On the Postcolony (2000) and Critique de la raison nègre (2013).

His seminal article Necropolitics (2003) critiques Foucault's biopower concept, introducing necropower as a new framework for analyzing state and non-state violence in contexts like Africa and Palestine.

Mbembe has no listed scientific awards, but his contributions to critical theory and postcolonial studies are widely recognized. He has advised students across various institutions, though specific names are not provided.

He is affiliated with the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, a leading center for interdisciplinary social science research in South Africa.