Jack Boulton

Jack Boulton is a FNRS Research Fellow at ULB's Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains (LAMC) and an associate researcher at KU Leuven’s Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. He holds a BA from Goldsmith’s College, University of London, and MSc/PhD degrees from KU Leuven. Previously, he was a DFG Walter Benjamin Fellow at the University of Freiburg (2022-2024). His research focuses on gender, colonial architecture, urban landscapes, and haunting in Namibia, particularly exploring how men navigate intimacy, identity, and socio-political forces in post-colonial contexts. He is editor-in-chief of Stimulus Respond and a handling editor at African Diaspora.

Key research themes include:

• Gender and urban masculinities in Swakopmund
• Socio-cultural impacts of uranium extraction
• Cosmological and colonial legacies in Namibian urban spaces
• Queer ethnography and friendship dynamics
• Deathscapes and suicide migration practices

Recent publications analyze uranium as a 'monster,' self-isolation rituals among men, and masks as metaphors for African masculinities. His 2021 monograph Have Your Yellowcake and Eat It explores male intimacy in Namibia through reflexive ethnography.