Loren B. Landau

Loren B. Landau serves as Director of the African Center for Migration and Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his research centers on human mobility, development, and sovereignty within political and urban contexts.

His academic foundation includes an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Landau's research spans forced migration, urban transformation, and political governance in mobile societies, with major projects including 'Immigration, Transit and Urban Transformation' (2006-2009) funded by the French Department of Foreign Affairs, and the 'Migrating out of Poverty' consortium (2010) backed by the UK Department for International Development. His current work investigates how mobility reshapes political subjectivity in Africa's rapidly diversifying urban estuaries—transient gateway zones characterized by social heterogeneity.

Key publications include 'The Humanitarian Hangover: Displacement, Aid, and Transformation in Western Tanzania' (Wits Press), co-editing 'Contemporary Migration to South Africa' (World Bank), and editing 'Exorcising the Demons Within: Xenophobia, Violence and Statecraft in Contemporary South Africa' (UN University Press).

He holds significant governance roles including former chair of the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and current membership on the South African Immigration Advisory Board, alongside editorial positions for International Migration Review, Migration Studies, and the Journal of Refugee Studies.