Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa

Expert Bio

Theodore Powers is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the dynamics of health, politics, and social inequality in post-apartheid South Africa. He has conducted fieldwork in South Africa since 2005, during which time he conducted research on the politics of HIV/AIDS treatment access, austerity and post-apartheid public health policy, and ongoing global health campaigns to secure the right to health. His research on the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic culminated with a book – Sustaining Life: AIDS Activism in South Africa (2020, Penn Press) – which analyzes the actions of actors, organizations, and institutions to understand the development of the world’s largest HIV/AIDS treatment program. Adopting a process-oriented multi-scalar approach to health policy, treatment access, and health outcomes, he contextualizes HIV/AIDS treatment access as emerging out of complex socio-political dynamics that unfolded at the metropolitan, provincial, and national levels.

He currently holds the positions of Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. His research has been published in journals including the Journal of Modern African Studies, the Journal of Contemporary African Studies, and the Journal of Southern African Studies.

Education

• B.A. (2001) Political Science, Bates College
• M.A. (2007) Anthropology, Hunter College
• M.Phil. (2007) Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center
• Ph.D. (2012) Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center

Subjects

• Africa, HIV/AIDS, Public Health, Global Health

Experience

• Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa
• Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa
• Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Development Studies, University of Pretoria
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Human Economy Program, University of Pretoria
• Africanist Doctoral Candidate Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center

Expertise

• HIV/AIDS policy, Public Health Policy, Health Social Movements, Austerity

Wilson Center Project

"Producing Informality in a Post-Apartheid Township: An Investigation into the Relationship between HIV/AIDS, Social Development and Informal Urban Settlements in South Africa"