Associate Professor (1995)

Southern Africa, Modern Africa, African-American Cultural and Intellectual History

Office Hours: Mon. 2:00-3:30 and Wed. 10:30-12:00

Office: 204 Randall Hall

Phone: (434) 924-6947

Fax: (434) 924-7891

Email: jem3avirginia.edu

Education

B.A. University of Cincinnati 1984
M.A. M. Phil. Yale University 1988, 1989
Ph.D. Yale University 1992

Biography

John Edwin Mason teaches African history and the history of photography.  He has written extensively on early nineteenth-century South Africa history, especially the history of slavery, and has now turned his attention to twentieth-century South African cultural and political history.  He is also a documentary photographer, currently working on two long-term projects, one exploring race and gender in American motor sports and the other the New Year's Carnival in Cape Town, South Africa.  He performs with Lynchburg (Virginia) Symphony Orchestra and contributes regularly to Ellingtonia, the publication of the Duke Ellington Society. 

Publications, Awards, and Activities

"'Anything but a Novelty': Women, Girls, and Drag Racing," in Mark D. Howell and John D. Miller, eds., American Speed, (Baltimore:  The Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming).

"‘Mannenberg':  Notes on the Making of an Icon and Anthem," African Studies Quarterly, 9, 3(Fall 2007).

Social Death and Resurrection:  Slavery and Emancipation in South Africa, (Charlottesville:  University of Virginia Press, 2003).

"A Faith for Ourselves:  Slavery, Sufism, and Conversion to Islam at the Cape," South African Historical Journal, 46 (2002). 

Senior Research Fellowship, Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and African Studies, University of Virginia, 1993- 1994.

Fulbright Fellowship for research in South Africa, 1988- 1989.