David S. Wiley

Professor of Sociology and African Studies

David Wiley is Professor of Sociology and African Studies at Michigan State University. His research has focused on Zambia (urban housing and development, religion and class), Zimbabwe (race relations, religious movements), Kenya (socioeconomics of Lake Victoria fisheries and participatory management), South Africa (urban environmental issues and social movements as a Fulbright-Hays Senior Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal), internationalization and less commonly taught languages in U.S. universities, and, currently, militarization in Africa.  His courses concern Africa in Global Perspective and International Social Science Research. 

He served as director of the African Studies Centers at Michigan State University (1978-2008) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (1972-77) and Interim Chair of Sociology 2010-11.  His graduate degrees are from Yale and Princeton.  His most recent publication is International and Language Education for a Global Future: Fifty Years of the U.S. Title VI and Fulbright-Hays Programs, co-ed, MSU Press, 2010.

He has been chair of the Committee on International Sociology of the American Sociological Association, President of the African Studies Association, Vice-Chairperson of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, and co-chair and co-founder of the Council of National Title VI Resource Centers and of the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars.  He has chaired the international committees of the National Science Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was co-chair of the Higher Education Forum of the U.S./South Africa BiNational Commission. At MSU, he has been co-founder of the Center for Advanced Study of International Development, Women and International Development Program, e-LCTL Initiative, African e-Journals Project, African Media Program, Program on the Lakes of East Africa, and National Consortium for Study in Africa.

Research Interests

• Globalization, Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Militarization in Africa.
• Urban Environment and Development in South Africa.

Areas of Specialization: Environment; Community and Urban; Migration

Subareas: African Studies, Class, Conflict, Environment, Gender, Globalization, Militarization, Race, Religion, Urban

Recent Publications

International and Language Education for a Global Future: Fifty Years of the U.S. Title VI and Fulbright-Hays Programs, David Wiley and Robert Glew, Co-editors, East Lansing, MI: MSU Press, 2010, 439 pages, three appendices.  (Includes Wiley chapters: “The Growth of the Less Commonly Taught Languages in Title VI and Language Programs in the United States" and “Seeking Global Competence Capacity through the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays Programs.” 

Awards and Honors

Bud Day Award for African Activism, ASA, 2009