Research Profile

Jude Fokwang, PhD, is the Executive Publisher of Spears Books, where he leads the strategic, editorial, and creative direction of a growing independent press committed to amplifying voices in Africa and the African diaspora. In this role, he supervises the full publishing program—from acquisitions and editorial development to production, distribution, and long-term list strategy—ensuring every title reflects a commitment to quality, integrity, and global relevance.

Alongside his publishing leadership, Dr. Fokwang is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Regis University, Denver, where he previously served as Chair of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology (2021–2025) and taught in the Master's in Development Practice (MDP) Program from its inception in 2015 until 2024. An author and ethnographic filmmaker who has held teaching positions in South Africa and Canada, his research focuses primarily on Cameroon and South Africa. This fieldwork has resulted in publications across a wide thematic area, including African and decolonizing epistemologies, associational life, citizenship, gender, traditional leadership and democratization, development and globalization, as well as contemporary African youth identities. His scholarship is grounded in the anthropological conviction that human beings everywhere are meaning-makers, driven by a steady desire to order their worlds and improve their livelihoods. Actively engaged in the broader academic community, he currently serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Nordic Journal of African Studies and AFRICA: Journal of the International African Institute (London, UK), and previously served on the editorial board of Anthropology Southern Africa (2014–2024).