Saul H. Dubow, (born 28 October 1959) is a South African historian and academic, specialising in the

history of South Africa The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. South Africa's prehistory has been divided into two phases based on broad patterns of technology namely the Stone Age and Iron Age. After the d ...

in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since 2016, he has been the

Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History The Smuts Professorship of Commonwealth History was established on 25 October 1952 as the Smuts Professorship of the History of the British Commonwealth; it was retitled in 1994. The professorship is assigned to the Faculty of History at the Unive ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and a Professorial Fellow of

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

. He previously taught at

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

and Queen Mary,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

Early life and education

Dubow was born on 28 October 1959 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

, South Africa. He studied at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) degree in 1981. He then moved to England to undertake postgraduate studies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. As a member of

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics ...

, he completed his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(DPhil) degree in 1986. His

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...

was titled "Segregation and 'native administration' in South Africa, 1920-1936", which formed the basis for his first book, Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid (1989).

Academic career

From 1987 to 1989, Dubow was a

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

post-doctoral fellow at the

Institute of Commonwealth Studies The Institute of Commonwealth Studies, founded in 1949, is the sole postgraduate academic institution in the United Kingdom devoted to the study of the Commonwealth. It is also home to the longest-running interdisciplinary and practice-oriented ...

. He then moved to the

as a lecturer in 1989. Having been promoted to

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this con ...

and reader over the intervening years, he was appointed

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

of History in 2001. He was awarded an

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...

fellowship for 2012. In 2013, he moved to

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

where he had been appointed Professor of African History. In October 2016, it was announced that he had been elected as the next

at the

in succession to

Megan Vaughan Megan Vaughan, is a British historian and academic, who specialises in the history of East and Central Africa. Since October 2015, she has been Professor of African History and Health at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University College L ...

. He took up the chair in 2017 and was additionally elected a Professorial Fellow of

. Based in the Faculty of History, he teaches courses on the history of modern South Africa, and has wide ranging research interests from

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...

and

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

and the history of science. He delivered his inaugural lecture in November 2018, which is published as `Global Science, National Horizons: South Africa in Deep Time and Space’, Historical Journal, published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 March 2020.

Honours

Dubow is an elected

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher educationa ...

(FRHistS). He is an honorary professor of the Centre for African Studies at the

. Editorial Board, ''South African Journal of Science'' and ''Journal of Southern African Studies''; Chair, Management Committee, Centre of African Studies, Cambridge University.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubow, Saul Living people 20th-century South African historians Historians of South Africa Academics of the University of Sussex Academics of Queen Mary University of London Smuts Professors of Commonwealth History Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge University of Cape Town alumni Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Historians of race relations Academics of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London Fellows of the Royal Historical Society 1959 births Alumni of Herzlia High School 21st-century South African historians