Karen E. Ferree, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.

Kate received her PhD from Harvard University in 2002. She studies political behavior, with a particular focus on identity politics and democratization in Africa. The main theme of her research considers instrumental explanations for ethnic politics, which she explores through surveys and survey experiments. Recent work branches into the political economy of public health, examining the political side of Covid-19 responses. She has published in numerous journals, including American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, African Affairs, Democratization, and Comparative Political Studies.  Her first book, Framing the Race in South Africa: The Political Origins of Racial Census Elections, was published by Cambridge University Press.