Deborah Posel

Academic background Born in 1957 or 1958 to two academics – an applied mathematician and a historian – Posel graduated from high school at age 16. She studied philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and in 1981 began a PhD at Nuffield College, Oxford. Her dissertation was about the historical sociology of apartheid and its origins. Under Posel as inaugural director, the institute selected five main research areas: money, race, sexuality, crime, and the state.

Posel announced her resignation from WiSER in early 2009.

Posel was Leverhulme Visiting professor at University College London's Institute of Advanced Studies in 2018–2019. As of 2021, she was professor emeritus at UCT and a research professor in sociology at the University of the Free State. She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Scholarship Posel's PhD dissertation was the basis for her first, widely cited book on the origins of apartheid, The Making of Apartheid, 1948–1961: Conflict and Compromise (1991). According to Hermann Giliomee, "Posel's work opened up a new perspective in depicting apartheid as a policy and ideology largely shaped by post-1948 struggles within the Nationalist movement".

In later years, Posel worked on the sociology of post-apartheid South Africa, with research topics including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, consumerism, and sexual violence.

Personal life Posel is Jewish. She is married to Max Price, the former vice-chancellor of UCT, whom she met at Oxford.