Wilson Akpan

• Senior Lecturer and Head, Department of Sociology

  University of Fort Hare

• Council Member and Convener, Environment and Natural Resources Research Group

  South African Sociological Association

No certification information is available.

• PhD, Development/Environmental Sociology

  Rhodes University

Wilson Akpan, a Ford Foundation Scholar, has researched and published widely on the impact of petroleum operations on the Nigerian society and environment. He specialises in environment, natural resources and development, as well as in governance issues in Africa. He obtained his doctorate at Rhodes University, South Africa and is currently a senior lecturer and head of Department of Sociology, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He holds an Honours degree from the University of Calabar and a Master’s from the University of Ibadan (both in Nigeria). He is also an alumnus of Advocacy Institute, Washington DC, and School for International Training, Vermont, U.S.A. He is the South Africa Contributing Editor for IT & Telecom Digest, the ICT magazine for which he also writes a monthly column. A Council member of the South African Sociological Association (SASA), Akpan convenes SASA's Environment and Natural Resources research group. He is also a member of the Environment and Society research committee of the International Sociological Association

Recent scholarly publications:
1. “Corporate citizenship in the Nigerian petroleum industry: a beneficiary perspective” Development Southern Africa, 25 (2). 2008.
2. "Ethnic diversity and conflict in Nigeria: Lessons from the Niger Delta crisis”. African Journal on Conflict Resolution. 7(2). 2007. 161-191.
3. "Between responsibility and rhetoric: Some consequences of CSR practice in Nigeria's oil province". Development Southern Africa, 23 (2), June 2006, 223-240.
4. "And the beat goes on? Message music, political repression and the power of hip-hop in Nigeria." In Drewett, M. and Cloonan, M. (eds.) Popular Music Censorship in Africa. London: Asgate. 2006, 91-106.
5. "Putting oil first? Some ethnographic aspects of petroleum-related land use controversies in Nigeria". African Sociological Review, 9 (2) 2005, 134-152.