Dr Jessica Johnson BA (Hons), MPhil, PhD (Cantab)

Department of African Studies and Anthropology
Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and African Studies

Contact details

Email: j.johnson.5@bham.ac.uk

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a social anthropologist specialising in Southern Africa, with a particular focus on the anthropology of gender and law in Malawi.

Qualifications

BA (Hons), Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge)
MPhil, Social Anthropological Research (Cambridge)
PhD, Social Anthropology (Cambridge)
PGCHE, Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Birmingham)

Biography

I completed my PhD in 2013 at the University of Cambridge, where I also studied for my BA and MPhil. I worked for three years as a Research Fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, before joining DASA as a Lecturer in 2016. In 2018, I completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I was Head of Department 2021-2024.

Teaching

Kinship, Gender and Sexuality (optional module for second- and third- year undergraduates)
Contemporary Gender Issues in Africa (optional postgraduate module)
Family Matters: Reproduction and Relatedness in Africa (optional module for second- and third- year undergraduates)
Discover Anthropology (core module for first-year undergraduates)
Research in Practice (core module for second-year undergraduates)
Thinking Anthropologically (core module for first-year undergraduates)
Anthropologists at Work (core module for first-year undergraduates)
Research Skills and Methods in African Studies (core module for postgraduate students)

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome enquiries from students interested in gender relations, feminist anthropology, development, and legal anthropology.

Research

Since 2009, I have conducted more than two years' ethnographic fieldwork in Malawi. My first project concerned gender relations and marital dispute resolution in a matrilineal context. My more recent research is collaborative and focuses on the biography of a rural Malawian woman who I have known since 2009.

Other activities

Editor of the International African Library Series, Liverpool University Press, 2026-present
Editor of the Journal of Southern African Studies, 2018-2021; member of the Editorial Board, 2017-present
External Examiner for PGT programmes in Anthropology at Brunel, University of London, 2025-2028
External Examiner for MSc African Studies at University of Oxford, 2026-2029
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2018-present

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Groves, Z & Johnson, J (eds) 2025, Malawi: Enduring Concerns and New Directions. Southern African Studies, 1st edn, Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003305255

Johnson, J 2018, In Search of Gender Justice: Rights and Relationships in Matrilineal Malawi. The International African Library, 1st edn, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108563031

Johnson, J & Karekwaivanane, G (eds) 2018, Pursuing Justice in Africa: Competing Imaginaries and Contested Practices. Cambridge Centre of African Studies Series, Ohio University Press. <https://www.ohioswallow.com/extras/9780821446485_OhioUniversityPress_OpenAccess.pdf>

Article

Johnson, J 2018, 'Feminine futures: female initiation and aspiration in matrilineal Malawi', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 786-803. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12917

Johnson, J 2017, 'After the mines: the changing social and economic landscape of Malawi-South Africa Migration', Review of African Political Economy, vol. 44, no. 152, pp. 237-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2016.1273826

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Johnson, J & Karekwaivanane, G 2018, Introduction: re-centering justice in African studies. in J Johnson & GH Karekwaivanane (eds), Pursuing Justice in Africa: Competing Imaginaries and Contested Practices. Cambridge Centre of African Studies Series, Ohio University Press, pp. 1-30. <https://www.ohioswallow.com/extras/9780821446485_OhioUniversityPress_OpenAccess.pdf>

Chapter

Johnson, J & Groves, Z 2025, Introduction—Protectorate, Dictatorship, Democracy: Reflections on Malawi’s Past and Present. in Z Groves & J Johnson (eds), Malawi: Enduring Concerns and New Directions. 1st edn, Southern African Studies, Routledge, pp. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003305255-1

Johnson, J 2019, Law, dispute resolution and justice. in RR Grinker, S Lubkemann, C Steiner & E Gonçalves (eds), A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa. Blackwell Companions to Anthropology, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 81-96. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119251521.ch4

Johnson, J 2018, Feminist Anthropology and the Question of Gender. in M Candea (ed.), Schools and Styles of Anthropological Theory. 1 edn, Taylor & Francis, pp. 195-208. <https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315388267/chapters/10.4324/9781315388267-13>

Johnson, J 2017, “It is better for me to agree when my guardian is here”: consent and relational personhood in postcolonial Malawi. in M-C Foblets, M Graziadei & A Dundes Renteln (eds), Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies: A Principle and Its Paradoxes. Law and Anthropology, Routledge.

Editorial

Johnson, J 2021, 'Editorial', Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 931-934. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2021.1997451

Johnson, J 2020, 'Editorial', Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1087-1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2020.1835228

Johnson, J 2020, 'Malawi: Taking Stock in Turbulent Times', Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 195-207. <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03057070.2020.1735146>

Johnson, J 2019, 'Editorial', Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2019.1561811

Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary

Johnson, J 2018, Anthropology and the Study of Africa. in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.179

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