Professor Gwendolen Margaret Carter (1906–1991) was a Canadian-American political scientist. She was one of the founders of African Studies in the United States, past president of the African Studies Association and was among the most widely known scholars of African affairs in the twentieth century.
Carter's early work focused on European state governance,[7] but her scholarship shifted to Africa after her first trip to South Africa in 1948, which coincided with the election that brought the Nationalist government to power and introduced Apartheid. From that point on, she focused on the politics and economies of southern Africa during a career that spanned over forty years. Carter's frequent research trips to South Africa resulted in many publications, several of which have become classics in both political science and African studies.
South Africa's Transkei: The Politics of Domestic Colonialism. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. 1967;
From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882-1964. Karis, Thomas and Gwendolen M. Carter. 4 vols. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press. 1972-1977.
Southern Africa in crisis. Gwendolen M. Carter and Patrick O'Meara (eds.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1977. ISBN0-253-35399-8.
Which Way is South Africa Going? Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1980. ISBN0-253-10874-8;
International politics in Southern Africa. Gwendolen Margaret Carter and Patrick O. O'Meara. 1982. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-34285-6.
African independence: the first twenty-five years. Gwendolen M. Carter and Patrick O. O'Meara (eds.). 1985. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-30255-2.
Awards and honors
"In 1975, after she left Northwestern, the faculty of the African Studies Program at the university honored her by publishing a book of essays."[8]
Professor Carter was awarded the African Studies Association's Distinguished Africanist Award in 1984.
Carter, along with her colleague and co-editor of From Protest to Challenge... Professor Thomas G. Karis (1919-2017),[10] was (in her case posthumously) awarded the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo[11] by the Republic of South Africa in 2014.[12]
Legacy
Northwestern University offers a scholarship in her name (along with that of Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations).[13]
Smith College has an endowed position named in her honor (currently held by David Newbury).[14]
^The major foreign powers: the governments of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and China. John C. Ranney and Gwendolen M. Carter (eds.). New York: Harcourt, Brace. 1949.
^Heise, Kenan. 1991. [Obituary] "Gwendolen M. Carter, Author And Professor." February 22. Chicago Tribune.
Gwendolen M. Carter Papers, 1915-1991 (Series 35/10, Africana Manuscripts 10). Northwestern University Archives. Evanston, Illinois. Finding aid.
Overview of the Gwendolen Margaret Carter interview summaries. Processed by Hoover Institution Archives Staff. Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. Finding aid in pdf format.