Stellenbosch University Japan Centre (SUJC) is pleased to host Prof. Sadaharu Kataoka, professor in the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University in Tokyo. He is spending a period of six months as visiting professor at Stellenbosch University and as guest of the Centre.
Prof. Kataoka has been teaching African Politics and European Affairs in Waseda University since 2004. He is also a Director of the Africa Society of Japan and a member of the Association of African Economic Development and Japan (AFRECO).
Before his appointment at Waseda University, Prof. Kataoka served as a Research Fellow in charge of African and European affairs at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) (2000-2004). Before joining JIIA, he was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) and served as a Special Assistant within the political section of the Embassy of Japan in France (1996-2000) charged with African affairs and peace processes in the Middle East.
Prof. Kataoka graduated from the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University and completed the doctoral course (Political Science) of University of Paris I and Paris II. He obtained a PhD (in Political Science) from the University of Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) in 2000 and a special degree from the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale (IHEDN) in 2005. He also twice served as a Visiting Professor at Sciences-Po Paris, respectively in 2008 and 2015.
He is also a member of the Editorial Board of African Geopolitics.
A prolific writer and sought after analyst, recent journal publications (in Japanese, English and French) include, ‘Politics of Cameroon and the Analysis of Jean-Francois Bayart’ (2019), ‘COVID-19 and Africa’ (2020), ‘The 2020’s Presidential election in the Côte d’Ivoire’ (2020), ‘The War of Aby Ahmed’ (2020), ‘DRC and the end of the Cohabitation’ (2021), ‘The future of Chad after the death of Idris Deby’ (2021), ‘The crisis in the Cabo Delgado’ (2021), ‘Aby Ahmed and the war in the Tigray’ (2022), ‘The crisis in Africa and Russia’ (2023) and ‘Africa and War in Ukraine’(2022).
During his stay at Stellenbosch University, Prof. Kataoka will conduct research on African elections and peace and development processes on the continent.