ACADEMIC PROFILE:

PhD, Stellenbosch University, 2021.

Ongoing Interests: Ongoing Interests: Legal Sociology, Political Transitions, Transitional Justice, Capital and Labour, Development, Social Reproduction, Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Discourse and Ideology, Theories of Rights and Justice.

Selected Publications:

Journal Articles

 Lester, Claire-Anne. 2025. ‘The Marikana Commission of Inquiry: An Ambiguous Experiment with ‘Truth’ and ‘Justice’ The International Journal of Transitional Justice [Accepted. Forthcoming]

Lester, Claire-Anne. 2025.  (with Michael Nassen Smith) ‘Rethinking Economics for Africa? Critical Reflections on the ‘Decolonisation’ Agenda’. Review of African Political Economy [Accepted, forthcoming]

Lester, CAL. 2023. “Legalism in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry Report: Veiling “Sociological Causes” of the Massacre” South African Review of Sociology 53(2): 170–92[1]

Smith, MN and Lester, CAL. 2023. From “dependency” to “decoloniality”? The enduring relevance of materialist political economy and the problems of a “decolonial” alternative. Social Dynamics[2]

Smith, MN and Lester, CAL. 2022. The Contradictions of black consciousness: from Biko to Rhodes Must Fall. Social Dynamics 48(1): 141-169

Lester, Claire-Anne. 2020. Commissions of inquiry and the role of law: towards a materialist approach. Social Dynamics 46(1): 86-103

Lester, Claire-Anne, Carilee Osborne, and Michael Nassen Smith. Falling Rainbows: Anatomy of a False Choice. 2017. New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy. (64)

Lester, Claire-Anne. 2015. Youth dialogue on the TRC: Reflections and possibilities. New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy (59)

Lester, Claire-Anne “Codified Criminality: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Confinement at the Cape of Good Hope.” Historical Approaches. Vol. 9 (2011) [Published history thesis]

Refereed book chapters

Lester, Claire-Anne., “Truth, Justice and Power: Commissions of Inquiry and State Capture” in The Zondo Commission in Socio-Political and Historical Perspective. Devi Pillay and Peter Vale (Eds.) Forthcoming 2025

Smith, MN and Lester, CAL. 2024. From “Dependency” to “decoloniality”? The enduring relevance of materialist political economy and the problems of a “decolonial” alternative’. In George Hull (ed.) Intellectual Decolonisation: Critical Perspectives. New York, Routledge: 196–219 [Republished as an edited volume]

Lester, CAL. 2024. Discourses on Political Violence and the Mechanics of Legitimation in Official Commissions of Inquiry in Africa. In Mlambo, O.B and E Chitando, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Africa. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland., pp. 243–64

Nyamnjoh, A-N and Lester, CAL. 2019. Global and African Discourses on Citizenship. In Itsuhiro Hazama, Kiyoshi Umeya & Francis B. Nyamnjoh (eds) Citizenship in Motion: South African and Japanese Scholars in Conversation. Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group: 39-62

Book Reviews:

Lester, CAL. Ibhawoh, Bonny, Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno, and Sylvia Bawa, eds. ‘Truth Commissions and State Building.’ (McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP, 2023) Journal of Modern African Studies (forthcoming)

Lester, Claire-Anne. Kerstin Bree Carlsen, ‘The Justice Laboratory’ published in The South African Journal of International Affairs. 2024. 31(1).

Lester, Claire-Anne. Z Jaffer, “Beauty of the Heart: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke” New Agenda Journal of Social and Economic Policy. No. 69 (2018)

Lester, Claire-Anne. 2018 “John Saul and Patrick Bond ­ – South Africa: The Present as History from Mrs Ples to Mandela and Marikana. Johannesburg: Jacana Media”. In African Studies Quarterly. 17 (4)

Selected Opinion Editorials/ Popular Articles

Lester, CAL.  March-April 2024. “All Rise: Can Courts of law deliver justice?” in The New Internationalist: South Africa 30 years later.

Lester, CAL. 20 September 2023 “The Myth of the Apolitical Commission” . Africa is a Country

Lester, CAL and Fogel, B. 19 July 2022. ‘What does it have to do with Marikana?’ Africa is a Country [Commissioned as a 10 year Marikana commemoration special series]

Lester, CAL and Osborne, C. 29 December 2021. ‘Desmond Tutu Never Sold out the Liberation Struggle’. Jacobin

Smith MN and Lester, CAL. 2019. “Looking Leftward at the South African Elections”. Jacobin  

Lester, CAL. 6 April, 2020. “Who will watch the watchmen?” Africa is A Country

Lester, Claire-Anne. “Ten Years on – the possibility of holding Ramaphosa personally liable for the Marikana Tragedy” 15 August 2022. The Daily Maverick.