Melissa Levin

Biography

Melissa Levin has spent many years working as a speechwriter for Nelson Mandela and the chief elections strategist for the African National Congress. She has consulted on election campaigns throughout Southern Africa, in the Republic of Congo, in Venezuela and the UK. Melissa has published on, amongst others, youth and elections, capital and democracy and autobiographies and identity. She has taught numerous university courses including “Introduction to African Studies” at New College, “Politics of Development” at the University of Toronto and a masters course on Southern African regional integration at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships from the University of Toronto, the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and South Africa’s National Research Foundation. She is currently a fellow at New College and the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.

Research Interests

• Nation building
• History of Political Thought
• Ethnicity and Race