Education: BA (Hons), Sociology, University of Liverpool; MSc, Sociology, University of Salford; PhD, Underdevelopment and Diamond Mining in Sierra Leone, University of Sheffield

Career: Tunde Zack-Williams is Professor of Sociology and Research Degrees Tutor at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). Before joining UCLAN he taught Sociology at the Bayero University Kano and at the University of Jos. He has undertaken fieldwork research in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana and has written extensively on the political economy of underdevelopment in Africa, as well as on Africa Diaspora conditioning. His main interests include conflicts, diamonds and politics in West Africa, child soldiers in West Africa, Old Diaspora and New Diaspora: the relationship between the old Diaspora and the New in Liverpool. Professor Zack-Williams is currently Vice-President of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Chair of the Africa Network of the European History of Social Science Conference, Independent Member of Merseyside Police Authority and the Authorities representative on the Association of Police Authority. He is co-editor of the journal Review of African Political Economy (see url below) and a member of the Editorial Board of Social Work Education.

Publications include: Black Mental Health Central Council for Social Work Training (co-author) 1992, Tributors, Supporters and Merchant Capital: Mining and Underdevelopment in Sierra Leone 1995, Coping With Complex Emergencies: An Aetiology of Complex Political Emergencies in Sierra Leone 1991–98 1998, Africa in Crisis: New Possibilities and New Challenges (co-editor) 2002, Africa Beyond the Post Colonial (co-editor) 2004, Structural Adjustment: Its Theory, Practice and Impact in Development (co-author) 2000, The Politics of Transition: State and Development in Africa (co-editor) 2004; numerous book chapters and articles in professional journals

Contact details: Address: Department of Education and Social Science, University of Central Lancashire, Livesey House 115, Preston, PR1 2HE, England; Tel: +44 (0)1772 893986; Fax: +44 (0)1772 892922; Email: tzack-williams@uclan.ac.uk ; Website: http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/class/edustud/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/03056244.asp/ .