Sara Sweezy Berry

Professor Sara S. Berry is a Professor Emeritus of History and Academy Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She is a leader in the field of African social and economic history. Berry has specialized in using micro-historical research to promote interdisciplinary analysis of social and economic transformations, and to bring comparative and historical perspectives to bear on understanding contemporary African political economies. Her books include Fathers Work for their Sons: Accumulation, Mobility and Class Formation in an Extended Yoruba Community, recipient of African Studies Association's Herkovits award; No Condition is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Africa and Chiefs Know their Boundaries: Essays on Property, Power and the Past in Asante, 1896-1996. She completed her undergraduate studies at Radcliffe College and went on to receive her M.A. and Ph.D. in economics at the University of MIchigan. She also taught at Boston University and Indiana University before joining Johns Hopkins University.