Jan Nederveen Pieterse is Mellichamp Chair and Distinguished Professor of Global Studies and Sociology at the University of California Santa Barbara, directing the Global Emphasis and the colloquium series. His research interests include globalization (Connectivity and global studies, 2021; Multipolar globalization, 2018) and Covid-19 (Covid-19 and Governance, co-edited 2021). Current interests include comparative study of varieties of market economies.

He is the author or editor of 30 books, with early work on anthropology and multiculturalism (Globalization and Culture, 4th edn. 2019; Ethnicities and global multiculture, 2007; The Decolonization of Imagination, 1995), race (White on Black, 1992), imperialism (Empire and Emancipation, 1989; Globalization or Empire? 2004), religion (Christianity and Hegemony, 1992), social movements and social theory (Globalization and social movements, 2001; Emancipations, modern and postmodern, 1992). A further cycle is on development studies (Development Theory, 2010 2nd edn.), emerging economies (Globalization and Emerging Societies, 2009), sociology of United States (Beyond the American Bubble, 2008), East Asia (Globalization and development in East Asia, 2012; Capitalisms in Asia, 2018), comparative study of Southeast and Northeast Asia (Changing constellations of Southeast Asia, 2017), China (China’s contingencies and globalization, 2017), Brazil (Brazil Emerging, 2013), the Gulf Emirates (Perspectives from the Gulf, 2010), humanitarian intervention (World Orders in the Making, 1998) and futures studies (Global Futures, 2000). The books have been translated in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. He edits a book series with Palgrave Macmillan (Frontiers of Globalization) and Routledge (Emerging Societies).

He was previously at Maastricht University; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Institute of Social Studies, The Hague; University of Cape Coast, Ghana and University of Amsterdam. Also a visiting professor at National University of Malaysia (endowed research chair); Freiburg University; Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta; JNU, New Delhi; National College of Arts, Lahore; Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok; Shanghai University. He completed fellowships at EHESS, Paris, Stockholm University, Indiana University and the India Social Science Research Council. He has done lecture tours in India, Pakistan, Westbank and Gaza, Thailand and Brazil and has organized international conferences in The Hague, Amsterdam, Chicago, Dubai, Busan, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, New Delhi and Shanghai.