Beth Whitaker

Beth Elise Whitaker is professor of political science and associate dean for research and interdisciplinary collaboration in the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is a co-coordinator of the Migration Research Network and former executive director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Whitaker’s research focuses on migration and security, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Her work explores how political dynamics influence attitudes and policies toward migrants and refugees. As a Fulbright Scholar in Kenya in 2005-2006, she examined U.S.-African counter-terrorism cooperation. With funding from the Minerva Initiative of the U.S. Department of Defense, Whitaker and colleagues developed the Rebel Contraband Dataset and the Rebel Human Rights Violation Dataset to study how illicit funding strategies influence conflict dynamics and behavior. Whitaker has conducted field research in Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana.

Whitaker is co-author with John F. Clark of Africa’s International Relations: Balancing Domestic and Global Interests (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2018) and her articles have appeared in the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, African Affairs, Journal of Conflict Resolution, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Peace Research, African Studies Review, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Migration Review, Third World Quarterly, and Journal of Refugee Studies, among others.

Whitaker is past chair of the African Politics Conference Group and past officer of the Migration and Citizenship section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). She was co-leader of the 2015 APSA Africa Workshop in Kenya on conflict and political violence. She worked previously at the Brookings Institution and the American Council on Education and has consulted for the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, Social Science Research Council, United Nations Foundation, and Save the Children Fund. She earned her bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University and her master’s and Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.