Political Science Professor Sheridan Johns Passes Away

Duke Professor Emeritus of Political Science Sheridan Johns passed away on May 1, at the age of 90.  

Johns was widely recognized as an Africanist specializing in South African political history and liberation movements. He joined Duke as an associate professor in the political science department in 1970, five years after earning his Ph.D. from Harvard University.  

Throughout his career at Duke, Johns held several notable visiting appointments around the world, including at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (1978–79) and the University of Zimbabwe (1983 and 1985). He later served as a Visiting Fellow at Yale University’s Southern African Research Program (1993) and as a Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa (1994).  

Those international appointments disseminated Johns’ influential scholarship around the world, allowed him to conduct research in Africa during pivotal periods (for instance, he conducted research in South Africa during the early post-apartheid transition in 1994) and opened doors for Duke students. “Johns asked me to be his teaching assistant when he ran a summer school course in Africa. It was the first time I traveled to Africa, and he introduced me to people who would be pivotal to my future field work. That was life changing for me,” said Clark Gibson, co-director of the Center for African Political Economy at the University of California, San Diego.  

Johns published on political resistance movements and the intersection of socialism and African nationalism, becoming an authority on the history of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles in Southern Africa. His research explored the role of organizations such as the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, as well as early trade union movements. More widely, he worked in the fields of comparative politics examining how global resources and industries, like mining, affect politics in the developing world. 

Johns retired in 2000, after 30 years mentoring generations of students and pursuing excellence in teaching at Duke. In 1974, he taught the first Duke Service-Learning course, Perspectives on Food and World Hunger, in response to the 1973–74 famine in Ethiopia. As part of the course, students worked with Durham’s Meals on Wheels and Community Kitchen programs.   

As a teacher, Johns was invested in providing students with tools for success. Even his grading style offered supportive instruction for undergraduates. “I remember grading undergraduate papers with him,” Gibson said. “He taught me a technique that I’ve used ever since — start with a simple summary of what the student was trying to do, then state what was done well, then frame a critique oriented toward improvement."  

Johns served as Political Science’s Director of Undergraduate Studies for more than six years, spread out over three terms. Through this role, “Professor Johns was instrumental in the enormous growth of interest in political science among undergraduates in the 1980s,” said Michael Gillespie, professor of Political Science and Philosophy.  

“He came to Duke from a fine, small liberal arts college, and it showed in his abiding commitment to the liberal arts education of Duke students,” said John Aldrich, the Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science. 

A passionate Blue Devils fan, Johns is remembered fondly by the faculty in the department. “Johns was among the first colleagues I met when I first visited Duke,” remembered Professor of Political Science Joseph Grieco, “then and thereafter for several decades he was intellectually astute, politically insightful, and very, very kind.” 

Aldrich agreed: “He was a kind and generous soul who lived a long and valuable — and valued — life.” 

A memorial service for Johns will be held on Friday, May 16 at 3 P.M. in the Croasdaile Village Chapel.