Robyn Autry

Robyn Autry is a graduate student in Sociology. Her main focus is in political sociology, particularly comparative racial inequality and social movements in the US and South Africa. She completed her Master’s research on the role of the trade union movement in South Africa’s democratic transition and national restructuring in Spring 2003. Contrary to many predictions, she found that the labor movement was neither entirely institutionalized or subsumed under the new ruling party, nor a central actor in the transition processes as so many had anticipated. Her study examines the tensions within the movement to maintain its capacity to advance is broad social agenda in the context of globalization and new party politics. Robyn will intern with the policy unit of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Johannesburg, working on two projects-an evaluation of the role of mining in the economy and an assessment of the impact of the Employment Equity Act.

Read Robyn’s post-fellowship report here.