Robert Wyrod

Robert Wyrod is an Associate Professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies and the International Affairs Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is a sociologist interested in gender, sexuality, and social change in the developing world.

His award-winning first book, AIDS and Masculinity in the African City: Privilege, Inequality, and Modern Manhood (University of California Press 2016), examines how the AIDS epidemic shaped gender and sexuality in Africa, especially African masculinities. Robert's current research for his next book focuses on China’s role as a development actor in Africa. For several years, Robert has been conducting ethnographic research at four Chinese-funded projects in Uganda. Each site represents a different way Chinese actors and Chinese capital are shaping development in Africa. His research examines similarities and differences across the fieldsites and highlights both the promise and peril of China as a development partner. His research in Uganda has been generously funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Robert received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 2007. Prior to joining the CU faculty, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco and an Assistant Professor in the Women’s Studies Department at the University of Michigan. Robert also has a long-standing interest in independent film. He has produced documentary, experimental, and activist films, and he worked for many years as a television news producer.

Personal website: www.robertwyrod.com