We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Odile Mackett as another Mercator Fellow this summer semester 2026! Odile is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and an economist by training. Until mid-July 2026, she will be supporting our research unit and particularly our team of the sociology subproject “Voluntariness Behind the Scenes” with her expertise in voluntariness in the field of work and capitalism at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena.
Studying in Johannesburg and at the University of the Witwatersrand, Odile has focused on economics in political and international contexts and subsequently completed her dissertation in this field. She has since returned to the University of Johannesburg as an associate professor, where she teaches and conducts research at the interdisciplinary Department of Anthropology and Development Studies.
With her overall research Odile focuses on tensions between paid and unpaid labor within recent societies. She examines questions regarding the definition, division, and quality of labor, particularly in relation to gender and race and their various dimensions.
She also examines the connections and relationships between the state and its policies regarding private households and the free market, which exacerbate inequalities within those dimensions. In 2023, she co-authored a monograph in this research area with the title “Feminist Political Economy: A Global Perspective,” together with Sara Cantillon and Sara Stevano. We are certain that Odile’s research is an excellent complement to our exploration of the role of voluntariness in the context of social inequalities, and we are very much looking forward to her input. Welcome to Jena and Erfurt!
