The current crisis of economy is undeniably a global problem that requires immediate strategic measures to pave the way forward to recovery not only for the economy but for society as whole.

Invited by Rhodes University’s Faculty of Humanities to present his perspectives on the matter, Dr Immanuel Wallerstein, a Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, will deliver a public lecture titled "The Crisis of Capitalism: where do we go from here?" on 2 November.

Since the early 1970s, Dr Wallerstein has been writing in the field of world-systems analysis. There are three different, but interconnected, foci of this work. First, he writes about the historical construction and evolution of the modern world-system from its beginnings in the sixteenth century to today. The major work in this domain is The Modern World-System, of which the first three of multiple volumes have appeared.

Secondly, he writes about the contemporary structural crisis of this system and its possible development in the near future. The major works in this domain include Utopistics, or Historical Choices of the Twenty-first Century and Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World.

Thirdly, he writes about epistemological debates linked to this structural crisis. In addition to the Report of the Gulbenkian Commission, Open the Social Sciences, he has written Unthinking Social Science: The Limits of Nineteenth-Century Paradigms and The Uncertainties of Knowledge.

He has written over 40 books and edited or coordinated some 20 more. They have been translated into more than 30 languages. He has also been an active participant in the World Social Forum.

Dr Wallerstein’s academic career started in African studies and he was president of the African Studies Association from 1973 to 1974. Among his writings then were Africa: The Politics of Independence and Africa: The Politics of Unity.

He has a PhD in Sociology from Columbia, and has been on the faculty of Columbia University, McGill, and Binghamton University. He also founded and led the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilization at Binghamton University from 1976 to 2005.

He was President of the International Sociological Association from 1994 to 1998. He chaired the international Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences from 1993 to 1995. He has honorary degrees from 14 universities, has been a visiting professor in a dozen universities across the world and an annual recurrent resident researcher at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris for over 30 years.

He received the Career of Distinguished Scholarship award from the American Sociological Association. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and he was the editor of Review from 1977 to 2005.

Dr Wallerstein’s lecture is open to all interested members of the public and will be delivered on 2 November 2009 at 10h30 in Eden Grove BLUE

After his Grahamstown visit he will travel to Cape Town to do the annual Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture on 9 November.