Bernard Cros is a professor of British and South African studies. After a PhD in Information and Communication Sciences with a thesis on the history of South African television, his research has explored various socio-cultural aspects of contemporary South Africa and the way in which it attempts to define itself in the post-apartheid world. The construction and production of the nation is central to his work. His most recent work focuses on the ways in which sport was used and manipulated for ideological purposes both under apartheid and since the advent of democracy in the 1990s, as well as its racial and gender dimensions. His upcoming book on the social and political history of South African rugby will be published at the end of 2021 by Presses Universitaires de Provence.

Administrative responsibilities

• Elected member of the 11th section (English studies) of the Conseil National des Universités (2011-2015)
• Member of the “agrégation d’anglais” jury (1998-2002)
• Treasurer of the Société des anglicistes de l’enseignement supérieur (2012-16)
• President of the organizing committee for the 58th SAES Conference, Paris Nanterre, June 7-9, 2018
• Board Member of the Société d’études des pays du Commonwealth (SEPC)
• Co-director of the SEPC history workshop at the SAES Conference (since 2019)
• Co-editor for the journal Cultures of the Commonwealth (since 2019)
• Co-director of the Department of Anglophone Studies, Paris Nanterre (2009-11)
• Elected member of the Foreign Language Department board, Paris Nanterre (2020-21)
• Director of the distance learning Bachelor’s degree in English studies (1st and 2nd years), Paris Nanterre (2002-19)