Zimbabwe

Current partner

Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS)

Welcome to the Centre for Applied Social Sciences. In the early 1970s, academics concerned with the racial situation in the country, and seeking to make a difference in their own way, initiated the Centre for Race and Ethnic Studies. The Centre was located in the Department of Sociology, and enjoyed funding from international and local organisations including those linked to The Association of Round Tables in Central Africa. For over 2 decades, the Centre led in racial studies, producing a famous publication, Education, Race Employment in Rhodesia, published in 1975. The creation of a democratic multi racial society in Zimbabwe in 1980, introduced new challenges, some relating to resource governance. It was for this reason that the Centre for Applied Social Sciences transformed itself into a university department, through a Senate Paper 2/85: As of 1985, CASS shall become an applied social science department administratively located in the Faculty of Social Studies, responsible for an interdisciplinary applied social science research and teaching programme available on an inter-faculty basis throughout the University.