PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – The 28th International Population Conference took place in Cape Town, South Africa, October 29-November 4 with strong representation from PSTC faculty and trainees. The conference, organized by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, takes place once every four years and draws approximately “2,000 population scholars, policy makers, and government officials from around the world to discuss the latest population research and debate pressing global and regional population issues.”

This was the first time the conference has been held in Sub-Saharan Africa. The attendance of so many PSTC affiliates highlights the Center’s engagement with and commitment to international demography and African demography in particular. Current affiliates had the opportunity to connect with many PSTC alumni and former visitors to the Center, particularly those now working in Africa.

Conference presentations and posters by PSTC affiliates:

• “Muslim Income Disadvantage in Western Europe,” Svenja Kopyciok, Brown University; Hilary Silver, Brown University
• “Racial Residential Patterns in Urban South Africa,” Michael White, Brown University; Richard Ballard; Christian Hamann, Gauteng City-Region Observatory; Nicole Kreisberg, Brown University
• “SES differences in parents' affect during parenting activities,” Cadhla McDonnell, The Pennsylvania State University; Nancy Luke, Pennsylvania State University; Susan Short, Brown University
• “Household Recombination, Retrospective Evaluation, and Educational Mobility over 40 Years,” Andrew Foster, Brown University; Sveta Milusheva, Brown University
• “Moving Upward but Not Onward? Occupational Mobility and Migration in South Africa,” Rebecca Wang, Brown University
• “Marital Assimilation or Not? Marriage Markets, Ethnoracial Diversity, and Marital Endogamy among U.S. Hispanics,” Zhenchao Qian, Brown University; Daniel Lichter, Cornell University; Dmitry Tumin, Ohio State University
• “Neighborhood Cohesion, Collective Efficacy, and Vigilante Violence in South Africa,” Mark Gross, Brown University
• “Migration, Circulation, and Socioeconomic Change in South Africa” (poster), Yashas Vaidya, Brown University; Michael White, Brown University; Mark Collinson, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Carren Ginsburg, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Mark Gross, Brown University
• “Perceptions of state (il)legitimacy, the provision of security, and vigilante violence in South Africa” (poster), Mark Gross, Brown University

Short also served as chair on the panels “Gender, family, and health” and “Sex, gender, and health.” White served as the discussant on panel “Improving measurement of population distribution: Geospatial data,” and Foster as the discussant on the panel “Youth employment, women's employment, and working life: New research.”

The International Population Conference was first held in 1928 with the next one slated for 2021.

Photo: PSTC predoctoral trainees in Sociology Svenja Kopyciok and Becca Wang both presented at the conference. Photo courtesy of Svenja Kopyciok.