Stephen Chan was a key figure in the New Zealand literary renaissance and the student demonstrations of the late 1960s and early 70s. He helped pioneer modern electoral observation at the elections that gave birth to Zimbabwe, helped in the reconstruction of post-Amin Uganda and in government institution-building in post-Dergue Eritrea and Ethiopia. He has been active in Africa–China trade talks as an adviser to African delegations, in the South Sudanese and Libyan struggles, and in the continuing diplomacy over Zimbabwe. In 2010, the International Studies Association named him Eminent Scholar and he was awarded the OBE. Twice Dean of the School of Oriental and African Studies, he has published 28 academic books and five volumes of poetry. He has studied martial arts extensively in Japan. As a result of too many adventures, too much thought and too many beatings, neither his brain nor his body function reasonably any more.
