HUMANITIES RESEARCH

Qualifications: PhD in Science (Palaeosciences) (University of the Witwatersrand); MA Heritage Studies UZ; BSc Geography and Environmental Studies; Certificate Environmental Management in a Globalised Economy(CDG- Germany); Certificate in Software Engineering (UZ); Certificate in Heritage Education (Southampton University–UK); Certificate in Preventive Conservation in Museums in Africa (ICCROM).

Dr Chikumbirike has experience within the Heritage Sector in Southern Africa. His research interests include conservation and cultural heritage management, archaeoethnobotany, palaeoenvironment, and ethnobotany.

He is currently working on three research projects. Firstly, People and plant interaction during the MSA and LSA at Wonderwerk Cave: A vegetational history. The study aims to establish the vegetational history in this area.

Secondly, Social, environment and subsistence economy of the prehistoric societies in Shangani, in Zimbabwe. The study seeks to establish the interaction, social organisation, technological, environment and subsistence practices of prehistoric agricultural communities in this region. Finally, An ethnoarchaeobotanical study of the Kuruman cultural landscape. The study documents local resource exploitation practices by considering social and cultural dynamics native to the area. He has also collaborated as an anthracologist as part of an International Scientific Research Team working at Bushman Cave in the Limpopo Province. The project aims to clarify the stratigraphy and obtain new archaeological samples. His research has been featured in several prominent journals. Dr Chikumbirike joined Sol Plaatje University in July 2016 as a lecturer in Heritage Studies and Archaeology.

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Qualifications: 2023: PGDipE (HE) – Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Higher Education), PHD – African Studies (Heritage and Public Culture). University of Cape Town, MA – Heritage Studies, University of Zimbabwe, BA Honours – History, University of Zimbabwe,  Scientific Principles of Conservation, ICCROM. Italy

Jesmael Mataga is an Associate Professor and the inaugural Head of Humanities at Sol Plaatje University, in Kimberley.  He previously worked as a Curator with the National Museums and Monuments in Zimbabwe and taught at the National University of Lesotho.

His research, situated in the emerging focus on critical and decolonial heritage, explores the role and place of communities in museums and heritage preservation. His work aims to contribute to new approaches to museum and heritage management practices that address the critical challenges of our time, such as poverty, inequality, conflict, decolonisation, migration and social justice.

His recent publications include a co-edited volume- Independent Museums and Culture Centres in Colonial and Postcolonial Zimbabwe: Non-State Players, Local Communities and Self-Representation (Routledge); The Role of Universities in Society: Mapping University Community Engagement in Secondary Cities.  (co edited with Fongwa S, Luescher T.M, and Mtawa N.N, -.SunMedia; and  a -Museums as Agents for Social Change: Decolonisation at the Mutare Museum ( Co-written with N. Chipangura-Routledge). He has also recently contributed to   the Routledge International Handbook of Heritage and Politics (2024)-Edited by L.J Smith et-al,  as well as Rethinking Heritage In Precarious Times (  edited by N,  Shepherd- Routledge 2023).

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Qualifications: PhD (History); MA (Heritage Studies); Licence in Managing Successful Programs (UK).

Dr Garth Benneyworth is a historian on Southern Africa’s military history within the global context, whose work is internationally recognised for contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of conflict, and its impact on history and society. This includes the black concentration camps and forced labour camps of the South African War (1899-1902) and the War for Southern Africa (1960-1994).

A Senior Lecturer (Sol Plaatje University), Senior Research Associate (University of Johannesburg), and Chairperson of Council for the War Museum of the Boer Republics, Benneyworth curated museum exhibitions including the Nelson Mandela National Museum. Chief Albert Luthuli Museum, Liliesleaf Museum, the Magersfontein Battlefield Museum, and Voortrekker Monument.

After working globally in business and consulting since 1989, he joined Sol Plaatje University to pursue an academic career.

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Qualifications: MHCS Master’s (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria; BCHS Honours (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria; Post Graduate Diploma (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria. BSc Archaeology and Psychology; UNISA, BA Honours Archaeology, UNISA.

Ms Itumeleng Masiteng is a qualified archaeologist and a professional member of the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA).Ms Masiteng is also a trained Museologist, and holds a Master’s degree in Museum and Heritage Studies from the University of Pretoria. She worked at the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History as a Curator for the Archaeology collection. Ms Masiteng has also worked for the South African Heritage Resources Agency as an archaeologist within the Burial Grounds and Graves Unit. Her research interests include the Iron Age of Southern Africa, Archaeozoology, Forensic Anthropology, as well as human remains in museum collections.

Ms Masiteng is pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Pretoria.  Ms Masiteng joined Sol Plaatje University in November 2016 as a Lecturer within the Faculty of Humanities. Recent research focus for her is the Architectural Heritage of Historic House Museums in Kimberley.

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Qualifications: B.Sc. Zoology (UFS); BSC Honours Zoology (UFS); BSC Honours Environmental Management (UNISA). MSC (UFS-ongoing)

Ms Mohale teaches Natural History at Sol Plaatje University in the School of Humanities.

She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Environmental Management at the University of the Free State. 

Her research focus is on the Late Pleistocene paleoenvironmentof the South African central interior. Her current research relies strongly on stable isotope analyses for understanding the paleo-environments and dietary behaviour of ancient herbivores of the region and considers how these species responded ecologically differently to climate change.

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Qualifications: BA Archaeology, History of Art and Anthropology; BA (Honours) Heritage Studies, MSc Rock Art Studies (University of Witwatersrand), PhD in Archaeology (University of Witwatersrand)

His Ph.D. dissertation was entitled ‘Understanding Variation: A Stylistic-Ethnographic Analysis of Rock Art from the Makgabeng Plateau, Limpopo Province, South Africa’, and focused on the interaction between two rock art corpora and multiple cultural groupings.

He lectured undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Pretoria. During his tenure at the UP, he was promoted from junior lecturer to lecturer. He worked at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum as an assistant collections manager.

Dr Pinto is committed to heritage community involvement in South Africa. He was the chairperson of the Archaeological Society of South Africa (Northern Branch) from 2016 to 2018. Currently, he is a committee member of the Archaeological Society of South Africa (Trans-Garib branch).

From 2017 to 2018, he co-facilitated a National Geographic palaeoanthropology outreach programme at the Cradle of Humankind. He has worked with various communities with different social backgrounds. Working with these communities has allowed him to share his passion for southern African heritage and the importance of preserving that heritage.

He is an honorary research fellow at the Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg. He was appointed as a Lecturer at Sol Plaatje University in February 2018, and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate Heritage Studies and Archaeology modules in the Heritage Department. His research interests include rock art, heritage studies and decoloniality.

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Qualifications: Master of Arts: Heritage. University of Turin, Bachelor of Social Science (Hons): University of Cape Town, Bachelor of Social Science: University of Cape Town

Mr Berry is a lecturer who specializes in Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage.  He is presently registered as a doctoral student at the University of Witwatersrand. In 2012 he obtained a master’s degree in Heritage Resources Management from the University of Turin, Italy.  Preceding this, he completed his undergraduate and honors degree in Maritime Archaeology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Mr Berry’s work experience includes the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), where he worked as a Heritage Officer before moving on to become the Unit Manager for Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage.  He has extensive experience abroad and has spent seven years working in Ecuador as a lecturer and Maritime Archaeologist.  In addition, he has worked as an assessor for special heritage related projects in Ecuador and South Africa.  His most notable achievement to date was having Lake Fundudzi in the Limpopo Province declared a National Heritage site. 

He is currently a member of the Ministerial Tribunal that deals with appeals related to Underwater Cultural Heritage in terms of Section 49 of the National Heritage Resources Act.

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Qualifications: BA Honours (History and an African Language) from the University of Zimbabwe, an MPhil (Archaeology) from the University of Cambridge, England and a PhD (Archaeology) from Uppsala University, Sweden.

Prof Pwiti has taught Archaeology, Prehistory and Cultural Heritage Management at the University of Zimbabwe and have also taught at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and the University of Botswana.

He has conducted archaeological research on prehistoric farming communities and the development of complex societies in southern Africa as well as research on cultural heritage management and have published widely in accredited journals and monographs.

Have served on various international professional bodies including as Executive Secretary of the PanAfrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies and President of the World Archaeological Congress. Serving member of the Advisory Boards of the journals World Archaeology, African Archaeological Review and Zimbabwea. Served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and member of the Board of Directors of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

Current research: Research team participant in two major international research projects: Cosmo-Art rock art research project (with University of Bordeaux, France and institutions in South Africa, Namibia, Australia) and University of Zimbabwe (with institutions in Germany) Archaeology and Heritage Management project  The past in the present: the Zimbabwe culture and other archaeological heritage in north-western Zimbabwe

Joined SPU in February 2021 as Professor of Heritage Studies.

Recent Publications:

Ndombochani, N. & Pwiti, G. 2018. Investigating incorporation of community cultural values in archaeological impact assessment processes: case studies from Botswana. In Ndoro, W; Chitikure, S. & Deacon, J. (eds). Managing Heritage in Africa: Who Cares? London: Routledge. 139-150.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P; Pwiti, G; Sagiya, M; Chirikure, S; Ndoro; W; Makuvaza, S. 2020. Style, chronology and culture: A critical review of Whitty’s stylistic classification of Zimbabwe Culture using evidence from Hwange district, North-Western Zimbabwe. South African Archaeological Bulletin 75 (212): 4-16.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P. & Pwiti, G. 2021. Ancient Urban Assemblages and Complex Socio-Political Organisation in Iron Age Sites from Southern Africa. In Cesar, F-C; Mtetwa, E & Schlebusch, C. (eds). Africa, The Cradle of Human Diversity: Cultural and Biological Approaches to Uncover African Diversity. Brill, Leiden 111-147.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P. & Pwiti, G. 2022. The past in the present: the Zimbabwe culture and other archaeological heritage in north-western Zimbabwe. Weaver Press, Harare.

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Qualifications: BA degree in Media Studies and Archaeology, her BSc Honours degree (cum laude) in Archaeology and her MSc degree (cum laude) in Geoarchaeology from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Funded through the Wenner-Gren Wadsworth African Doctoral Fellowship and Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience Grant, Ms Shadrach is completing her PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand – specialising in behavioural and cultural evolution in southern Africa.

She has extensive experience in both field and laboratory contexts and has worked at nineteen archaeological and heritage sites across South Africa and the south of France, to date. She has been an assistant teacher and guest lecturer at WITS for the past six years. She has been included in the 2021 Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans in the Science & technology category. Ms Shadrach has taught at SPU since 2021.

Ms Shadrach is grateful to be a part of the SPU community. It is wonderful opportunity to engage with new students and colleagues and teach about African archaeology and the significance of Africa as the setting for human origins.

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Qualifications: PhD (Applied Linguistics, Afrikaans – Vista University); MA in Sociolinguistics (UFS); BA Honours (UFS); and BA in Drama and Theatre Arts (UFS); BEd Honours in Deaf Education (WITS); PGCE (Unisa); a TEFL certificate (Table Bay) and TESOL certificate (Trinity College, London).  She received an NRF (Thuthuka) grant in 2000, Teaching and Learning Awards (UFS) in 2015 and 2016.

Dr Stander has served as the coordinator for the Unit for Language Development at the Qwaqwa Campus of UFS, a teacher at Thiboloha Special School, and a senior lecturer at UFS, specializing in English, Afrikaans Linguistics, and Academic Literacy.

Currently a research associate at the Sign Language Department of UFS, Dr Stander has supervised master’s and honours students, co-supervised a completed PhD study, and is currently guiding master’s students in Afrikaans and a PhD student in the Department of Sign Language. Her research, presented at both local and international conferences, focuses on applied linguistics, second language acquisition, academic writing, and plagiarism.

Joining SPU in March 2017, Dr Stander is actively involved in teaching Afrikaans.

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Qualifications: BA (UWC, majoring in Afrikaans and Dutch and Linguistics); BA (Honours) (UWC); Higher Diploma in Education (UWC); MA (cum laude, Afrikaans & Dutch, UFS); PhD (Afrikaans & Dutch, UFS)

Prof Teise started his teaching career at Dr Blok Senior Secondary School in Heidedal, Bloemfontein and was later appointed as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT, FS). At CUT, he also acted as programme head for the Language Practice programme before joining the University of the Free State as a lecturer-researcher in higher education studies where he was responsible for teaching numerous modules in the Advanced Diploma, Postgraduate Diploma as well as the MA programme.

Before joining SPU, Prof Teise was the acting head of the School of Higher Education Studies at the UFS.

He joined SPU in February 2016 and lectures in Afrikaans and Dutch in the BA and BEd undergraduate programmes.

His research focus includes Afrikaans literature and textual criticism as well as higher education.

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Qualifications: MA in Creative Writing, Rhodes University; PHD African Languages (ongoing – Rhodes University)

Mr Sabata Mokae is the author of The Story of Sol T. Plaatje (SPET), Escaping Trauma (Corner Café Press) – a collection of English poems, a Setswana novella titled Ga ke Modisa (Geko Publishing/Oxford University Press), a Setswana young adult novella called Dikeledi (Geko Publishing/Oxford University Press) and Kanakotsame: In My Times (The Inksword Publishing), and a collection of newspaper columns.

He has also translated Gcina Mhlophe’s two children’s books from English to Setswana. These are Semaka sa Dinaane (Our Story Magic, UKZN Press) and Dinaane tsa Aforika (Stories of Africa, UKZN Press).

He is the recipient of the South African Literary Award (2011), MNET Literary Award for Best Novel in Setswana (2013), MNET Film Award (2013) and Lesedi la Afrika Award (2017).

In 2014, he was a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, where he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in Writing.

He is currently completing a PhD in African Languages at Rhodes University.

His research interests are Sol Plaatje, mother tongue fiction writing, historical fiction as well as race and reconciliation in post-apartheid Setswana literature.

He is also involved in the annual Northern Cape Writers Festival, which is organised jointly by Sol Plaatje University and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. He facilitates a Prison Writing Programme at Tswelopele Correctional Centre and the Kimberley Correctional Centre. He joined SPU in September 2015.

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Qualifications: MA in Creative Writing, Rhodes University

Ms Sizakele I Mokhele is a published author and a renowned poet who obtained her MA in Creative Writing in 2018 from the Rhodes University and her thesis was a collection of poems focusing on real stories about poverty, love, politics, past pains and healing, written in demotic language.

Her poetry has been published in local and international literature magazines and journals such the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology and JALADA Africa.

She is also an author of children’s stories, written in IsiZulu, with Oxford University Press. Before she joined Sol Plaatje University in October 2019, she taught English and IsiZulu in Soweto and Parkhurst.

She has a vast and varied experience in running community development programmes.

Since 2009, she has coordinated various local and regional (SADC) literary projects and works voluntarily as an Executive Director of House of Siza – a registered NPO that seeks to change people’s lives through literature, music and art.

Her research interest is in isicamtho poetry. Isicamtho is an informal urban language spoken in South Africa and infuses different languages.

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Qualifications: Ph.D. (Language Practice), University of the Free State; MA (Translation), University of Buea; BA (English and French), University of Buea

Dr Felix Awung has many years of international experience in teaching English, French and translation studies. He worked at the National University of Lesotho, where he became the Head of the French Department before leaving in 2012 to join the Department of Media, Language and Communication of the Durban University of Technology.

Dr Awung’s research interests are in the fields of translation studies, English and French studies and language planning. He has presented papers at different conferences and published articles in local and international journals. His current research is on the role of social factors in the translation of African francophone literature into English. Dr Awung is also a Board Member of the Association of Translation Studies in Africa, and the junior editor of reviews for the Journal of Translation Studies in Africa.

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Qualifications: B.A: English Literature and History – Rhodes University, M.A: English Literature – Rhodes University, Certificate in Creative Writing – Rhodes University

Manosa Nthunya teaches English Literature at Sol Plaatje University. He is interested in Postcolonial Literature, Psychoanalysis, and Queer theory/studies.

He is currently doing his PhD in English Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand.

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Qualifications: BA Degree, BA Hon. Degree in Translation Studies and Linguistics and MA in Translation Studies and Linguistics- University of Limpopo

Ms Malatji is currently registered with Durban University of Technology for her Doctoral degree in Language Practice with a special focus on Linguistic Landscape. She currently lectures Interpreting Liaison Contexts, English Communication Skills for Interpreters and Legal English courses for the Higher Certificate in Court Interpreting qualification.

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Qualifications: DLitt. (isiXhosa discipline), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, MA (isiXhosa), NMMU; BA Honours in (African Languages), BA in Translation (Vista University)

Zandile has been teaching isiXhosa language and literature for several years at Stellenbosch University and Nelson Mandela University. She was recruited at Stellenbosch University as lecturer in African Languages dept (2012-2017) She subsequently moved to Nelson Mandela University under isiXhosa section in School of Languages and Communication. In 2020 she went back to SU as a lecturer and a language coordinator under isiXhosa portfolio in Language Centre department. She taught isiXhosa language, literature, culture and translation courses to home language and non- mother tongue speakers of isiXhosa. She successfully promoted students from Honours level to Masters level, and a co supervisor to PhD candidates.

Dr Kondowe’s research interests are in the fields of literature, language and culture, translation, and interpreting. She has presented papers at different conferences and co published an article in an international journal (SAJAL). Her current research is on translation of texts in isiXhosa for Universities and African literature into isiXhosa and importance of academic literacy for home language students of isiXhosa.

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Qualifications: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in African Languages – University of the Witwatersrand MTech (cum laude), BTech and National Diploma in Language Practice – Tshwane University of Technology

Dr Pule joined SPU on 1 September 2020 as a Setswana lecturer in the Department of Languages and Communication. She holds a PhD degree in African Languages. She wrote her thesis in Setswana titled Bolemogi jwa diponagalo tsa ditumisapuo mo tokafatsong ya dipuiso tsa Setswana (Prosodic features awareness in comprehending Setswana readings).

She has Master’s degree (cum laude) in Language Practice, where she was looking into careers in studying African Languages further. She started teaching and specialising in Setswana in 2012 at the Tshwane University of Technology and proceed to the University of South Africa in 2017. She has written Setswana study guide and setting of Setswana assessments for various colleges and universities that established African Languages Departments and Setswana programmes. She is an Internal moderator (Setswana) for Department of Higher Education and Training, North-West University (Potchefstroom) and University of South Africa. She is also a proofreader and language editor at Oxford University Press and Shuter & Shooter. Lastly, she is a Setswana author for Foundation Phase Setswana Readers at Shuter & Shooter Publishers.  

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Qualifications: MA (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology; B-Tech (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology; N-Dip (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology

Ms Valencia Wagner is a Setswana Language Lecturer. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Languages and Literature with Linguistics and Literary at the North-West University. She has previously worked as a Setswana Lecturer at TUT from 2017 – 2019.

Prior to joining SPU she worked as a Setswana Language Researcher at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) where she conducted research into the principles and practice of Digital Humanities. Her role at SADiLaR included assisting with the development and assessment of digital language resources as well as assessing the validation of text and speech corpora relating to official South African languages. Her research interests include Sociolinguistics, Phonology & Digital humanities.

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Qualifications: BA degree in communication (North-West University), BA (Hons) in Setswana (North-West University)

Master of Arts by Research – Setswana (Witwatersrand University) – 2021Mr Mothusi Moswele is currently a Setswana lecture at Sol Plaatje University and enrolled PhD candidate at the university of Witwatersrand.

Mr Mothusi started his teaching career as a part-time junior lecture at Wits university when he was completing his MA studies and subsequently appointed as a junior lecture at the University of South Africa (UNISA) where he demonstrated a commitment to relevant activities such as teaching, community service, and academic citizenship.

He joined SPU in November 2022 in a permanent position as a Setswana lecture.  

His current research interests include Setswana postcolonial literature, protest literature, language and culture, feminism, and sociolinguistics.

He is currently a member of a newly established project titled “Digitisation of the multilingual African Riddling Practice in the 4IR”

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Qualifications: PhD (Sociology with specialisation in Social Anthropology), University of the Western Cape; MA (Migration Studies), Wits; BSC Social Sciences (Social Anthropology and Sociology), Great Zimbabwe University

Professor Godfrey Maringira is a Volkswagen Stiftung Foundation Fellow.

He is the Principal Investigator on two research projects:

– For the Volkswagen Foundation research grant with the project, “Soldiers in Politics”: Civil-Military Relations.

– The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) project, Promoting Inclusive Policies and Approaches to address youth networks of gang violence in South Africa.

His areas of research include the ethnography of war and violence, soldiers in post-colonial Africa, and the spirituality of military landscapes.

In 2018, he was awarded the accolade of Best Author for the African Affairs Journal published by Oxford University Press.

He is the author of several articles published in Armed Forces & Society (SAGE Publications), the African Review Journal (Cambridge University Press), Review of African Political Economy Journal (Taylor & Francis, Routledge), Medical Anthropology Journal: Cross cultural Studies in Health & Illness (Taylor & Francis, Routledge), Sociology: British Sociological Association Journal (SAGE Publications), Journal of War & Culture Studies (Taylor & Francis, Routledge) among others.

He is also the author of a book entitled Soldiers and the State in Zimbabwe (2019: Routledge). Professor Maringira obtained his PhD in the department of Anthropology & Sociology from the University of the Western Cape.

His Master’s in Migration Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and his BSC Social Sciences majoring in Social Anthropology & Sociology from Great Zimbabwe University.

He currently teaches Social Anthropology in the Faculty of Humanities at SPU in Kimberley.

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Qualifications: PhD (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; MA (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; BA Honours (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; BSc Social Science (Anthropology & Sociology), Great Zimbabwe University

Edmore Chitukutuku is an anthropologist of the state, focusing on state sponsored violence. He  graduated with a PhD in Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2017, and his work took a distinctively spatial dimension, (militia bases and scared places), in understanding how political violence and the history of the liberation war is used in the making of political subjectivities in Zimbabwe. More broadly, his research interests include themes and debates on violence, military studies, security, landscapes, peacebuilding, youths, governance, democracy; and economic anthropology. He worked as a research Fellow in the History department, University of Warwick for Wellcome Trust Funded collaboration project on Global Health. He consulted for the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS) on youth participation in politics and governance project.

His research has been funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Studies- Wadsworth African Fellowship; Social Science Research Council-Next-Generation Social Sciences in Africa; SSRC-African Peacebuilding Network; Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation-Young African Scholars Program. He has published a number of articles in ISI-listed journals. He is a lecturer of anthropology teaching Social theory and Anthropology of violence.

HISTORY

Dr Karthigasen Gopalan

Senior Lecturer: History

Email: Karthigasen.gopalan@spu.ac.za

Qualifications: PhD (History), University of KwaZulu Natal; MA (History) University of KwaZulu Natal, BA hons (History) University of KwaZulu Natal; BA University of KwaZulu Natal

Dr Karthigasen Gopalan is currently a senior lecturer for the History Department. Prior to this, he worked at the University of Fort Hare (from 2016) where he served as lecturer and Deputy Head of Department for History, and the University of KwaZulu Natal where he served as contract lecturer for History Department and History Education.

He completed his PhD at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2016. His early research aimed to add to our understanding of transcontinental exchanges amongst displaced migrants during the early twentieth century, by looking specifically at the role of Hindu reformed movements, and how these were communicated, experienced, interpreted and negotiated in different social settings. 

Recently he has written about force relocations during the implementation of Apartheid Government’s Group Areas Act, by looking at how specific communities responded to the laws imposed upon them and the meanings that this history has to them in the present. He also looked at the paradox of community leaders in a township after the Group Areas Act, who were willing to work with apartheid structures, and are consequently viewed as collaborators with the apartheid regime. 

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Qualifications: PhD (Research Psychology), University of Stellenbosch; MSc (Research Psychology), University of Stellenbosch; BSc hons (Psychology), University of Stellenbosch; BSc (Human Life) (Biol Human), University of Stellenbosch.

Dr Wylene Saal is currently a senior lecturer in Psychology at Sol Plaatje University. She holds a PhD in Research Psychology from the University of Stellenbosch, and her work focused on common mental disorders (i.e., major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcohol use disorder) among people seeking HIV testing in the Western Cape. Prior to this, she worked as a Research Officer at the Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town.

Dr Saal recently focused on research exploring suicidality, stigma, gender-based violence, and mental health among adolescents living with HIV and/ or adolescent mothers. Her research interests include adolescent mental health, maternal mental health, HIV, research methodology and health psychology.

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Qualifications: B.Psych (UFS); B.A. (Practical Theology) Honours  (UFS); M.A. (Pastoral Therapy) (UFS)

Ph.D (Pastoral Therapy) (NWU)

Dr Eleanor Addinall completed her B.Psych, BA in Practical Theology and MA in Pastoral Therapy at the University of the Free State.  She obtained her PhD in Pastoral Therapy from the North West University in Potchefstroom. Her PhD research focused on the bodily discontent experienced amongst women.  An empirical qualitative study was done to evaluate the women’s thoughts, feelings, causes and effects regarding their bodies. A holistic pragmatic model was developed as a possible aid in the psychological therapeutic process. Before being appointed as a lecturer at SPU in October 2014, Dr Addinall worked as a Life Skills facilitator at the University of the Free State from 2005 until 2014.  She is currently a lecturer in Psychology at SPU.

Dr Addinall is passionate about empowering young girls and women and her research areas includes cognitive behavioural therapy and pastoral care and counselling.

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Qualifications: B Social Work (UFH), B Soc Sci Hons Psychology (UFH), MA Counselling Psychology (UFH), currently enrolled for PhD in Psychology with NWU.

Thembelihle Lobi is a Counselling Psychologist registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He is part of the New Generation of Academic Programme lecturers at SPU. His masters research explored self-concepts of homeless men in East London. The study examined a variety of factors (e.g. family relationships, employment, school achievement, and friendships) that affect a person’s self-concept, and how the deficit in those factors link with the emergence of psychopathology.

For his PhD, Mr Lobi will be examining teacher well-being and its impact on student’s experience of academic boredom. His research interest is on certain positive psychology constructs, such as well-being, flourishing and resilience.

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Qualifications: PhD -Sociology- University of the Witwatersrand, MA – University of the Witwatersrand, Bachelor of Commerce -Industrial and labour Studies(Zimbabwe), Diploma in Human Resources  Management (Institute of personnel management -Zimbabwe) Certificate Paralegal- FES and ZCTU, Diploma/Certificate : Locomotive Train Driver (Diesel, Electric and Steam)-National Railways of Zimbabwe .

Dr Chinguno’s academic and research interests emerged from his work experience at the National Railways of Zimbabwe where he was a Senior Engineman and worker activist. His experience from the world of work and the trade union movement posed several intellectual challenges that motivated him to pursue postgraduate studies and later the academia. His research interrogates how work is organised and changes over time and the embedded contestations.

Dr Chinguno’s current research focuses on two broad themes: (1). How digital technology is shaping work and workers responses and (2) the organisation of work, workers, and communities in South Africa’s platinum belt. His work has been published in several journals including the Review of the African Political Economy, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Work in the Global Economy, the New South African Review, Labour in the Global Economy, and others. He is an NRF rated researcher;  DHET Future Professorship Fellow 2020-2024 and alumnus of the Global Labour University and the International Centre for Decent Work and Development, University of Kassel, Germany. He currently teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervises postgraduate students at SPU, the University of the Free State,  the University of the Witwatersrand, and University of Bonn in German.

View Dr Chinguno’s Google Scholar profile here.

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Qualifications: BA, BA (Honours in Industrial Sociology) Rhodes University; MA (Health Sociology) University of the Witwatersrand.

Ms Lesego Kgatitswe has worked as a researcher, facilitator and project manager at several research institutes in South Africa which include the Human Sciences Research Council, Institute for Social and Health Sciences (UNISA) and the Medical Research Council. Her research interest is on topics that intersect with health, gender and class.

Ms Kgatitswe was appointed as a lecturer in Sociology at SPU in May 2017. She is currently reading for a PhD in Health Sociology focusing on the illness experience of women diagnosed with breast cancer in low-income contexts in South Africa.

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Qualifications: PhD (Sociology and Social Anthropology), University of Cape Town; MSc (Sociology and Social Anthropology), University of Zimbabwe; BSc Sociology, University of Zimbabwe, Certificate Climate Change Adaptation, Brown University, USA.

Simbarashe Gukurume is a social scientist working at the intersections of Sociology and Social Anthropology and is a senior lecturer at SPU. Prior to joining SPU, he was a faculty research chairperson and taught sociology and social anthropology at Great Zimbabwe. Simbarashe is interested in questions around youth, informality, livelihoods, displacement, Pentecostalism, money, and other forms of the everyday lives of young people. He is particularly interested in the forms of agency, socialities and convivialities that emerge and are forged in times of protracted crisis, uncertainty, and flux.

Simbarashe’s research projects have been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, African Peacebuilding Network, Mastercard Foundation, NorGlobal and American Council of Learned Societies. His recent publications appear in the International Journal of Transitional Justice, African Affairs, Third World Thematics, African Identities, Journal of Southern African Studies, Political Psychology and the Extractive Industries and Society among other journals. Simbarashe is also in the editorial board of two top journals and is a mentor of the Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows.

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