Head of Department
Position: Departmental Chair, Professor
Email: jpretorius@uwc.ac.za
Research Interests: Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; Africa and the nuclear order; Security Studies
Biography: Prof Pretorius teaches International Relations and Security Studies and has a keen interest in the construction of science and technology for national security purposes. She holds a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her thesis focused on the Revolution in Military Affairs in South Africa’s post-apartheid defence thinking. Prior to her PhD studies she was the Coordinator of the Centre for International Political Studies (CIPS) at the University of Pretoria and a visiting fellow at the University of California Global Institute for Cooperation and Conflict. Professor Pretorius is also a member of the South African branch of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. She has edited two books: African Politics: Beyond the Third Wave of Democratisation and Dialogue among Civilizations: A Paradigm for Peace, which she co-edited with Theo Bekker. She is currently researching irreversibility in nuclear disarmament and the role of African scholars in the Pugwash movement.
Publications:
Joelien Pretorius, ‘Staying the course: Lessons from South Africa for irreversibility of nuclear disarmament,’ Working paper for the project ‘Understanding irreversibility in global nuclear politics’, Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), King’s College London.
Joelien Pretorius and Fiona Anciano, ‘But is it war? The experience and contestation of a securitized Covid19 response in South Africa,’ chapter in Reflections on the Complexities of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from the Global South, edited by Shadrack Ramokgadi and Mbekezeli Mkhize, Centre for Military Studies (CEMIS), Stellenbosch University (2022).
Joelien Pretorius and Tom Sauer, When is abandoning the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons legitimate?, Contemporary Security Policy, special issue on the 50th, anniversary of the NPT. 43(1): 161-185 (2022).
Joelien Pretorius, ‘War and Nuclear Weapons: Putting the Cart Before the Horse’, Global Outlook, Toda Peace Institute, 4 July 2022, https://toda.org/global-outlook/war-and-nuclear-weapons-putting-the-cart-before-the-horse.html
Joelien Pretorius, ‘The power of a ban: Outlawing nuclear weapons practices’, in Ramesh Thakur (ed.), The Nuclear Ban Treaty: A Transformational Reframing of the Global Nuclear Order. Routledge. (2021).
Joelien Pretorius and Tom Sauer, Ditch the NPT, Survival, 63(4):103-124 (2021).
Email: jpretorius@uwc.ac.za
Research Interests: Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; Africa and the nuclear order; Security Studies
Biography: Prof Pretorius teaches International Relations and Security Studies and has a keen interest in the construction of science and technology for national security purposes. She holds a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her thesis focused on the Revolution in Military Affairs in South Africa’s post-apartheid defence thinking. Prior to her PhD studies she was the Coordinator of the Centre for International Political Studies (CIPS) at the University of Pretoria and a visiting fellow at the University of California Global Institute for Cooperation and Conflict. Professor Pretorius is also a member of the South African branch of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. She has edited two books: African Politics: Beyond the Third Wave of Democratisation and Dialogue among Civilizations: A Paradigm for Peace, which she co-edited with Theo Bekker. She is currently researching irreversibility in nuclear disarmament and the role of African scholars in the Pugwash movement.
Publications:
Joelien Pretorius, ‘Staying the course: Lessons from South Africa for irreversibility of nuclear disarmament,’ Working paper for the project ‘Understanding irreversibility in global nuclear politics’, Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), King’s College London.
Joelien Pretorius and Fiona Anciano, ‘But is it war? The experience and contestation of a securitized Covid19 response in South Africa,’ chapter in Reflections on the Complexities of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from the Global South, edited by Shadrack Ramokgadi and Mbekezeli Mkhize, Centre for Military Studies (CEMIS), Stellenbosch University (2022).
Joelien Pretorius and Tom Sauer, When is abandoning the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons legitimate?, Contemporary Security Policy, special issue on the 50th, anniversary of the NPT. 43(1): 161-185 (2022).
Joelien Pretorius, ‘War and Nuclear Weapons: Putting the Cart Before the Horse’, Global Outlook, Toda Peace Institute, 4 July 2022, https://toda.org/global-outlook/war-and-nuclear-weapons-putting-the-cart-before-the-horse.html
Joelien Pretorius, ‘The power of a ban: Outlawing nuclear weapons practices’, in Ramesh Thakur (ed.), The Nuclear Ban Treaty: A Transformational Reframing of the Global Nuclear Order. Routledge. (2021).
Joelien Pretorius and Tom Sauer, Ditch the NPT, Survival, 63(4):103-124 (2021).
Academic Staff
Position: Lecturer
Email: cculwickfatti@uwc.ac.za
Email: cculwickfatti@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Dr Christina Culwick Fatti leads the Urban Governance Programme at the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group, University of the Western Cape. She has over ten years of experience in policy-facing urban research, and has led numerous projects at the intersection of environmental sustainability and social justice in South African cities.
Google Scholar
ORCID
Position: Lecturer
Email: mnagar@uwc.ac.za
Email: mnagar@uwc.ac.za
Position: Lecturer
Email: ttselapedi@uwc.ac.za
Email: ttselapedi@uwc.ac.za
Biography
I am a political scientist working at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), since 2017
until now. My areas of focus are on political theories and intellectual biographies,
international political thought from the African perspective; I use the methodology and
framework of Pan-Africanism as a universal dimension. I am also interested in how we might
think about such concepts as democracy, secularism, and development through the lenses of
Pan-Africanist scholarship and the history of ideas. I teach at the department of politics
courses in undergraduate and post-graduate studies. The fields of these courses cover,
Political Thought in Africa, African Perspectives in International Thought, and African
Regional Integration Studies. My teaching emphasises understanding the African experience
in interdisciplinary angles, through the pan-Africanist methodological framework that covers
the four aspects: the theoretical critique, the comparative, the contextualization, and lastly
historicisation. As the emerging scholar at the department, I am focused on analysing African
realities in their pan-African dimensions and universality, and since I started teaching in
2017, I have emphasized looking at issues that relate to Africa in a pan-African perspective, a
critical and non-romantic learning, and a diverse, open, and democratic engagement with
students. My engagements with teaching and learning are also influenced by both Biko’s
Black Consciousness's idea of “Africana humanness” and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the
Oppressed idea of teaching as political freedom. I have also accumulated knowledge through
travelling in different places in Africa and America.
Publications
Ayanda Wiseman Nombila, 2018, “Reading the idea of nation, Pan-Africanism and
globalization in the thought of Dr. Silas Modiri Molema”, Journal Of African Union Studies,
Vol17, Issue 2.
Forthcoming publication: “The grand vision of African unity and integration from the 20 th
century to the present: through the comparative visions of Cheik Anta Diop and Kwame
Nkrumah”.
I am a political scientist working at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), since 2017
until now. My areas of focus are on political theories and intellectual biographies,
international political thought from the African perspective; I use the methodology and
framework of Pan-Africanism as a universal dimension. I am also interested in how we might
think about such concepts as democracy, secularism, and development through the lenses of
Pan-Africanist scholarship and the history of ideas. I teach at the department of politics
courses in undergraduate and post-graduate studies. The fields of these courses cover,
Political Thought in Africa, African Perspectives in International Thought, and African
Regional Integration Studies. My teaching emphasises understanding the African experience
in interdisciplinary angles, through the pan-Africanist methodological framework that covers
the four aspects: the theoretical critique, the comparative, the contextualization, and lastly
historicisation. As the emerging scholar at the department, I am focused on analysing African
realities in their pan-African dimensions and universality, and since I started teaching in
2017, I have emphasized looking at issues that relate to Africa in a pan-African perspective, a
critical and non-romantic learning, and a diverse, open, and democratic engagement with
students. My engagements with teaching and learning are also influenced by both Biko’s
Black Consciousness's idea of “Africana humanness” and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the
Oppressed idea of teaching as political freedom. I have also accumulated knowledge through
travelling in different places in Africa and America.
Publications
Ayanda Wiseman Nombila, 2018, “Reading the idea of nation, Pan-Africanism and
globalization in the thought of Dr. Silas Modiri Molema”, Journal Of African Union Studies,
Vol17, Issue 2.
Forthcoming publication: “The grand vision of African unity and integration from the 20 th
century to the present: through the comparative visions of Cheik Anta Diop and Kwame
Nkrumah”.
Position: Senior Lecturer
Tel: +27 (021) 959 2180
Email: fanciano@uwc.ac.za
In 2020 she conceptualised and ran the lockdowndiaries project (www.lockdowndiaries.org) reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 regulations on residents in Cape Town. She has produced numerous publications including book chapters and journal articles, and most recently a co-authored book Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South, published by Routledge, UK in 2019. She is co-editor of a forthcoming collection, published by Routledge titled Political Values and Narratives of Resistance: Social Justice and the Fractured Promises of Post-colonial States.
Tel: +27 (021) 959 2180
Email: fanciano@uwc.ac.za
Biography
Prof Anciano teaches Introductory Politics, South African Politics, Democratic Theory and Practice as well as Research Methodology. She is a qualitative researcher with an interest in urban governance, democratisation and civil society. Fiona is a C2 National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher. As a qualitative researcher she conducts research in informal settlements on urban democracy and informality.In 2020 she conceptualised and ran the lockdowndiaries project (www.lockdowndiaries.org) reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 regulations on residents in Cape Town. She has produced numerous publications including book chapters and journal articles, and most recently a co-authored book Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South, published by Routledge, UK in 2019. She is co-editor of a forthcoming collection, published by Routledge titled Political Values and Narratives of Resistance: Social Justice and the Fractured Promises of Post-colonial States.
Prof Piper teaches Introductory Politics, South African Politics, Political Thought and Research Methodology. His research interests include urban governance, democracy, and informality in South Africa and comparatively. A graduate of Cambridge University (2000) in the United Kingdom, he worked at UKZN before moving to UWC. He is a C1 NRF rated scholar with Google Scholar h-index of 19, and an i10-index of H33. His latest book is ‘Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South’, Routledge, 2019, with Dr Fiona Anciano. He is the previous President of the South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS) 2016-8.
Prof Africa worked at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) for eight years (1995-2003). She has extensive experience in applied research and research design having been involved in the design and execution of numerous research projects. Prof Africa specialises in teaching research methodology and design with a particular emphasis on public opinion and survey research. She has a wide range of content interests including South African politics, democracy and governance, elections and election campaigns as well as political communication. She has served as an election analyst for both the SABC and e-tv. She has also played an important role in election observation in South Africa.
Position: Lecturer
Tel: +27 (021) 959 2575
Email: ntmatshanda@uwc.ac.za
Tel: +27 (021) 959 2575
Email: ntmatshanda@uwc.ac.za
Biography
Dr Matshanda teaches International Political Dynamics and Comparative Area Politics. She has a BA Honours degree from the University of the Western Cape, a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand and a PhD in African Studies from Edinburgh University. Dr Matshanda's research interests are on post-colonial processes of state formation in Africa, she is especially interested in local conceptions and articulations of statehood in the Horn of Africa. For her doctoral thesis Dr Matshanda conducted extensive field research in Ethiopia where she examined the relationship between state projects of territorialisation and people's experiences of these in eastern Ethiopia.Position: Lecturer
Tel: +27 (021) 959 3231
: mhoskins@uwc.ac.za
Tel: +27 (021) 959 3231
: mhoskins@uwc.ac.za
Biography
Dr Hoskins teaches Political Philosophy and South African Politics. He obtained his PhD thesis which critically analyses black economic empowerment in South Africa. His research interests include the socio- economic construction of race, black economic empowerment and theories of the developmental state. Mark obtained his BA, B Proc, LLB and LLM degrees from the University of the Western Cape. His LLM thesis focused on a historical materialist critique of disability law.Prof Assmo is an Extraordinary Professor in the Political Studies Department. He earned his PhD from Gothenburg University in Sweden in 1999. He lived in East Africa during 1990-1998, employed as a Development Expert and Consultant for the Swedish development agency, SIDA. Since 2006, he has been the programme director for the International Programme for Politics and Economics (IPPE) at University West in Sweden. During the period 2007-2015 he also worked part-time as senior researcher at Linköping University. He has been a visiting professor to Rhodes University since 2007. He has wide international academic experience with almost twenty years working as visiting lecturer in Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, UK, and South Africa. Prof Assmo has extensive international research experience from Europe and Africa, which currently focuses on issues such as local sustainable development, political entrepreneurship, migration, integration, work integrated learning, and internationalisation in higher education. Prof Assmo is a SANORD member and has initiated a formal externally funded collaboration with the Department for Political studies at UWC to organise a joint international post-graduate education between UWC and University West. This includes, among other components, regular staff/student exchange between South Africa and Sweden. As part of this collaboration, Professor Assmo is also teaching International Political Economy courses, and acting as supervisor at UWC.
Administrative Staff
Position: Administrator
Department: Department of Political Studies
Faculty: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
Tel: 021 959 3228
Department: Department of Political Studies
Faculty: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
Tel: 021 959 3228
Position: Postgraduate Administrator
Department: Department of Political Studies
Faculty: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
Qualifications: National Diploma in Public Relations Management (CPUT)
Tel: 021 959 4013
Department: Department of Political Studies
Faculty: Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
Qualifications: National Diploma in Public Relations Management (CPUT)
Tel: 021 959 4013
