CURRENT COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS

Women’s and Gender Studies currently houses two 5 year Andrew W. Mellon Funded Projects that are generating novel research while providing scholarships for postgraduate students and engage in diverse collaborations across sectors including with activists, artists, NGOs as well as scholars across institutions locally and internationally.  

Critical Food Studies: Transdisciplinary Humanities Approaches

Desiree Lewis is the lead PI on this supra-institutional project. Food studies focus on human relationships to food. Interdisciplinary humanities-driven work is therefore vital to understanding what food means to various groups and how its preparation can be ritualized; how food is represented and understood in changing cultural configurations and social exchanges; and social and ideological struggles around the meanings, control over and access to food. By focusing primarily on food cultures and politics in South Africa, this project seeks to strengthen analysis of food, society and culture in the global South and the global North. Recognizing that current globalization requires this transnational attention, the Project is committed to creating and strengthening a research community across disciplinary and geographical boundaries.

New Imaginaries for an Intersectional Feminist, Queer Project on Gender and Sexual Justice 

Tamara Shefer is PI on this 5-year institutional Andrew W. Mellon funded project entitled ‘New imaginaries for an intersectional critical humanities project on gender and sexual justice’. The primary goal of the project is to challenge dominant forms of scholarship and pedagogy related to sexualities and gender that have been prevalent in South Africa since 1994, particularly as shaped by responses to high rates of HIV infection and gender-based violence. The project is thus driven by the imperative of moving beyond ‘the tired polemics of violence, disease and reproduction’ (Tamale, 2011, p. 30) that have characterized South African scholarship on sexualities and gender in the last decades. 

 

The project is directed at three primary and intersecting projects: 

1. To generate reflexivity and critique of mainstream local research on sexuality and gender, drawing attention to the ways in which this body of work has served to rationalize and reproduce dominant discourses and power relations;
2. To think about and experiment with critical, decolonial feminist research and pedagogies, that challenges the hegemony of patriarchal, colonial and anthropocentric extractivist and representational scholarship that is implicated in historical and ongoing inequalities and violences;
3. To create an archival and exhibitionary space for collaborative forms of activism, performance, and art that disrupt and destabilize everyday gender and sexual injustices. 

The project began formally in 2018 and has thus far undertaken a  number of collaborative projects / events with local, national, and international researchers, artists and activists. To date, the project has also recruited a cohort of MA and doctoral and postdoctoral scholars whose work intersect with the three main foci areas of the project.

RESEARCH AREAS

Contemporary Performances of Gender and Sexuality in Postcolonial Patriarchal Contexts

All staff are involved in personal or larger collaborative research projects related to this topic. These include Profs Shefer’s, Clowes’ and Dr Ngabaza’s work on student’s embodied experiences on campus. Dr Ngabaza’s and Prof Shefer’s work on teenage pregnancy and parenting at school as well as a feminist critical analysis of the life orientation sexualities education, and Prof Lewis’ work on citizenship, nationalism, neo-liberalism and gender also fit into this key research area. Both Prof Shefer and Lewis continue to work on queer sexualities in national, African and postcolonial contexts. Prof Shefer’s 5 year Andrew W. Mellon funded project  ‘New imaginaries for a critical humanities project in gender and sexual justice’ which has a specific focus on disruptive and resistant performances of gender and sexuality through pedagogy, art and activism, furthers this area of scholarship. 
 

Youth, Gender and Sexuality

Rapid globalisation and change in South Africa has had a particularly complex impact on South Africa’s youth and their engagement with surrounding scripts of gender and sexuality. An emphasis on youth identities and subcultures is embedded in and often explicit in many of our research projects and fields, as well as our work in supervising students. Some of the research highlighted above also fits into this focus. In addition Prof Clowes has been focusing on, and has published, the challenges of teaching and learning about gender in postcolonial and neoliberal contexts.

Prof Shefer’s involvement in a transnational collaborative 4-year project through a Finnish-SA grant has resulted in an edited volume on Young People Engaging in Change edited by Tamara Shefer with Jeff Hearn, Kopano Ratele and Floretta Boonzaier (2018, Routledge). Prof Lewis’ ongoing research interests in young South Africans’ digital and food activism, Dr Ngabaza’s work on emerging markets and young women’s participation in the local and global economy and Dr Ngabaza and Prof Shefer’s critical work on sexuality education, are further  indicative of the Department’s international networking and collaboration with others on the subject of youth and gender.
 

Representations and Constructions of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary South Africa

All staff focus on film, popular culture and visual texts in both research and teaching. These are used to illustrate discursive processes or as adjuncts to analysis of social processes with a focus on popular culture, photographic, visual and literary texts both in South Africa and beyond. Some of our research is also directed at a critique of representations of sexuality and gender in popular and academic texts. Prof Lewis has particular research interests in the media and popular culture, for example, as reflected in her teaching.

Prof Shefer’s work over the last few years has critically assessed dominant frameworks of current representations of gender and sexuality within practice, policy and research, unpacking how these have bolstered racist, classist and heteronormative, gender binaristic discourses. Some of this local and global critique is brought together in the afore-mentioned book on young people engaging in change. An ongoing critique of the politics of representation in research and practice directed at gender and sexual justice is also a key focus area with the Mellon funded ‘New Imaginaries’ Project.

Socially relevant and socially just curricula, decolonial feminist and innovative pedagogies in the ‘transformation’ project in higher education
Women’s and Gender studies makes valuable contributions to current thinking and practice in teaching and learning and critiques of the (post)colonial, neoliberal university. All staff address questions about innovative pedagogies and academic or popular education in their research and their teaching. Profs Clowes, Shefer and Dr Ngabaza have been generating research in and publications on this priority growth area at UWC, researching and publishing through a number of NRF funded projects led by Prof Bozalek and within the Mellon funded projects that staff are involved in.  Tamara Shefer has recently co-edited a Bloomsbury volume with Profs Bozalek, Braidotti and Zembylas emerging from the NRF funded research (Routledge, 2019).

Notably, ICTS and digital humanities have been a key terrain of scholarship and practice in this area. All staff members in the WGS Department continue to explore the possibilities and potentials of modern information and communication systems for innovative knowledge production, learning/teaching, communication and association. Engaging with digital humanities has been central to the Mellon-funded project of which Prof Lewis is the Principal Researcher: a website and eclectic use of social media fostered innovative and often student-centred knowledge through text, the arts and images. Prof Lewis deepened her work into the digital humanities and feminist knowledge production during 2017, and was invited by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences to help judge submissions for awards in digital humanities, and to help the Institute to conceptualize this as a key growth area. Prof Shefer has also published about online activism related to sexual and gender justice and has two chapters in press with PhD candidate Tigist Shewarega on #MeToo in Southern African contexts.

Critical Masculinities Studies

WGS has had a long engagement in addressing men and masculinities through a critical and feminist lens. An earlier edited book was one of the first local editions, a product of a SANPAD funded project, entitled ‘From boys to men: Social constructions of masculinity in contemporary society’, edited by Tamara Shefer with Kopano Ratele, Anna Strebel (currently extraordinary prof in WGS), Nokuthula Shabalala and Rosemarie Buikema (Utrecht University). Staff have continued to work in this area through a range of different projects. We have worked on fatherhood and on engaging men for change through our undergraduate research programme. Notably LIndsay Clowes has researched and published novel scholarship on pedagogies and masculinity with particular emphasis on vulnerability. Most recently Tamara Shefer was co-editor on an international Routledge Handbook on Masculinity Studies (2019).

POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH

Women’s and Gender Studies has a large cohort of postgraduate students  including Honours, Master’s and Phd candidates as well as some Postdoctoral candidates. Many of our postgraduate students are located in the research projects housed in our department and their work covers a wide range of intersectional gender issues. Many of our PG students have published and presented their work in international and local journals and academic forums. Many of our students are also active in sharing their scholarship in the media, both online and print forums. To see some examples of WGS PG students’ work, take a look at this video on the new imaginaries project

Publications: Books

• Mohamed, K. (2018) Called to Song: A novel.  Kwela Books.(Kharnita Mohamed is a current PhD candidate and lecturer at UCT, supervised by Prof Tamara Shefer)
• Judge, M. (2018) Blackwashing Homophobia: Violence and the Politics of Sexuality, Gender and Race. London: Routledge. (Melanie Judge is a Phd graduate, 2016, supervised by Profs Tamara Shefer and Kopano Ratele)
• Publications: special editions
• Mohamed, K. & Shefer, T. (2015). Special edition: Gendering disability and disabling gender:. Agenda, 104(29.2). 
• Publications: articles in  journals and edited volumes
• Davids, J. (2018): Inclusion for who? LGBTIQA+ people’s challenges in the workplace: South African Labor Bulletin. 89/00595/23. ISSN03775429 (MA student, supervised by Dr Mary Hames)
• Davids, J. (2018): Sexual violence in the lives and deaths of South African women and girls: Amandla: South Africa’s new progressive magazine. Issue No. 60 October 2018, pp 18-19
• Gredley, S. (forthcoming, 2020) “When it rains [our house] rains too”: Exploring students’ narratives of maldistribution at UWC. In: Nancy Fraser and Participatory Parity: Reframing Social Justice in South African Higher Education. Routledge, UK. (Sue Gredley is a PhD candidate in WGS and contract lecturer, supervised by Prof Vivienne Bozalek and Tamara Shefer)
• Hussen, T. S. (2018). ICTs, Social Media and Feminist Activism: #RapeMustFall, #NakedProtest, and #RUReferenceList Movement in South Africa. In T. Shefer, J. Hearn, K. Ratele, & F. Boonzaier (Eds.), Engaging Youth in Activism, Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational and Intersectional Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race (pp. 199-214). New York and London: Routledge.  (Tigist Hussen Shewarega is a Phd candidate in WGS, supervised by Prof Desiree Lewis)
• Hussen, T.S., and Ngabaza, S. (2018).  "We don't really see a problem in music because that s**t makes you want to dance”: Reflections on possibilities and challenges of teaching gender through hip-hop, AGENDA, 32(2), 93-98. DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2018.1445605
• Xaba, W.  (2019) Dangers of Neoliberalism in the African National Congress. Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal. Connecticut: Yale. (Wanelisa Xaba is a Phd candidate in WGS, supervised by Prof Tamara Shefer)
• Xaba, W. (2019) Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela: The first Black president South Africa deserved.  Eds. Fink, K. Thurnauer Schriften zum Musiktheater.
• Xaba, W.  (2019) Dangerous Deities. They called me queer. In eds Koopman, K. & Windvogel, K. Kwela Book Publishers.
• Xaba, W.   (2019) Uncle Gravel. Beyond the Mountain: Queer Life in 'Africa's Gay Capital. eds Matabane, Z. & Camminga, B. Pretoria: UNISA press.
• Presentations at conferences and other public forums (current and recently graduated PhD candidates)
• Gredley, S. (2019). Exploring socially just pedagogies through the lens of participatory parity. Paper presented at the Reconceptualising Socially Just Pedagogies Project, Mont Fleur, Cape Town, 27 November.
• Gredley, S. (2019). Exploring the politics of recognition in higher education pedagogies. Paper presented at the Feminist Research Alive in Academia Conference, Cape Town, 22 November.
• Gredley, S. (2019). Exploring students’ narratives of mis/recognition in higher education. Paper presented at the NIHSS Inter-Regional Conference, George, 2-4 April.
• Gredley, S. (2018). “Being black and coming from a disadvantaged family ... it nearly destroyed me”: Exploring students’ narratives of mis/recognition in higher education. Paper presented at HECU9 (Higher Education Close-Up), Cape Town, 15-16 November.
• Gredley, S. (2017). Socially just pedagogies: Towards participatory parity in higher education. Paper presented at HELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of South Africa), Durban 21-24 November.
• Gredley, S. (2017). Socially just pedagogies: Considering discussion forums as a means to participatory parity. Paper presented to National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) Doctoral Conference, Johannesburg, 1-2 November.
• Gredley, S. (2017). Socially just pedagogies: Towards participatory parity in gender studies at UWC. Paper presented for discussion at Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (SKOK) PhD Relay, Bergen, Norway, 27 September.
• Gredley, S. (2017). Historical legacies shaping UWC students’ access to and aspirations for higher education. Paper presented for discussion at the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) Regional Doctoral Conference, Wilderness, 1-3 March.
• Gredley, S. (2016). Socially just pedagogies in higher education: Towards participatory parity and critical citizenship. Presentation at the Participatory Parity Project, Mont Fleur, Cape Town, 1-2 December.
• Gredley, S. (2015). Socially Just Pedagogies. Presentation at the Posthumanism, Affective Turn and Socially Just Pedagogies Project, Mont Fleur, Cape Town, 25-27 November.
• Oyebanji, K. (2019). Family Instability; A Major Contributory Factor to Young Women’s Vulnerability to Human Trafficking Across a Border Town in Nigeria. Oral Presentation at the Feminist Alive Conference, Cape Town, South Africa November 22, 2019. Organized by the Women’s and Gender Studies Department, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
• Oyebanji, K. (2019). Human Trafficking Across a Border Town in Nigeria, Experiences of Young Women who have Survived trafficking. Oral presentation accepted at Canadian Association of African Studies Conference May 16-19, 2019.
• Oyebanji, K. (2018). Family Instability; A Major Contributory Factor to Young Women’s Vulnerability to Human Trafficking Across a Border Town in Nigeria. Poster presentation at Ending Gender Inequalities: Evidence to Impact Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, 8-9 October, 2018.
• Rustin, C. (2019). What we know about the links between gender equality and happiness. Paper presented at the Feminist Research Alive in Academia Conference, 22 November 2019, University of the Western Cape.[phd candidate graduated 2018, supervised by Prof Tamara Shefer]
• Rustin, C. (2019). Studying happiness in post-colonial, post-apartheid South Africa: theoretical and methodological considerations (draft chapter). STINT: New Tools for Transnational Intersectional Feminist Research, Mont Fleur, South Africa, 31 October – 2 November.
• Rustin, C. (2019). What gender legislative reforms have meant for women in South Africa. Paper presented at the Engendering Access to Justice for Development in Sub Saharan Africa, International Conference: 28 29 October 2019, University of the Western Cape.
• Rustin, C. (2019). Happiness and Gender Equality – Some key findings from a study on women’s experiences of gender equality and happiness in South Africa. Paper presented at the Global Grace Symposium on ‘Participatory Theatre and the production of cultures of Equality amongst Sex Workers in South Africa’, 20 March 2019. 
• Rustin, C. (2018). Gender equality and happiness. Paper presented at the 3 Minute Thesis Competition, University of the Western Cape, 25 October. 
• Rustin, C. (2018). Are women happier under democracy? Paper presented at the View of the open sky: Thinking gender and identity from within the South African present conference, University of Stellenbosch, 2 November. 
• Tjemolane, L. (2019) Paper presented at the Feminist Alive in Academia Conference, UWC, Cape Town, 22 November.
• Xaba, W.  (2019) Engaging the Oppressor. Engaging the Oppressor: How Activists Approach the Dominant Group. Connecticut: Yale. 21-22 March 2019.
• Xaba, W.  (2019) “Decolonial/Feminist/Queer Imaginaries: (Re)making knowledge on gender and sexual justice in contemporary South Africa”. NORA Conference: Border regimes, Territorial Discourses and Feminist Politics. Iceland: University of Iceland. 22-24 May 2019.
• Xaba, W.  (2019).  Respondent on final session at NORA Conference on Border Regimes, Territorial Discourses & Feminist Politics. University of Iceland, 22-24 May.
• Xaba, W. (2019). Panel discussion: Decolonizing the body and heteronormative sexual reproductive health discourses. Nairobi, Kenya.
• Xaba, W. (2018) Gender justice and the anti-racist project: inspiration from contemporary decolonial intersectional feminist young activist performance and performative activism. Paper presented Nelson Mandela University, 16 March. [phd candidate 2018-]
• Xaba, W. (2018) Colonial Destruction and Decolonial Hope. Paper presented at University of Minneapolis, United States of America, 28 May.
• Xaba, W. (2018) Queer digital feminism: A critical look at queer feminist online activism. Moderated a panel for the New Imaginaries on Gender and Sexual Justice, University of the Western Cape, 15 August.
• Xaba, W. (2018) Intersectional understandings of Black South African students’ challenges to successful graduation in higher education. Paper presented at STINT: New Tools for Transnational Analysis in Postgraduate Intersectional Gender Research project, Central European University, Hungary, 24 September.

Other Scholarly, Research, Artistic, Activist and Advocacy Contributions: 

• Davids, J. SAFAIDS: Toolkit for Integrating LGBTI Issues Into HIV & GBV Prevention http://catalogue.safaids.net/sites/default/files/publications/lgbti_toolkit_introduction.pdf
• Davids, J. Launch of the Young Women's Leadership Initiative at the IAS
• https://gcwa.unaids.org/sites/womenandaids.net/files/YoungWomensLeadershipInitiative-RomeIAS2011-FINAL.pdf
• Davids, J. Building women and girls’ global meaningful participation in the High Level Meeting on AIDS: Women’s Priorities for Positive change: www.athenanetwork.org/assests/fileshttps://athenanetwork.org/assets/files/HLM/West%20and%20Central%20Africa_Women%20and%20the%20HLM%20on%20AIDS.pdf
• Davids, J.  From Talk to action: Framework for women, girls and gender equality:
• http://salamandertrust.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/23ATHENAHEARDFramework_for_Women_Girls_and_Gender_Equality_in_NSPs.pdf
• Van Vuuren, M. (2019).Conceptualisation of cartoons for Hlanganisa Institute for Development in South Africa GBV & Disability Toolkit. [Phd candidate, supervised by Prof Tamara Shefer]
• Van Vuuren, M. (2019) Organised the creative instalment for:A Week of Healing in Memory of Jesse Hess (September 2019, Art Space, UWC) https://www.facebook.com/UWCWGS/videos/1675678129230357/. Also created and curated consciousness-raising installation in the WGS foyer`; https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IX5Lp1jAaRED7XfbaRRqT85UjnJwbBYX 

Awards:                       

• 2018: Carmine Rustin - University of the Western Cape 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) award. [graduated PhD 2018]
• 2015: Susan Gredley. Doctoral scholarship through the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS)
• 2015: Susan Gredley. Doctoral scholarship through the National Research Foundation (NRF) for the Reconceptualising Socially Just Pedagogies Project. 2015 - 2020