Resume
Skills & Expertise
I have strong skills in research, critical thinking, and communication. My expertise encompasses qualitative research methods, data analysis, and academic writing, along with proficiency in project management and community engagement. I have undertaken independent contracts focusing on Local Economic Development, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), youth unemployment, and various social development research projects, collaborating with diverse stakeholders such as municipalities, local governments, NGOs, SMMEs, and educational institutions. A significant highlight of my academic career was working with the African Peer Review Mechanism, where I contributed to policy development for the 2021 African Governance Report (AGR), aligning with Africa's Agenda 2063 goals and championing issues like gender policies, climate change, mental wellbeing, and the importance of indigenous knowledge. Click here for a detailed CV.
Work Experience
Sociology Lecturer
University of the Free State
I have played a role in developing a decolonized curriculum by introducing two new courses: Socialements and Sociology of Health and Illness. These courses advance the decolonial agenda incorporating the insights of African scholars. Additionally, the Health and Illness course challenges conventional boundaries by focusing on often-overlooked African perspectives on healing and the concept of health.
NGO
groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa
During my tenure as Media Manager at the NGO groundWork, part of Friends of the Earth South Africa, I focused on social and ecological justice issues. One of my key accomplishments was developing a media training program and online platform for communities dealing with ecological injustices, including coal-affected areas in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, and the South African Waste Pickers Association. The initiative aimed to empower individuals through digital storytelling, allowing them to share their lived experiences often overlooked by mainstream media and institutions.
Education
PhD in Anthropology
University of the Free State
With thesis titled: Identity and Environmental Harmony as practised by Table Mountain Doctors: A Struggle over Land and African Healing Systems, I tracks the Mountain Doctor’s way of life, healing methods and relationship with ecology. Mountain Doctor symbolism and worldview of land is more than just a resource. Land is a sacred reference point anchoring humanity materially and spiritually. Neoliberal valuation of land as a resource is perceived as harmful to ecology and African spirituality. This viewpoint challenges the African Amazon development in Cape Town. Through combining ethnography, grounded theory, engaging heritage institutions and archives, and ‘thick descriptive’ approaches, by the end of the study she discovered a new research methodology - called ukuthunywa - useful to work with a resilient community, that judges the researcher as much as the researcher analyzes the community. I demonstrates the ideological aspects of identity and influences existential and African cosmological views.
MA in Sociology
Rhodes University
With thesis titled: Shembe religion’s integration of African Traditional Religion and Christianity: A sociological case study, I explored the sociocultural dimensions of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and their influence on policy and social change. My thesis was centered on African Traditional Religion, specifically examining the Shembe Church.