Towards a practice of feeling: considering the role, place and work of feeling through the oeuvres of three contemporary South African artists: Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Milisuthando Bongela and Nakhane, from 2013-2024.

At its core my thesis centralises the dichotomous relationship between the private and public domains of desire within Zulu male selfhood. More specifically, my research investigates clandestine desires between men (male-on-male sex) in contrast to public formations (read performances) of Zulu traditional masculinities. My dissertation seeks out the dominant ways that Zulu masculinities are represented – in media, song or the literary and visual form - and how they are both reproduced (and/or sustained) through labour and disturbed through socialisation.

My postdoctoral research project at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) is centered on the critical and timely issue of academic freedom in Zambia, with a broader lens on its implications for the Global South. This research draws upon findings from my PhD thesis and supplementary empirical research, delving into the constitutional, legal, and practical dimensions of academic freedom, exploring both its formal protections and the informal pressures that can undermine it. 

The overall objective on my research is on emancipation of people form oppressive or malfunctioning governments. My initial context was Zimbabwe, with special interest on the Catholic Church which seems to have a profound and noticeable influence in term of challenging the government policies. Hence, my research focused on why the Catholic Church failed to help change the situation despite its standing and positioning. The research looked at the methods used by the Catholic Church especially its research arm called the Justice and Peace Commission. My efforts of trying to understand ‘why’ the situation of the people never changed led me to another level of enquiry, which questioned my initial conception of emancipation.  The question of who should be the agent of emancipation and what are other important elements that are working against emancipation of people of Zimbabwe beyond the Zimbabwean government’s failed leadership was pivotal to the new research perspective?  

My area of research focuses on biographical studies/memoirs, African Political History, the history of the Black Press or pioneer journalists of the late nineteenth to early twentieth South Africa. With my PhD focusing specifically on the biographical studies of one of the ANC founders Saul Msane (1856-1919), I explored the ways in which Saul Msane, as an historical figure, was central in the founding of the South African Native National Congress, SANNC, which later became the ANC. Msane was accused of selling out workers interests near the end of his life. Msane was later vindicated for giving reasonable warning about the ability of the South African state to crush resistance. I made skillful use of sparce documents and resources available at my disposal to reconstruct the multiple layers of Saul Msane’s personality as an early Christian elite or kholwa who used writing and politics to build a more equitable South African society.