Department of Sociology, University of the Western Cape

25/05/2026

Join us on Wed 27 May!

Join us for our upcoming online seminar with Professor Vivek Venkatesh on “Social Pedagogy for Building Sustainable Resilience with Dispossessed Communities”.

Vivek Venkatesh is a Professor in the Department of Education at Concordia University (Canada), where he also serves as Chair in Digital Media and Youth and directs the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance. His research focuses on social pedagogy, resilience, critical digital literacy, youth engagement, and community-based approaches to social change. He is internationally recognized for his work on radicalization prevention and arts-based educational interventions.

DATE:
Wednesday, 27 May 2026

TIME:
15:00 - 16:00 / South Africa
09:00 - 10:00 / Canada (Eastern)
10:00 - 11:00 / Brazil (São Paulo)
14:00 - 15:00 / United Kingdom

Zoom link: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/j/98617319282?pwd=FMEmOWevs9qNmTjsBJT9QhCTK93WOb.1
Access code: 256768

O seminário contará com tradução simultânea para o português, por meio de legendas.

15/05/2026

A great write-up: Dr Qawekazi Maqabuka’s dissertation analyses the lack of communicative justice at the heart of the Life Esidimeni abuses.

https://news.mandela.ac.za/News/Communicative-injustice-at-the-heart-of-Life-Esidi?fbclid=PARlRTSARz6G1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAacAwSMGkS9z69t6BqnVvt_I6RBjR9rpHtxq0jwhHMZi_Hgz6UKwQSNswNU7SQ_aem_dx1NV_antCxPtYDKiCocWQ

Communication in healthcare is an essential justice as the lack of it can be the differentiator between wellbeing and suffering, life and death.

30/04/2026

The department bade farewell to contract lecturer Shane Phiri, who has taken up a new post at another university. He will be missed, but we wish him all the best!

13/04/2026

13/04/2026

The department congratulates our newly minted Dr Qawekazi Maqabuka! She graduated with her PhD in Sociology at Nelson Mandela University, on the topic: “Health care and justice and the Life Esidimeni Marathon Project: A study in Communicative Justice”. See the photo for the full citation.
Well done on reaching this significant academic milestone, Dr Maqabuka!

09/03/2026

Here are some new publications by Prof Emmanuel Mayeza, departmental chairperson:

Youth Masculinities. In: Blair, E. and Deckman, S. (eds.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Education and Gender (Vol. 2, pp. 886–891). SAGE Publications. Accessible at: https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-education-and-gender/chpt/youth-masculinities

Sexual sanctions and solidarity: Heterosexual schoolgirls’ negotiations of cisheteronormativity in two South African high schools. South African Review of Sociology. Accessible at: https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2026.2618103


Dr Suleman Lazarus, research associate, published the following co-written chapter:
Evolutionary fraud, the global scamming ecosystem and a typology of actors. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice.

Click the link to access the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100825

06/03/2026

Watch this space for upcoming book launches!

The department is proud to announce a new book with Professor Christi van der Westhuizen as lead editor and Lecturer Ms Qawekazi Maqabuka as second editor. Prof Matete Madiba, UWC's DVC: Student Development and Support, is a contributor to the book.

Titled 'In the Belly of the University - Challenging Institutional Cultures in Higher Education', in 12 chapters plus an introduction, 17 authors investigate the embedded university cultures that continue to define who belongs, who succeeds, and whose knowledge is valued within higher education spaces.

By examining the “belly” of the university — its inner workings, shadow structures and practices of normalisation — the volume illuminates how these cultures reproduce inequality and exclusion, even amidst transformation agendas.

This is done in the form of trans- and interdisciplinary writing that combines insights across disciplinary boundaries. The growing field of higher education studies is enriched with scholarly contributions based on original research from the diverse vantage points of Public Law, Sociology, History, Psychology, Philosophy, Political Studies and other disciplines. While the majority of chapters are from and on South Africa, these South African scholars are brought into conversation with counterparts from Nigeria and the USA, to enable both South-South and South-North learnings.

It also considers how academics, students, managers and administrators navigate, contest, and reimagine these spaces in pursuit of justice, equity, and deeper transformation.

In the Belly of the University: Challenging Institutional Cultures in Higher Education - Ebook written by Christi van der Westhuizen, Qawekazi Maqabuka, Nomalanga Mkhize, Babalwa Magoqwana, Glenn Holtzman. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Download for offl...

03/03/2026

The department welcomed new Doctoral, Master's and Honours students at the 2026 departmental postgraduate orientation last week. Students joined in person and online, and shared prospective research traversing the sub-disciplinary fields of sociologies of health, race, culture, gender, higher education and others. We are looking forward to a year of rich discoveries!
Photo: Lecturer Indiphile Vezi addresses the group.

03/03/2026

Racial coloniality was interrogated at the launch of the book Colorblind Tools at the Centre for Humanities Research. (l-r) moderator Dr Lwando Scott (CHR), author A/Prof Marzia Milazzo and discussant Prof Christi van der Westhuizen.

25/02/2026

The Department of Sociology (UWC), the Department of Political Studies (UWC) and the Research Centre Global Dynamics (Leipzig University) warmly invite you to this online seminar.

Topic: The African Union and the development of common African positions: Advancing African agency in global politics

Speaker: Prof Dr Ulf Engel (Leipzig University)

Discussant: Dr Marcel Nagar (UWC)
Moderator: Prof Christi van der Westhuizen (UWC)

Date and time: Tuesday 3 March at 13:00 - 14:15

Zoom link: http://events.recentglobe.org/030626