Wits School of Social Sciences

Congratulations to Dr Julian Brown, Senior Lecturer in Department of Politics, whose book, Soweto Uprising: A Documentary History, has been selected as News24's Book of the Month. Drawing on a rich collection of archival documents, photographs and firsthand accounts, the book offers a compelling exploration of one of the most significant moments in South Africa's history. Read the News24 feature and book extract here:

BOOK OF THE MONTH | Soweto Uprising: A documentary history opens the archives | News24 News24’s Book of the Month for July is Soweto Uprising: A documentary history by Julian Brown.

Book Review: Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy The unique communities described in great detail in the recently published Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy are utopian in vision but thoroughly practical in their everyday functioning.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐗𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦

As academics at the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand we condemn the current wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

We are members of a multicultural school which explicitly understands its location on the African continent. We stand with everyone who upholds our core values of equality, justice and fairness for all people, regardless of immigration status.

South African citizens have grown restless with high unemployment, lack of service delivery, criminality and violence in local communities. However, these issues are not caused by foreign nationals. Problems of law and order and service delivery are the responsibility of the South African government, whom the electorate entrust with their votes and our country’s resources.
We are horrified by the ongoing violence against migrants, and we reject any attempts to rationalize or excuse death and displacement by violent vigilantes. This violence has a long and tragic history which can be traced back to xenophobic attacks in 2008. We see this latest wave as a consequence of unresolved political and economic problems.

We also recognise that the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment is part of the global rise of a particular kind of politics that is racist, anti-intellectual and ethno-nationalist. Those who have always looked for ways to other and silence people who do not look like them, have turned longstanding and legitimate grievances into a weapon against vulnerable migrants in precarious conditions. Therefore, this latest wave of anti-immigrant protests and pogroms, against poor and working-class African migrants in particular, is a vicious brand of discrimination that is being normalised in different societies across the globe.

Importantly, we have a diverse student population, with histories and realities that are far more complex than the single narrative of migrants being bad for our country. All our students contribute something unique and valuable to our school. We cannot be silent in a situation where some of our students are fearful of their place and future in South African society.

We reject self-appointed vigilantes who seek to use violence to advance their goals.

We reject the efforts of gangsters and criminals to harness xenophobia to advance their own economic interests using violent shakedowns and standover tactics.

We stand by our African and international colleagues who work to realise a better future for our country and all who live here.

We stand by South Africans seeking equality, justice and fairness without isolating and villainising various nationalities and ethnic groups.

We stand by South Africans who deserve a better country with better opportunities.

We stand by migrants who’ve fled all manner of persecution and poverty.

We stand by leaders who have the courage to call this what it is and use their positions for good.

𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐱𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐚.

SOSS 2026 SEMINAR SERIES: Language & Theory: Interrogating The use of Western Feminist Frameworks in the Global South: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D_FIYFFbwuVqPiyHEsZxYBQ4L7W78OpJKisIlFlCiLA/viewform?edit_requested=true

Please join WiCDS and the Innovation Foundation for Democracy for a SARChI Chair Distinguished Lecture, featuring Jordache A. Ellapen in conversation with Victoria Collis-Buthelezi and Sarah Nuttall.

‘Q***ring the Archive: Indenture Aesthetics and South African Blackness’ is based on Ellapen’s recently published book, Indenture Aesthetics: Afro-Indian Femininities and the Q***r Limits of South African Blackness (DUP, 2025). This lecture will introduce a few conceptual terms – indenture aesthetics, Afro-normativity, Afro-Indian, Blackening – thinking with and alongside South African Black Feminists - and will discuss the ethical politics of solidarity and coalitional building in post-apartheid South Africa.

Jordache A. Ellapen is Associate Professor of Feminist Studies in Culture and Media at the University of Toronto. He has spent the last two years (2024-2026) as an Associate Professor of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. With graduate training in South Africa and the USA, Ellapen works at the intersections of Global Black Studies, Feminist and Q***r Studies, and Visual Culture and Performance Studies. He has a particular interest in the making of race within the Indian Ocean world and genealogies of Blackness outside of the Atlantic World. He is the author of Indenture Aesthetics: Afro-Indian Femininities and the Q***r Limits of South African Blackness (Duke University Press, 2025), and a number of award-winning articles.

Tuesday, 19 May, 13.00, online and at the WiCDS office (13th floor, Es’Kia Mphahlele Building, cnr Jorrisen and Jan Smuts, above Wits Art Museum). Refreshments will be served.

Registration link for online attendance: https://wits-za.zoom.us/meeting/register/K1WT8dXeSL2Z3EJPI_oBDQ #/registration

***rness -IndianFemininities

🔉 EVENT: The ACMS invites you to this panel discussion by Prof. Jane Freedman (Université Paris VIII Vincennes - Saint-Denis) and Dr Aron Tesfai (Indepedent Researcher) on the European Research Council (ERC) funded Growing Up Across Borders (GRABS) project.

📆 Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026
⏰Time: 12:30-13:30 (GMT+2)
📍Venue: ACMS Seminar Room (2163), Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd Floor), Wits - University of the Witwatersrand (see directions here: https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/DirectionsACMS.pdf)
ℹ️For more details and the Zoom link, visit our website: https://migration.org.za/acms-seminar-growing-up-across-borders/

📝Abstract:
Growing Up Across Borders (GRABS) is a project at the Université Paris 8 that explores how migration, mobility, and urban life shape the health, wellbeing, and everyday experiences of young people across Southern Africa. Bringing together research, dialogue, and community engagement, the project focuses particularly on the ways mobile and migrant youth navigate access to healthcare, social support, education, and opportunities within contexts of inequality and precarity. By centring young people’s lived experiences across borders, the project aims to generate evidence that informs more inclusive policies, responsive health systems, and youth-centred approaches to social justice and development.

Highlights from our first SOSS Seminar on Thursday, 19 March 2026 on Decolonising the Media: Gender Euphorias, which approached decolonising the media as an unlearning of the stories that have taught us who we are allowed to be. Our next one is on Wednesday, 20 May 2026 and is titled Language & Theory: Interrogating The Use of Western Feminist Frameworks in the Global South with Speakers Dr. Christiana Kelly and Shinta Jennifer Ayebazibwe and Chaired by Mila Mabhongo. RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfb3YnOb3OVeXj-VklHWvAICtEVRIV82B0eUzc6yQBATEglMw/viewform?fbclid=IwY2xjawRFjyhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe7_E4OW-nqTXjVv8mMWdz_eY8CRk8455xcfEKo8xPiqsbQmM931M74Bz9SI0_aem_YVr2j8pp0jCxEtGTXQf48g