1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature

Unisa College of Human Sciences
School of Arts
Selection criteria for Master’s and Doctoral studies in the College of Human Sciences (CHS)
The CHS proposes a responsible, flexible and transparent selection process for postgraduate
candidates to comply with section 37 of the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 (as amended). In
particular, CHS criteria are informed by subsection 4 of section 37, which states that the “admission
policy of a public higher education institution must provide appropriate measures for the redress of
past inequalities and may not unfairly discriminate in any way”.
The CHS also recognises that differences amongst the departments and disciplines in the College
demand slight variations in the application of the selection criteria. In departments where demand is
high and academics are operating at full capacity, selection criteria will be applied more stringently. In
disciplines with available capacity the criteria will be more flexibly applied to allow greater inclusivity.
In all cases, the selection will take place according to the viability of a research project, as outlined in
the expression of interest essay (please see below), as well as the availability of supervisory capacity
and research expertise in the department. In departments that are undersubscribed at postgraduate
level, academics may be willing to assist candidates to bring their proposed research projects in line
with the departmental research focus areas. In such departments and where the departmental and /
or proposed student research areas are broadly indicated, candidates may negotiate a topic; the final
decision will, however, be based on the supervisory capacity in the department.
The selection of candidates for Master’s and Doctoral studies will be done through the assessment of
a three to five page expression of interest essay containing the following:
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Topic
Aims and objectives
Research questions
Short literature review
Potential contribution of the study
Proposed research methodology
Personal and/or professional motivation to pursue studies on this topic
List of references
The following criteria will be applied to assess the expression of interest essay:
a) Academic merit: Quality in terms of originality, rigour, theoretical basis and significance of
the study (25)
b) Relevance to departmental focus areas: The fit between the departmental focus areas and
the proposed research project (25)
c) Evidence of intellectual sophistication and research competence appropriate for either
Masters or Doctoral studies: The candidate’s skills and abilities in analysing, synthesising,
applying, and evaluating information. Familiarity with and competence in terms of basic
research methodology as appropriate for the proposed research project (25)
d) Writing skills: The candidate’s ability to write in academically acceptable language (as
stipulated by the relevant academic department) i.e. the extent to which the essay conveys
coherent and well-developed arguments that are supported with relevant, detailed and
convincing evidence; the logical sequence of paragraphs with content-based transitions; the
use of appropriate diction and tone, constructively varied sentence structures, and the use of
correct grammar, punctuation, spelling and syntax (25)
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The College of Human Sciences uses the generic admission requirements that were approved by
Senate, as published on the UNISA website.
Please note:
In the Departmental research focus areas, the supervision capacity is indicated per department in
some cases and per academic in other cases. The numbers of new M and D candidates that an
academic can accommodate in 2015 is indicated in brackets under their names. In cases where there
are zeros (0) under a name, candidates may contact the department to discuss alternative topics or to
ascertain whether the academic will have capacity in the future. In the case of the latter, candidates
may be invited to apply the following year.
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Department of African Languages
In line with the University of South Africa’s status as a world- class open-distance teaching, learning
and research institution, the Department of African Languages is committed to the promotion,
development and use of the African languages, in particular Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho,
Tswana, Venda, Tsonga, Shona, Xhosa, Swati, Zulu and Ndebele.
Departmental research focus areas/niches:
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African languages and linguistics
African languages literature (traditional and modern)
Children’s literature
Computational Morphology
Folklore
Language planning and language policy
Onomastics
Terminology and Lexicography
Translation and Interpretation
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. SE Bosch
• Zulu linguistics: morphology and syntax
• Language processing (computational morphological analysis for Nguni languages, developing
language resources)
• Lexicography
Capacity: M/D (2)
Prof. IM Kosch
• Northern Sotho linguistics, morphology, lexicography
Capacity: M/D (2)
Dr KY Ladzani
• Venda linguistics, literature and discourse analysis
Capacity: M/D (2)
Dr JC le Roux
• Tswana linguistics, semantics, morphology
• Language attitude and worldview
Capacity: M/D (2-3)
Mr XE Mabaso
• Tsonga linguistics, morphology, semantics
Capacity: M (1)
Dr EM Mabuza
• Zulu linguistics, morphology, terminology and lexicography, onomastics
Capacity: M/D (5)
Dr FS Madonsela
• Swati and Zulu linguistics, morphology, semantics and translation studies
Capacity: M/D (2-3)
Prof. MJ Mafela
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• Main language: Tshivenḓa
• African literature, terminology and lexicography
• Translation studies
• Children’s literature
• Folklore
• Intercultural communication studies
Capacity: M/D (3-4)
Prof. MR Masubelele
• Zulu pragmatics
• Translation studies
• Children’s literature
Capacity: M/D (2)
Dr N Masuku
• Zulu literature (prose, folklore)
• Gender issues
Capacity: M/D (1)
Prof. DJ Matjila
• Tswana literacy development, applied linguistics & literature
Capacity : M/D (1)
Dr SR Mdluli
• Zulu & Swati literature, folklore, poetry
Capacity: M/D (0)
Dr ML Mojapelo
• Northern Sotho (theoretical and applied linguistics)
Capacity: M/D (2)
Prof. DE Mutasa
• Shona linguistics & literature, prose, poetry, sociolinguistics, language policy and planning
and multilingualism
Capacity: M/D (6)
Dr PH Nkuna
• Linguistics: phonetics, phonology, language policy
Capacity: M/D (3)
Prof. CD Ntuli
• Zulu literature: prose, poetry, children’s literature
Capacity: M/D (1)
Dr LP Phaahla
• Northern Sotho, language planning and policy, sociolinguistics, semantics, morphology, public
relations
• L2 language acquisition children and adults
• Communication
• Indigenous knowledge system
• Computer aided language learning (CALL)
Capacity : M/D (3)
Prof. TM Sengani
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• Venda, linguistics & literature, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, poetry
Capacity: M/D (2)
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Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature
The Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature offers opportunities for postgraduate studies in
Afrikaans Literature, Afrikaans Linguistics and Theory of Literature. The Theory of Literature involves
Theory of Drama, Theory of Narrative and Poetry, and Critical Theory
Departmental research focus areas/niches:
Afrikaans Literature
• Afrikaans literature (prose and poetry)
• South African drama
• Contemporary drama and theatre studies
• Drama and theatre semiotics
• Children’s and youth literature
• Afrikaans gay literature
• Queer studies
• Cultural studies
• Literary nonfiction
• Literary historiography
• Literature and knowledge systems
Afrikaans Linguistics
• Document design
• Behaviour change communication
• Cognitive semantics
• Lexicography
• Sociolinguistics
• Forensic linguistics
• Language performance
Theory of Literature
• Genre theory
• General literary theory
• Critical theory, philosophy and literature
• South African literary studies
• Post colonialism
• Comparative literature
• Cultural studies
• Animal studies
• Ecocriticism
• JM Coetzee
• The Indian Diaspora
• Bollywood Cinema
• Children’s Literature
• Creative writing
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. M Keuris
• Contemporary drama and theatre studies
• Drama and theatre semiotics
• South African drama
Capacity: M (2), D (2)
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Prof. JL Coetser
• Afrikaans literature (drama, prose, children’s and youth/young adult literature)
Capacity: M (2), D (1)
Dr E Lemmer
• Afrikaans literature (prose and poetry)
• The interaction of literature with other knowledge systems such as science, law, history,
anthropology and ecology
• A particular interest in the phenomenon of literary nonfiction
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Ms L Beer
• Afrikaans poetry
• Afrikaans literature (all genres)
• Literary historiography pertaining to Zimbabwe, Zambia and the DRC (Congo)
Capacity: M (0), D (0)
Mr N Cochrane
• Contemporary Afrikaans poetry
• Afrikaans gay literature
• Queer studies
Capacity: M (0), D (0)
Prof. EO Saal
• Sociolinguistics and document design, with a specific focus on teenage and texting language
Capacity: M (1), D (1)
Dr E Lombard
• Language performance
• Forensic linguistics
• Subject methodology
• ODL
Capacity: M (0), D (0)
Mr T Carney
• Forensic linguistics
• Cognitive semantics
• Lexical semantics
• Dutch studies (Neerlandistiek)
Capacity: M (0), D (0)
Prof. AW Oliphant
• Genre theory
• General literary theory
• South African literary studies
• Post colonialism
• Comparative literature
• Cultural studies
Capacity: M (4), D (0)
Dr RA Northover
• J.M. Coetzee
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• Animal studies (animal ethics)
• Ecocriticism (ecofeminism)
• General literary theory
• Critical theory, philosophy and literature
Capacity: M (3), D (0)
Dr G Sansalvadore
• Gothic narrative
• Victorian and neo-Victorian narrative
• Pulp and popular fiction
• Modernism and postmodernism
• Modern poetry
Capacity: M (3), D (3)
Mrs A Ayob
• The Indian Diaspora
• Bollywood cinema
• Transnationalism
• Children’s literature
Capacity: M (3), D (0)
Please note:
The Department has a maximum capacity for 2015 of 30: M (21), D (9)
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Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology
The Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology takes cognisance of the cultural diversity
and needs of their students within a dynamic and democratic society. They aim to promote artistic
awareness and nurture creative and critical skills. They have committed themselves to attaining high
standards and they strive to be of service to the community.
Discipline of Musicology
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. M Duby
• Philosophy, especially as related to embodiment and cognition
• Jazz studies
• Music in South Africa
• Phenomenology of performance
• Learning theory, improvisation, critical theory, philosophy of mind, as well as semiotics,
phenomenology, music cognition and perception
Capacity: M/D (0)
Dr T Pooley
• Music cognition, Africanist ethnomusicology, and historical musicology:
(1) African music and linguistics with a focus on Nguni languages and song traditions. I employ
ethnographic and cognitive methods.
(2) South African art music in the mid-to-late twentieth century with a focus on fields of cultural
production and cross-cultural composition.
• Evolutionary anthropology, philosophy of cognitive science, and nineteenth century music,
especially Chopin.
Capacity: M (1), D (1)
Ms A Behr
• Afrikaans music and Jewish music in twentieth century South Africa with focus on examining
the respective music historiographies and relevant archives of these two genres. I specialise
in archival research, which includes skills in compiling online databases, and methodological
skills in content analysis of texts.
• Theoretical interests include notions of cosmopolitanism and Diaspora studies.
• South African art music composition and practice.
Capacity: M (3)
Mr C Jeffery
• Composition
• Music technology
• Film music
• Music analysis
• Music theory
Capacity: M (2)
Prof. K Devroop
• Quantitative and qualitative research in the field of music and medicine and music and
psychology
• Career development of amateur and professional musicians in various fields including music
education, classical musicians, jazz musicians and high school and university level musicians
• The impact of music instruction on disadvantaged youth.
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Community music/community outreach
Key areas: jazz, music education, music and medicine, music and psychology and community
outreach
Capacity: M (2), D (2)
Discipline of Visual Arts
Dr N P Mpako
• African art and cultural history
• Visual narratives of cultural capital and heritage
• Art education, curriculum and professional development in visual art
Capacity: M/D (0)
Dr Ania Krajewska
• Interrogating conventional notions of art and science by showing them as vehicles of and for
transmission of culture
• Evolution of culture, Theory of Mind, categorization, pattern recognition, narratives and
framed narratives, simulation and neuroscience
Capacity: M/D (0)
Andrew Smith
• Posthumanism
• Esoteric symbolism
• Greco-Roman mythology
• Comics studies
• Animation
• Drawing, digital and new media art
Capacity: M/D (0)
Ms EW Willemse
• Displacement
• Place and space
• Urban development
• Memory and the archive
• Activist art
• Environmental psychology
• Contemporary art-making practices
• Trauma studies and art therapy
Capacity: M (2)
Ms G Miller
• Intermedia practice
• The extension and diffusion of boundaries between software and analogue arts
• Contemporary art-making practices
• Specialist in painting, drawing and installation
• Collaborative art projects
• The aesthetics of the sublime
• Practice-led research
• Transmedia narratives
• Curation and professional exhibition practice
Capacity: M (1)
Mr PS Cooper
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• Site-Specific art practices
• Art in the urban/public domain
• Space/Place/Site
Capacity M (4)
Ms N Lüneburg
• Video art as catalyst for traumatic and dissociative memory, the subconscious and the dream
world, altermodernism and postmodernism
• New media such as video installations and interactive art
Capacity: M/D (0)
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Discipline of Art History
Prof. B M R Van Haute
• Seventeenth-century Netherlandish art
• Early Modern art in Europe
• African art
Capacity: M (3), D (1)
Prof. F J Potgieter
• Modernism, postmodernism, deconstruction, post-structuralism; ideology; revisionism
• Sculpture
• Advertising
Capacity: M (1), D (1)
Mr NJ Coetzee
• South African art and cultural history
• Art as social-critical practice (ideology)
Capacity: M/D (0)
Mrs E McDowall
• Urban and consumer culture
• The flâneur
• Women and the city
• Surveillance and the gaze
• Interactive art
• Ideology in visual culture
• South African art and Contemporary art
Capacity: M (1)
Ms S Dullay
• Cultural Production and Cultural Studies
• Queer Studies
• Postcolonial Studies
• Dialectics
• Pan African/Tricontinental Studies
• Critical Theories of Race and Sexuality
• Decolonialism
• Art Theory
• Continental Philosophy
• Exile/Migration/Diaspora Studies
• Art as Activism, Art and Revolution
Capacity: M/D (0)
Mr B Mkhonza
• Curatorship
Capacity: M (2)
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Department of Communication Science
The Department of Communication Science of the University of South Africa has distinguished itself
as a dynamic and credible leader in the field of communication science teaching. The Department is
committed to making a difference in the lives of students and to contribute to the development of
society by means of our teaching and research.
Departmental research focus areas/niches:
• Media sociology (the media in/and society)
• Media (and) representation (this would include, for example, a sub-field of feminism or gender
studies)
• Cultural studies
• Media and development
• Media policy and regulation
• Media and democracy
• Media management
• Media and community
• Media audiences (media reception and use)
• Media and/in international communication
• International communication
• Telecommunications & Information Policy
• ODL related media research
• New media and the new media environment
• Journalism and media genres
• Film studies
• Television studies
• Media research methodology
• Political communication
• Health communication
Niche areas: Organisational Communication
• Organisational Communication (general)
• Public relations/image management
• Advertising
• Media Studies (Broadcasting, Newspaper and Magazine Journalism)
• Political communication / public relations
• Applied communication
• Marketing communication and integrated marketing communication
• Management communication
• Corporate communication
• Internal communication/ intra-organisational communication / integrated organisational
communication
• Strategic communication
• Organisational discourse
• Concept of Learning Organisations and organisational learning
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. R Barker
• Organisational communication
• Development of theoretical models/measuring instruments for strategic integrated communication
and online social networks
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• Validation in industry: applied and reflexive Web-based/online communication
• Social networks; identity/self; strategic integrated communication/relationship marketing; public
relations.
Prof. Danie du Plessis
• Public Relations / communication management
• Learning organisations / organisational learning
• News values
• Political Communication
Prof. E Bornman
• International communication
• Media studies
• Identity in multicultural societies
Prof. C du Plessis
• Marketing, marketing communication and integrated marketing communication
• IMC (including brands, branding, online marketing and marketing communications, social media
marketing, mobile marketing and other areas of marketing – both inbound and outbound)
• Online communication (all areas within the organisational communication discipline)
• Organisational discourse (including rhetoric)
• Q methodology
• Corporate social responsibility
Prof. NC Lesame
• Telecommunications & Information Policy
• International Communication
• Broadcasting
• New Media
• Technology
• Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMMEs)
• Media and Women
• Tele-Working,
• Teaching and Learning with New media in an ODL environment
Dr Beschara Karam
• The representation of trauma and memory
• Film studies (post-colonial studies; Gender/Feminism; Psychoanalysis; South African Cinema;
Philosophy and Film)
• Political Communication
Prof. ET Terblanche
• Educational communication
• Leadership in communication
• Brain profiles
• Organisational communication
Prof. BT Mbatha
• Organisational Communication (Public Relations & Marketing)
• New Media
• HIV/AIDS
Mr Christo Cilliers
• Health communication
• HIV & communication issues
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• Gender representation in the media (magazines)
• Gay (male) studies
• Masculinity in the media
• Homosexuality (male) in the media
• Interpersonal/Intrapersonal communication
Names of staff holding externally funded grants in 2013-2015.
• Prof. Bornman received a research grant to pursue her research while also being appointed as
Research Professor. Prof Bornman is conducting research on the following:
i. Language attitudes of non-English-speaking students
ii. Women-in-Research project - socio-political orientations and media usage patterns of South African
youth
iii. Social identification in South Africa
• Prof. Lesame (with Prof Mbatha, Ms Seti & Ms Ratshinanga) received the Women in Research (Wi-R) Grant to conduct research in new media and digital literacy in e-centres in South Africa. The
research focus is on e-skills in an information society.
• Dr Julie Reid’s Research Project: the Media Policy and Democracy Project
Type of project: collaborative research initiative between the Department of Communication Science
at UNISA and the School of Media Studies and Journalism at Rhodes University.
Project members from Unisa: Prof Viola Milton, Dr Julie Reid, Ms Martine van der Walt, Mr Bert
Kirsten, Mr Jabulani Nkuna, Ms Kelly Hawkins.
• Ms Sibango and other colleagues are conducting an ODL communication study.
Research topic: New media as pedagogical tools in an ODL environment
Members of the research project: Ms Sibango Babalwa, Ms Thandeka Radebe, Mr Sipho Netanda, Mr
Nkuna Jabulani, Mr Nkosinathi Selekane, Dr Blessing Mbatha.
Please note:
In Media Masters and doctoral studies, the department can accommodate 50 new candidates in 2015.
In Organisational Communication Masters and doctoral studies, the department can accommodate
20-28 new candidates in 2015.
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Department of English Studies
The Department of English Studies is one of the largest departments in Africa with about 80 lecturers
specialising in various fields and a number of NRF-rated researchers. They are actively involved in
diverse academic activities and pride ourselves on our accomplishments. They also host a number of
peer reviewed academic journals.
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Language experts:
Ms B Badal
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Multilingualism employing the theory of Lev Vygotsky
The use of stylistics in literature teaching in Multilingual settings
Mr J Chokwe
• Curriculum design of ESL courses at tertiary level
Dr A Conduah
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Second language acquisition
Learning of destination languages by immigrants
Methods of teaching English (Reading , writing, speaking and listening)
Language in education policy
Critical Discourse Analysis
Multiliteracies
Prof. C Davey
• Humanising the learning transaction via effective language teaching and learning strategies
• Teaching and learning English as additional language for exceptional learners
• Accountable use of education technology in English language education
• Curriculating for content and language intensive teaching and learning
• Futurist studies of the changing nature of the content of, and demand for, English to speakers
of other languages (ESOL) as influenced by international language reform, globalization,
multi-culturalism and the rise of functionalism
Ms V Hlatshwayo
• Literacy in education
• The acquisition of English proficiency
• Teaching English to speakers of other languages
Mr TJ Kekana
• English in education
• TESOL
• Pedagogies of English language
• Multilingualism
Prof. MMK Lephalala
• Academic Writing
• Writing across the curriculum (WAC)
• Critical Reading
• Reading for pleasure at primary school
• Literacies and identity
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English in education
English language teaching and didactics
Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Dr B Makina
• English in education
• Didactics of English
• The role and training of English teachers
• TESOL
Dr PB Makoe
• The politics of English
• English in education
• Language ideologies
• Language socialisation, multilingualism in schooling
• Language and Identity
Dr B Nchindila
• The status and teaching of English in African countries
• Using English as a medium of instruction in ESL and EFL young learners
• Teaching English as a subject to ESL and EFL young learners
• Teaching English for content subjects or Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
• Reading literacy in English
• English for academic and professional purposes
• English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
• TESOL
• Materials development in English
Mr SC Ndlangamandla
• Academic literacy (in Open Distance Learning), EAP/ESP
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• English in education
• English language and multilingualism
Mr JD Proctor
• Process writing
• Acquisition of proficiency in English
• Curriculum design of ESL courses
• Business and professional writing
Ms RA Scheepers
• Corpus linguistics: corpus stylistics; formulaic sequences/multiword units; vocabulary studies
• JD Salinger, Jane Austen
• Contemporary literary fiction (American and British)
Ms T Shandu
• Reading and teaching reading for vocabulary development
• TESOL in ODL
• Teaching English for specific professional purposes
• Translation and interpreting
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Prof. B Spencer
• World Englishes and its impact on TESOL
• Response to student writing
• Research into power relations in the TESOL industry (e.g. NNESTs vs. NESTs)
Ms B Thoka
• South African literary history
• TESOL
Ms H N Tlaka
• English education in the primary school
• English teaching approaches and teaching methodologies
• Curriculum implementation
• Language and literacy development
• English material development in English
• Story writing and telling
Ms P Tshetlo
• Applied linguistics
• Language for academic, specific and communication purposes
• New literacies
• Language and identity
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Critical pedagogy
• Critical literacy
• Critical emancipatory research
• Convergence of the cognitive and the affective in educational contexts
• Gendered interpretation of feminism in the African context specifically feminist Empowerment
and consciousness-raising
Ms N Zindela
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TESOL (testing and language acquisition)
Corpus studies
Applied pragmatics
Discourse and genre analysis
Applied phonology and phonetics
Academic writing with a focus on lexicogrammar
Language learning in an E-learning environment
Literary experts:
Ms M Bettman
• South African drama of the Market Theatre during Barney Simon’s tenure
• Community based drama or Forum Theatre as developed by Augusto Boal
• The dramatical works of Athol Fugard
Mr A Carolin
• Theorising representations of whiteness in South Africa
• South African cultural studies (focusing particularly on LGBTI public cultures)
• Intersections of race, gender and sexuality in transitional and post-transitional South African
fiction (K. Sello Duiker, Mark Behr, Michiel Heyns)
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Dr E Donaldson
• Feminist speculative fiction with a focus on Joanna Russ, Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler and
the evolution of feminist speculative fiction from the 1970s onwards
• Science fiction from the 1970s onwards with a focus on the Other and the female hero
• Fantasy with a focus on the ‘hero’ archetype, the hero’s journey, Foucauldian explorations of
power and notions of evil from the perspective of adolescent developmental psychology
• Horror and the plight of the hero
• Folklore and its application and revision in fantasy and children’s literature particularly from
the perspective of the adolescent adoption of norms in the framework of developmental
psychology
• Fairy tales and myth and their application and revision in contemporary fantasy, science
fiction and children’s literature and what this suggests about social change from the
perspective of contemporary development psychology
• Children’s literature with a focus on children’s fantasy and horror and the heroic monomyth in
terms of developmental psychology
Mr R Fourie
• Postcolonial studies focusing on mimicry and hybridity (Bhabha); the Subaltern (Gramsci,
Spivak) in relation to South African fiction, specifically the subgenre of the farm novel;
comparative approaches (SA English and Afrikaans literature
• Ecocriticism (Bryson, Buell, Glotfelty)
• Trauma studies particularly trauma and narrative (Caruth, LaCapra) in South African fiction,
specifically fiction on the South African War, also apartheid and post-apartheid texts
Dr G Graham-Smith
• Shakespeare, with particular focus on the problem plays
• British literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a specific focus on Virginia
Woolf and Michael Cunningham
• Literature of the Commonwealth: Patrick White’s fiction
• Literary theory: poststructuralism, with a specific emphasis on Lacan
• Queer theory, with particular reference to the approaches of Lee Edelman and Judith Butler
• Popular culture, with a specific focus on the work of Theodor Adorno
Ms F Ismail
• Representations of space in South African Fantastic Literatures
• The Interrelations of Romanticism and Imperial Writing
• Orientalism in Children's Fantasy Literature from 1945 – present
• Postcolonial theory of Edward Said
Ms BC Janari
• Theories of place and spatiality in the South African literary studies
• South African literary studies with special focus on the work of JM Coetzee
Prof. FA Kalua
• Postcolonial literature specifically the aspects of hybridity, diasporic identities, postcolonial
feminism, ambiguity, mestizaje and creolisation using the theories of Frantz Fanon, Edward
Said, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Gloria Anzaldua, and other cultural theorists such as
Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, and Raymond Williams
• New Historicism using theories and methodologies that are typically Historicist in focus and
emphasis, notably those that draw on poststructuralist discourses postulated by theorist such
as Michel Foucault, Fredric Jameson, Stephen Greenblatt and Raymond Williams
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African literature in English applying literary theory to the reading of African postcolonial texts
by writers such as Ngugi was Thiongo, Dambudzo Marechera, Bessi Head, Unity Dow,
Alexander McCall Smith (on Botswana), Chenjerai Hove, Beni Okri, and other
Ms R Knoetze
• Chaucer
• The romance genre in Chaucer and Middle English
• Middle English literature
Dr AD Kreuiter
• Gothic Literature 1880 – contemporary with a focus on spectrality
• Science fiction/Fantasy specialising in cyberpunk, steampunk and New Weird with
concentration on hybrid forms (cyborgs, androids, fragmented female bodies)
• Kristevan theory of Abjection and the Semiotic and Symbolic
• Narratology
• Theories of space and place in Modern and contemporary literary texts focusing on the
concept of the heterotopia, spectrality and feminist cultural geography theory ( Gillian Rose,
Catherine Nash, Elizabeth Grosz. Elspeth Probyn, Steve Pile and Nigel Thrift)
• Crime novels (1880- to contemporary)
• Late Nineteenth Century literature (particularly the Decadent writers (1870 - 1910),
• First & Second World War poetry in English and French (Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg,
Siegfried Sassoon, Edward Thomas, Keith Douglas, Alun Lewis, Guillaume Apollinaire and
Rene Char)
• Visual/Textuality (the study of imagery in Modern and Postmodern literary texts and paintings
particularly Surrealism and the image of the fragmented body and the automaton/ marionette)
Ms RH Latha
• Writing by African Muslim women
Mr M Lento
• Literature of the American South
• Slave narratives
• Race and racism in African American writing
Prof. DNR Levey
• Science fiction and fantasy literature and criticism
• Alan Paton studies
• The interface between religion and literature
Prof. N Maake
• Dramaturgy, creative and academic writing
• Narratology, Formalism, Structuralism, Post-structuralism and Dialectical Materialism
• Language, literature and translation
Prof. S Maithufi
• Africa and the Diaspora
• Constructions of black feminism and masculinities
• Ritual therapy
• The South African short story
• The quotidian in depictions of the secular and the historical especially as theorised by Njabulo
Ndebele, Mbembe, Thomas A DuBois, De Certeau and Foucault, where it acts as a
representation of space, ritual/rite and self-reclamation
• Memory and the postcolony
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•
Harlem Renaissance poetry
Prof. KM Masemola
• Trans-cultural Memory in Intertextual Narratives: Autobiography, Film and Rhetoric
• Gilles Deleuze’s theory of immanence and becoming in representation
• Pierre-Félix Guattari
• Intersections of race, class & gender in the Diaspora
• South African autobiography
• “Minor Literature”
•
Antebellum American novels
• The Harlem Renaissance & after
• Quentin Tarantino’s filmography
• Specific authors: Vladimir Nabokov; Franz Kafka; John le Carré; Langston Hughes; Gore
Vidal; Burton Sankeralli; Derek Walcott; Fred Khumalo; Peter Abrahams
Ms M Mphahlele
• Black women writers in Southern Africa, with special reference to Miriam Tlali
• Exile Literature – the manifestation of exile, as in the divide between exile within the country
(South Africa) and exile outside the country (the diaspora)
• Decoloniality as a literary theory – its relevance in analysing literature and other art forms by
Black women in Southern Africa.
Prof. J Murray
• Feminist and queer literary analyses of Southern African women’s writing
• Trauma, testimony and women’s life writing
Dr RA Musvoto
• The interface between nation and narration in African literature
Dr JT Pridmore
• KwaZulu-Natal Literary history
• Irish Studies representation, iconographies, identity and historiographies
• JRR Tolkien Studies with a focus on JRR Tolkien and South Africa
• Old English with focus area Medievalism/Anglo Saxonism
Dr S-M Prozesky
• The interface between religion and literature
• Victorian literature (1850-1900)
• Work of Iris Murdoch
Prof. SI Raditlhalo
• Postcolonial literary theory
• South African literary historiography
• Theory of the postcolonial subject
• Auto/biographical Studies
• Modernity, colonial practice and its challenges
• Trauma Studies
Dr S Sibanda
• African literature
• South African youth literature
• Race theory and the concept of blackness
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•
•
Literary representations of blackness
Stereotyping as a literary device
Ms S Singh
• Victorian Literature (Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, H.G.
Wells)
• Romantic Literature (Lord Byron, Jane Austen)
• American Literature (Toni Morrison, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Alice Walker, Ernest
Hemingway, William Faulkner, Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, Zora Neale Hurston, Tennessee
Williams, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)
• Gender Studies (Luce Irigaray)
• Reader Response Theory (Wolfgang Iser)
• Science Fiction (Frank Herbert)
Prof. LJ Rafapa
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems in African and South African literature
• Post-nationalism in South African literature
• Sustainable development and post-apartheid black South African literature
• Human movement and Southern African literature; culture/identity and African literature
• South African literature and postcolonialism
• Autobiography and South African literature
• Feminism, Africanism and womanism in selected writings by South African women writers
Prof. MT Vambe
• Zimbabwean literature
• Popular Culture (film, Music)
• Latin American literature in English
Mr M van Niekerk
• Shakespeare
• Literary theory and intersections of literature and philosophy (especially the work of
Heidegger and Derrida)
Please note:
The Department of English Studies can accommodate 55 new Masters and doctoral candidates in
2015.
22
Department of Information Science
The Department of Information Science of the University of South Africa has been involved in the
education and training of library and information professionals since 1955. It offers a wider variety of
qualifications than any other institution in South Africa in different aspects and fields of Library and
Information Science on diploma, graduate and postgraduate level. Highly qualified lecturers, who are
specialists in these different aspects and fields, enable the Department to equip its students with the
best combination of knowledge and skills to work and survive in the information society.
Research interests or areas of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. OB Onyancha
• Bibliometrics
• Infometrics and webometrics
• Current trends in LIS
• Information and knowledge management
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
• ICTs in LIS
• Social informatics
Capacity: D (5)
Prof. T van der Walt
• Archival Science
• Children’s literature and services
• LIS education and training; current trends in LIS
• Indigenous knowledge systems
• Information access; information use; information behaviour and information seeking
• Archives and records management
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
Capacity: D (5)
Prof. P Ngulube
• Archival Science
• Archives and records management
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• LIS education and training
• Indigenous knowledge systems
• Information and knowledge management
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
• ICTs in LIS
• LIS and e-governance
• Social informatics
Capacity: D (5)
Prof. MK Minishi-Majanja
• LIS education and training
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
• ICTs in LIS
• Information dissemination
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
Capacity: D (5)
23
Prof. GV Jiyane
• Information access, information use, information behaviour and information seeking
• Information for development and change
• Information and knowledge society/culture
• Information society
• Information literacy
• Information dissemination, libraries and information centres or agencies
• User studies and user education
Capacity: M (2), D (3)
Dr L Dube
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• LIS education and training; current trends in LIS
• Indigenous knowledge systems
• Information and knowledge management
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Dr M Ngoepe
• Archival Science, archives and records management
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
• e-government
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Dr T Rodrigues
• Archival Science, archives and records management
• Information for development and change
• Information and knowledge society/culture
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Dr I Schellnack- Kelly
• Archival Science, archives and records management
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Mrs N. Wessels
• Information literacy and Family literacy
• School libraries
Capacity: M (3)
Ms K McGuirk
• Philosophy of information
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• Political economy of information
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Infopreneurship
• Social informatics
• User behaviour, IR and language
• Information and society/culture
Capacity: M (3)
Mrs M Du Preez
• Information organisation, representation and retrieval
• Information dissemination
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information behaviour and information seeking
Capacity: M (3)
Mrs M Mhlongo
• Information organisation, representation and retrieval
• Information dissemination
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information and knowledge management
• Information for development and change
• Indigenous knowledge systems
• Information behaviour and information seeking
Capacity: M (3)
Mr S Ndwandwe
• Information law, ethics and philosophy
• Political economy of information
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Social informatics
Capacity: M/D (0)
Mr S Mojapelo
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information literacy and family literacy
• Information dissemination
Capacity: M (3)
Dr M Fombad
• Information for development and change
• Information and society/culture
• Information and knowledge management
• Libraries and information centres or agencies (school, public, academic, private, national and
provincial libraries)
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
25
Mrs C Moyo
• Archival Science, Archives and Records Management
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Information Access
Capacity: M (3)
Mr J Chigada
• Knowledge management, knowledge systems
• Information and knowledge management
• Information for development and change
• Bibliometrics and infometrics
Capacity: M (3)
Dr W Nwagwu
• Infometrics/Webometrics
• Science and Technology Studies
• Information Behaviour
• Health Information Sources and Systems
• User studies
• Development information systems/sources
• Information and Society
• Organisation of information sources
• Social Media
Capacity: D (5)
Dr W Chilimo
• Information for development and change
• Libraries and information centres or agencies (academic libraries and community information
centres)
• ICTs in LIS
• Information behaviour and information seeking
• Information access
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
Dr T Mugwisi
• User studies and user education
• Information organisation, representation and retrieval
• Information literacy
• Libraries and information centres or agencies
• Information dissemination
• Information for development and change
• Information access, information use, information behaviour and information seeking
• Indigenous knowledge systems
Capacity: M (3), D (2)
.
26
Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages
Linguistics, the study of language, tries to answer questions such as what all languages have in
common, how languages differ from one another, what kind of varieties occur within a single
language, how written and spoken forms of language differ, how the mind processes language, how
children acquire language and literacy, how we learn additional languages, why languages change,
whether differences among groups in society are reflected in their language, and what translating and
interpreting across languages and cultures entail. The Department of Linguistics and Modern
Languages also includes the study of French and Portuguese languages and literature.
Departmental research focus areas/niches:
• General linguistics (depending on areas of expertise within the department)
• Sociolinguistics
• Applied linguistics (i.e. second language learning and teaching)
• Reading/literacy
• Translation studies
• French literature and language
• Portuguese literature and language
Individual research interests/fields of expertise of academics/supervisors:
Prof. CK Moropa
• Corpus based translation studies
• Literary translation
• Lexicography
• Terminology
Capacity: 0
Dr K Ndhlovu
• Corpus based translation studies
• Theories of translation
Capacity: M/D (1)
Mrs ABB Nokele
• Literary translation
• Cognitive linguistic perspectives in translation and terminology
Capacity: M (2)
Mr SJ Lebese
• Court interpreting
Capacity: M (1)
Mrs S Opperman
• Literary translation (English-Afrikaans)
Capacity: M (1)
Prof. S Madondo
• French
Capacity: M/D (1)
Mr A Barkhuizen
• French
Capacity: M (1)
27
Mr P Ferreira
• Portuguese
Capacity: M (1)
Prof. N Ngcobo
• Language planning and policy;
• Critical and cultural theories with regard to language
Capacity: M/D (2)
Dr DR Mabule
• Code-switching and code mixing
• Language ideology
• Language planning and policy
• Technical translation
• Literary translation
• Lexicography and terminology
Capacity: M/D (3)
Mr JHM Mfusi
• African linguistics – phonology/morphology/syntax;
• Corpus linguistics
Capacity: M (2)
Mr S Naicker
• Paradigms in Linguistic theory - conceptual metaphor theory, blending theory
• Philosophy of language
Capacity: M (2)
Mrs DT Nkwe
• Language planning
• Code switching
• Additional language learning and teaching
Capacity: M (1)
Ms H-G van Zweel
• Philosophy of Science
• Discourse Analysis/text linguistics; Cognitive linguistics
• Conceptual metaphor
Capacity: 0
Prof. EJ Pretorius
• Reading, literacy development
• Academic literacy
• Text linguistics
• Vocabulary development
Capacity: M/D (1)
Dr N Klapwijk
• Reading comprehension
• Academic literacy
• Computer-assisted language learning and e-learning
Capacity: M/D (1)
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Dr AC Wilsenach
• Phonemic awareness
• Dyslexia
• Additional language learning and teaching
Capacity: 0
Dr BE Zawada
• Cognitive linguistics
• Lexical semantics
• Language for special purposes
• ODL
Capacity: M/D (2)
29