Wits School of Social Sciences

12/09/2026

You are invited ✨

The Wits Anthropology Department invites you to a critical reflection with Naledi Mtshweni, Gwydion Beynon, Eric Itzkin, Thandolwethu Thwala, and Dr. Sisanda Msekele, on the ways anthropology shapes careers beyond academia, including in the arts, NGOs, corporate life, and governance!

If you will be joining online, please find the link below. See ya!

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/388395730608839?p=LSj6qkq7eTVnmno4Jn

Meeting ID: 388 395 730 608 839

Passcode: sp7rV7Uu

10/09/2026

Fieldwork safety and institutional support: Linking the Humanities and Sciences

A Roundtable Discussion, WISER Seminar Room, 1pm to 3pm, 10th September, 2026


Sponsored by the Wits Research Office, the School of Social Science, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and IFAS-Research.


Speakers:

· Laurent Bruxelles, research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in geomorphology, geoarchaeology and karstology, and co-director of the International Research Center (IRC Share) between Wits and the CNRS.
· Mary Evans, Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
· Nechama Brodie, Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media Studies and co Chair of the Non-Medical Research Ethics Committee, University of the Witwatersrand
· Joel Quirk, Professor of Politics, University of the Witwatersrand


Fieldwork safety and institutional support

Despite some recent advances, universities in South Africa currently provide little or no safeguards for and guidance to their researchers when it comes to planning and undertaking of fieldwork safely and with integrity. Existing ethics processes tend to focus on respondents (such as consent and confidentiality) and have less to offer on researcher safety. It is clear, moreover, that compliance considerations are typically prioritised over the more challenging and contextually specific challenges associated with undertaking fieldwork in delicate, difficult, and/or distant spaces. Wits has recently introduced additional distress protocols for fieldwork deemed to carry an elevated risk where respondents might suffer distress. However, there is nothing comparable for researcher safety and support. Good supervisors will handle this responsibility for their students, but not all are aware of these issues or capable of providing effective guidance. Currently, there is no central system or support for researchers facing (sexual) violence, serious health emergencies, or detention by police or other authorities. The duty of care that institutions owe to their staff and students should also encompass specific protocols for their safety and well-being in the field.


Linking the Humanities and Sciences

Guidance, support and training around fieldwork safety and integrity are challenges that researchers in both the Humanities and Sciences face together. Safety considerations while undertaking fieldwork are equally applicable when doing both core samples and undertaking interviews. Everyone risks getting sick in remote areas irrespective of disciplinary background. Visas, border guards and roadblocks are challenges which everyone needs to navigate. Vulnerabilities and positionalities associated with gender, race, resources are both crucial and inescapable, yet South African universities and other institutions are not currently offering sufficient training or guidance. Our aim here should be to provide support and guidance, rather than to expand compliance. Ethics approval processes are undoubtedly necessary, but they also have a poor reputation when it comes to prioritising legal liability over everything else. Adding more boxes to tick and report on should not be confused with taking fieldwork safety and integrity seriously.


Towards best and better practice?

This isn’t just a question of personal safety. It is also a question of the larger challenges and complications which tend to arise when planning and undertaking extended fieldwork in both the sciences and humanities. Here are some of the larger questions and considerations at stake here:

· What kinds of ethical obligations do researchers (and institutions) owe to the individuals and communities where they conduct their research?
· How can risks and dilemmas associated with fieldwork be planned for and managed better?
· What kinds of practical steps and planning need to be taken to ensure researcher health and safety, especially for younger female researchers?
· How should researchers respond to requests for, and/or raised expectations of, help from vulnerable individuals while doing fieldwork in impoverished communities?
· When and how much should researchers compensate their respondents for their time and expertise?
· What are the best ways of successfully negotiating roadblocks and police stops?
· How do concerns about safety and risk affect the kinds of data that can and should be collected?
· How should universities and other actors both plan for and respond to dangers and dilemmas encountered in the field?
· What strategies and responses are required if/when the worst happens?
· How should researchers handle the challenges presented by dominant modes of extractivism and associated knowledge economies?

02/09/2026

Kindly join us for the 3rd session of the SoSS 2026 seminar series.

DECOLONISING GENDER: HISTORIES, RESISTANCES, AND FUTURES
Date: 3rd September 2026
Time: 12:00 – 14:00
Venue: Humanities Graduate Centre, room 10, ground floor, South West Engineering Building
Scan to register: code available in the attached poster

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/355008448745743?p=UCbQmHNv7xPQjlNVmv

02/09/2026

02/09/2026

Part of the Wits Anthropology Department's centenary celebrations, this special roundtable brings together alumni who studied anthropology at Wits and have since gone on to build distinguished academic careers at universities across South Africa and beyond.

The discussion will reflect on the department's intellectual legacy and the diverse trajectories of alumni who have carried anthropology into various academic departments and institutions. Panellists will share insights from their academic journeys, revisit their experiences in the department, reflect on how anthropology has shaped their intellectual and professional journeys, and consider how the discipline continues to inform their teaching, research, and public scholarship. They will also consider the challenges and opportunities facing anthropology in a rapidly changing world.

Inspired by Francis Nyamnjoh's reflections on anthropology in his essay Blinded by Sight: Divining the Future of Anthropology in Africa, the roundtable takes up and grapples with the idea of "divining futures" as a scholarly practice. This involves reading the signs of the times in which we are immersed and using those insights to imagine, anticipate, and critically engage possible futures. Drawing on historical perspectives, personal trajectories, and experiences within different universities and departments, panellists will explore how anthropology has changed, where it stands today, and what directions it might take in the years ahead.

More than a celebration of the past, this conversation is an invitation to reflect on the future of anthropology in South Africa and across the African continent. Together, the panellists will consider the questions, challenges, and opportunities that may shape the discipline over the next hundred years.

To join online:
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/319259194428690?p=Jz3Nd5MTj4ryCeaVed
Meeting ID: 319 259 194 428 690
Passcode: hE3HY3aV

See you soon!

30/07/2026

Wits Philosophy Research Seminar

Aribiah Attoe
University of the Witwatersrand

God Hates Black Being


Thursday, 30 July 2026

15:00 – 17:00 (SAST)

Attend in person: Philosophy Seminar Room, CB 3C (Robert Sobukwe Block), Department of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand.

Attend online: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/92680737014?pwd=ndt6AM5Qv3KyLfIbQMDFPbYXBaOk8b.1


Abstract:
While it is not news that (belief in African versions of) God or the Supreme Being did nothing to restrict the emergence of black being through slavery and colonialism, or quell the default antiblack structure of the world; and while it is true that scholars like Steve Biko have advocated a new type of black theology that situates the belief in God within the context of black struggles and as a tool for liberation, I note a more insidious ontological problem. In this talk, I explore a novel metaphysical view that indicates that antiblackness (that is, the systemic hate/disdain for black being) is properly inscribed in the primordial nature of the first cause. Through the framework of predeterminism (from a mechanistic point of view), or through the belief in an omnipotent and omniscient God (from the dominant theological point of view), I argue that the unfolding of this world, in its current antiblack posture, is necessarily traceable to the precise nature of the first cause, or God’s foreknowledge and intention, respectively. I show that this thesis has several implications that require a new type of black theology. These implications include the following: (1) that the experience and persistence of antiblackness presupposes a divine disdain for black being, (2) that the emergence and continued existence (rather than the total extermination) of black being, despite black (social) death and suffering, indicates that black death/suffering serves some divine sadomasochistic function, (3) that prayer, worship and supplication do not serve a lenitive function but can only serve to accentuate black shame and suffering, and (4) that the problem of evil does not apply to black being since it is thought of as lacking moral status.

For further information, please contact Bogdan Dicher at [email protected].

30/07/2026

Governing Gauteng: Practices, principles, and possibilities for local government

2 August, Wits Theatre, 9am to 4pm

Members of the Wits community and interested members of the general public are invited to attend a public colloquium focusing on the challenges of governing Gauteng. This conversation takes place in the shadow of the November elections, but we haven’t invited campaigning politicians. We have instead brought together a series of local governance experts who have lots of on the ground experience when it comes to research and/or policy, so we can focus on what is actually happening within Gauteng, since anyone seeking to hold public office will face a host of practical challenges.

To register for this event, please click https://tinyurl.com/3mazsene

The 1998 White Paper on Local Government committed, ‘to working with citizens, groups and communities to create sustainable human settlements which provide for a decent quality of life and meet the social, economic and material needs of communities in a holistic way.’ Almost 30 years later, municipal officeholders are once again being put the test, with fierce competition for votes in a context where the ANC has declined and there is now genuine uncertainty about who might govern locally and what comes next. Everyone running for political office agrees that reforms are urgent, but translating rhetoric into practice remains the ultimate test of progress. Voters across Gauteng will go to the polls in November amidst struggles for basic services. Housing has not kept up with demand. Nor have schools or clinics. Many homes lack water and electricity. Some get it sporadically. Bureaucrats, politicians and police who are mandated to serve the public have been captured by private interests. Stand-over tactics associated with construction mafias and taxi associations have migrated to many economic sectors. Even the provision of law and order – the foundational attribute of any government – is increasingly contested at the level of both practice and legitimacy. Communities who no longer trust local government to provide have taken matters into their own hands in different ways.

This event is sponsored by
· Everything Everywhere All at Once
· The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)
· The Mobility Governance Lab (MGL)
· The Transformation and Employment Equity Office
· The Wits School of Social Science

01/07/2026

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:

News24’s Book of the Month for July is Soweto Uprising: A documentary history by Julian Brown.

29/06/2026

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.