Humanities Addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Part 1
Chair: Dr Liepollo Ntlhakana
8:45 – 8:55
Celimpilo Dladla/Alice Leal (Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies) – In what language? How language (and translation) policy impact social justice in South Africa today
8:55 – 9:05
Joy Nneamaka Obi (Policy, Leadership and Skills) – Global Trends in Renewable Energy Assessment and Deployment: A Bibliometric Analysis for Southern African Development
9:05 – 9:15
Shawn Rogers (Psychology) – The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive processing in grade 3 learners in South Africa
9:15 – 9:25
Emmison Muleya (Social Work)– Lived Experiences of Urban Homeless People in Johannesburg and the Right to Adequate Housing: A Phenomenological Case Study Contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 11
9:25 – 9:35
Winnie Nkoana (Psychology)– Exploring Knowledge of Neurodisabilities and Access to Education in Custody at a Youth Correctional Centre in Cape Town, South Africa
9:35 – 9:45
Eyitayo Ajayi (School of Education)– Humanities and the SDGs: Unpacking the Value-Driven Foundations of Sustainable Development
9:45 – 10:00
Discussion
Break 10:00-10:20
Humanities Addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Part 2
Chair: Dr Michelle Small
10:20 – 10:30
Mpho Mathebula (Psychology) – Intersecting Inequalities: Domestic Work, Gender, and the SDGs in South Africa
10:30 – 10:40
Makobo Mogale (Curriculum and Social Studies) – Joining Forces for Success: School-Based Support Teams’ Roles in supporting Progressed Learners in Secondary Schools of Limpopo Province
10:40 – 10:50
Benita De Robillard (Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies) –Sheep Trouble on Clifton Beach: Sacrificial Sheep ‘Exorcising the Demon of Racism’?
10:50 – 11:00
Douglas Andrews (Educational Leadership, Policy and Skills) – An exploration of how a Cultural Historical Activity Theory inspired professional development program supports principals in South African and Rwandan schools in navigating the potential tensions between the ‘ideals of inclusion’ and the ‘ideals of excellence’
11:00 – 11:10
Motlalepule Nathane-Taulela (Social Work) – ‘Difficult Life’ & ‘Pushing Life’: Poverty and Vulnerability in Female-Headed Households in a Peri-Urban Township of Evaton, South Africa
11:10 – 11:25 Discussion
Break 11:25 - 11:40
Methodologies in the Humanities
Chair: Prof Tanja Sakota
11:40 – 11:50
Michael Owen (Psychology) – Reflexivity in the Research Encounter with Gay Male Psychotherapists
11:50 – 12:00
Sibongile Bhebhe (Drama for Life) – Reimagining and Realising Embodied and Inclusive Methodologies for the Humanities
12:00 – 12:10
Catherine Tam (Faculty of Humanities)– Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis: Studying Social Injustices as Everyday Interactional Phenomena
12:10 – 12:20
Caleb Mandikonza (Science Education) – Teaching through double stimulation in a Flipped classroom: the case of a first year Natural Sciences cell biology classroom
12:20 – 12:30
Nancy Barber/Catherine Tam/Jennifer Watermeyer (SPPA and Faculty of Humanities)– Using Conversation Analysis to Analyse Student-Patient Interactions During Speech-Language Pathology Simulations to Inform Teaching and Learning Practice
12:30 – 12:40
Mbali Dhlamini (Fine Arts) – Site specific drawing as worldmaking practice.
12:40 – 12:50
Nonkululeko Vilakazi (Drama for Life) – Cross-Cultural Bereavement Rituals in Sesame Dramatherapy: An Ethnographic Study of Zulu, Hindu, and Muslim Traditions
12:50– 13:10
Discussion
Lunch 13:10-13:50
Digital Humanities
Chair: Dr Celso Monjane
13:50 – 14:00
Themba Isaac Mnguni (Media Studies) – African Language Radio and AI, Challenges & Opportunities: The case of Phala Phala, Mughana Lonene, Ligwalagwa, Ikwekwezi FM, XK FM and Motsweding FM
14:00 – 14:10
Linda Moss (Psychology) – Beyond deficit and dysfunction: Using creative methodologies to explore the lived experiences of adolescents with ADHD
14:10 – 14:20
Thandi Bombi (Wits Centre for Journalism) – Listening otherwise and gender-based violence: Exploring the listening habitus of South African journalists and the news framing of the #JusticeForCwecwe rape case
14:20 – 14:30
Kate Bernberg (Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies) –Disruption and/or Induction: Using multimodal ‘transitional’ genres for access and investment in an undergraduate arts theory course in South Africa
14:30 – 14:40
Sergio Peral (Psychology) – Employee Personality Traits as Predictors of Technology Adoption in Organisations
14:40 – 14:50
Tasneem Hassem (Psychology) - Expanding Access to Mental Health Support: The MDDSA Digital Screening Platform
14:50 – 15:00
Mignon Botes (SPPA) - Enhancing Language Development in LIC through Pre-Recorded Therapy Videos: Equipping Speech Language Therapy Students with Digital Intervention Skills
15:00 – 15:15 Discussion
15:15 – 15:30 Closing
16:00 – 17:30 Research Recognition Event
17:30 – 19:00 Reception
ABSTRACTS BY THEME
Humanities Addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Ajayi, Eyitayo (School of Education)
Humanities
and the SDGs:
Unpacking the Value-Driven Foundations of Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are essentially a socially driven agenda, projecting social values and trajectories. This paper explores the critical role of the humanities in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by foregrounding how values underpin sustainable development. While discourse on SDGs appears to be dominated by policy and technology, this paper argues that to achieve inclusive and lasting sustainability, engaging deeply with humanistic perspectives is vital. Such perspectives emphasize justice, empathy, identity, and meaning making. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of literature, history, ethics, and cultural studies, the paper unpacks how values such as equity, dignity, and solidarity are essential for contributing to the global SDG agenda. By re-centering the humanities in sustainability debates, this work highlights the importance of value-driven frameworks in promoting how humanities may be used to address SDGs for building a more just and resilient future.
Andrews, Douglas (Division of Educational Leadership, Policy and Skills)
An exploration of how a Cultural Historical Activity Theory inspired professional development program supports principals in South African and Rwandan schools in navigating the potential tensions between the ‘ideals of inclusion’ and the ‘ideals of excellence’
In contemporary school leadership in South Africa and Rwanda, there is a tension between the demands of academic excellence and an agenda for inclusion. There is increasing literature on using Cultural Historical Activity Theory-inspired Change Laboratory (CL) workshops for professional development as a way to address complex, valuebased problems that school leaders face. This paper describes an action research study from South Africa and Rwanda that explores the usefulness of this approach in tackling the challenging dilemma of this tension. In schools across South Africa and Rwanda, principals must manage the tensions and contradictions tied to an inclusion agenda and an urgent need to improve academic achievement. These agendas co-exist, but their underlying motives differ. At the classroom level, teachers face pedagogical choices where these agendas seem to conflict, and they have the power to enact micro-inclusions and micro-exclusions. At the broader societal, economic, and policy levels, wider considerations influence school activities and outcomes. My research involves interviewing school principals in South Africa and Rwanda to understand how they navigate the tension between inclusion and excellence. I have found that in schools with high levels of educational achievement, there is a solid foundation for expanding inclusive practices. Inclusion appears to be regarded as a ‘luxury’ that can be considered. Conversely, in schools with poor academic attainment, the focus is on responding to community and departmental pressures to quickly improve standards and outcomes through creating an academically competitive environment, potentially at the expense of students who might, for various reasons, threaten the school’s results. Many countries in the Global North incorporated the inclusion agenda into already effective education systems, where quality education was broadly accessible. South Africa and Rwanda are second-generation adopters of inclusive education and responded enthusiastically to the vision outlined in the Salamanca Statement of 1994. However, like many low- and middle-income.
De Robillard, Benita (Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies)
Sheep Trouble on Clifton Beach: Sacrificial Sheep ‘Exorcising the Demon of Racism’?
This paper employs cultural analysis, critical race theory, and animal studies to interrogate how the interconnections of race and animality are implicated in the post/apartheid national symbolic. It presents original interdisciplinary research on the animalising politics of a sheep’s public slaughter on Clifton’s Fourth Beach. The analysis argues that the ensuing controversy, which pitted cultural practices and anti-racist politics against animal welfare, sublimated a longer history of interspecies entanglement. I contend that animalisation is integral to the machinery of racism. Unlike other scholarship on this event, this paper establishes why the circumstances necessitated anti-racist direct action while also demonstrating that a futurity aimed at undoing white supremacy must dismantle animalisation. It is an “anti-racist first approach to the animal-race intersection” that rejects analogising oppression in favour of an anthro-decentric anti-racist praxis. The paper thus foregrounds the plastic interconstitution of race and animality that fabricates the zoologo-racial order. By tracing how this order is co-constituted and policed through public spectacle, the paper contributes to the environmental humanities by demonstrating that the critique of anthropocentrism is inseparable from decolonising nature and dismantling white supremacy.
Dladla, Celimpilo & Leal, Alice (Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies)
In what language? How language (and translation) policy impact social justice in South Africa today
Language-related questions often fall under “soft skills” and/or low on policy priority lists as a less immediately relevant or urgent
matter - especially in comparison to health care, political or economic development, educational policy, etc. However, language-related decisions are taken in all areas of government, so that a “no-policy language policy” is an illusion. As a ubiquitous and often insidious matter, language pervades government building, institutions of learning, hospitals, public spaces, etc. etc. This paper aims to outline the role of language in policymaking in South Africa as a multilingual nation working towards social justice post-apartheid. Drawing on Richard Ruiz’s tripartite language orientation model, the paper also discusses the necessary shift from a language-as-problem and language-as-right orientation towards a language-as-resource orientation. To strengthen this key argument, we additionally look at the implications of the hegemony of English in different multilingual settings worldwide, highlighting the real and the illusory sociopolitical advantages associated with speaking this language. Finally, we draw a prognosis for South Africa based on what we have learned from other multilingual countries, featuring a set of measures and policies in the area of language. These measures and policies should have a twofold effect, namely top-down and bottom-up. “Top-down” in the sense that we hope to share them with our own Wits leadershipHeads of Department, Schools, Deans and the Vice-Chancellor’s office. “Bottom-up” because we hope to raise colleagues’ awareness of the pivotal part that they themselves can play by exercising their agency in the area of language - always with the goal of social (and epistemic) justice in mind.
Mathebula, Mpho (Psychology)
Intersecting Inequalities: Domestic Work, Gender, and the SDGs in South Africa
Domestic workers in South Africa embody the contradictions of global commitments to gender equality and decent work. While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envision inclusive and fair labour markets, many women in domestic work remain excluded from full labour protections, facing systemic inequalities at the intersection of gender, race, and class. This paper draws on qualitative research
to foreground domestic workers’ aspirations, resilience, and lived struggles, situating them within SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). In doing so, it argues that humanities research has a vital role in amplifying marginalized voices, revealing the hidden costs of structural oppression, and generating knowledge that informs transformative policy and practice. The paper demonstrates how the humanities can contribute to advancing the SDGs while maintaining a critical, context-sensitive lens attuned to local realities.
Mogale, Makobo (Curriculum and Social Studies)
Joining Forces for Success: School-Based Support Teams’ Roles in supporting Progressed Learners in Secondary Schools of Limpopo Province
School-Based Support Teams (SBSTs) play a pivotal role in supporting learners and teachers through identification and intervention to combat learning barriers. This paper investigates SBSTs’ collaboration in developing and implementing curriculum support for progressed learners, who often face academic learning gaps and social-emotional difficulties due to being advanced to the next grade without fully meeting requirements. Guided by a qualitative approach within the interpretivist paradigm, the study adopted an exploratory case study design. Purposive sampling selected four SBST members from five schools in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province, South Africa, which form part of a three-year project on SBST initiatives for progressed learners. Data were collected through document analysis and open-ended questionnaires in Phase 1 of the project, and thematic analysis was employed. Findings reveal that stakeholder collaboration strengthens inclusive and learner-centred interventions, particularly when framed within principles of collaborative learning. However, resource constraints and inconsistent levels of commitment among stakeholders limit effectiveness. Viewed through a social justice lens, the study argues that supporting progressed learners is not only a pedagogical necessity but also an ethical imperative to ensure fairness, equity, and access to quality education for all learners. The
study therefore recommends strengthening communication, providing continuous professional development, and establishing structured collaboration that deliberately prioritises the academic and socioemotional needs of progressed learners. Embedding social justice principles further requires systemic resource allocation and policy alignment to ensure that support is sustainable and transformative, ultimately addressing educational inequalities and fostering equity in schools.
Muleya, Emmison (Social Work)
Lived Experiences of Urban Homeless People in Johannesburg and the Right to Adequate Housing: A Phenomenological Case Study Contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 11
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the critical situation faced by people experiencing street homelessness global and in South Africa. Despite efforts by the Gauteng Provincial Government on providing shelters to persons experiencing street homelessness, the South African Statistics body indicates that street homelessness continues to be on the rise in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province. This study sought to explore the lived experiences of street homelessness persons in Johannesburg. A qualitative research approach and descriptive phenomenological design was used together with purposive and snowballing sampling techniques to recruit 10 street adult participants experiencing street homelessness in Johannesburg. Data was collected using face to face semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically. The findings helped understand the lived experiences of street homeless people such as the need for adequate housing, health and well-being and survival strategies such as recycling and male prostitution amongst others. Recommendations point to a need for collaborative efforts involving government, non-profit organisations, and community stakeholders to develop sustainable interventions. This article contributes to literature on SDG11 specifically target 11.1 and has potential to help other countries understand lived experiences of persons experiencing homelessness. Ending street homelessness
aligns with several SDGs, including Goal 1 (end poverty), Goal 10 (reduce inequality), and Goal 11 make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and Target 11.1 (ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services). These goals complement the Gauteng Provincial Government Strategic Intervention Plan 2021-2026 and the City of Johannesburg Policy on homeless 2024.
Nathane-Taulela, Motlalepule (Social Work)
‘Difficult Life’ & ‘Pushing Life’: Poverty and Vulnerability in Female-Headed Households in a Peri-Urban Township of Evaton, South Africa
Globally, historical inequalities have been identified as major obstacles to sustainable development, frustrating countries’ efforts to eradicate poverty. These inequalities have also constrained opportunities for populations, particularly women, to participate meaningfully in social, cultural, political, and economic life. South Africa has grappled with the triple challenge of poverty, inequality, and unemployment both before and after the democratic transition of 1994. These social issues have been recognised as threats to democracy and as underlying causes of community protest and political unrest. In South Africa, inequalities are experienced both at the household level and along racial and gender lines. This chapter is based on a qualitative study that utilised a narrative design with 15 female-headed households in Evaton, a peri-urban township. The findings indicate that these households face severely limited livelihood opportunities, condemning them to a persistent state of poverty, which participants described as living a “difficult life”. The study concludes that the combination of economically disadvantaged backgrounds and limited incomegeneration opportunities subjects female-headed households to ongoing poverty and vulnerability. The study recommends that the state implement meaningful interventions to sustain livelihoods and expand employment and income opportunities for a broader spectrum of society, particularly through the creation and support of local industries.
Nkoana, Winnie (Psychology)
Exploring Knowledge of Neurodisabilities and Access to Education in Custody at a Youth Correctional Centre in Cape Town, South Africa
Young people in conflict with the law (YPCWL) in custody have needs across different areas, such as education, health, social and emotional. Amongst other efforts, rehabilitation approaches in prisons often include vocational training and education. The latter is especially important for those in prison, who are still minors. Research that focuses on education for young people in custody is therefore emerging. The study aimed to explore access to education in custody, educational needs, and awareness of neurodisabilities, using semistructured interviews with relevant stakeholders (N=9) at a correctional centre. Thematic analysis, using an inductive approach, was used to analyse the data. In keeping with previous studies, prison stakeholders reported that they are not qualified nor trained to deal with YPCWL with neurodisabilities and that they are not “experts”. Although there is a provision of education in custody for YPCWL, several factors impact their access to education in custody, including offender factors (highrisk offenders, disruptive offenders displaying problematic behaviors, and the presence of neurodisabilities) and systemic factors (prison overpopulation and a lack of educators). The results of this study may be used to inform policy implementation in terms of rehabilitation and the use of proper screening and assessment tools to screen for various neurodisabilities in South Africa YPCWL population, as well as providing training and support for prison stakeholders, to work effectively with YPCWL who may present with neurodisabilities. Additionally, the schooling structures in youth correctional centres may be reformed, to better accommodate for educational needs of YPCWL, including those with neurodisabilities.
Obi, Joy Nneamaka (Policy, Leadership and Skills)
Global Trends in Renewable Energy Assessment and Deployment: A Bibliometric Analysis for Southern African Development
This bibliometric analysis maps the global research landscape of renewable energy resource assessment and deployment, focusing on the implications for Southern Africa. It analyses Scopus articles from 2014 to 2024 using co-citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence, and trend analysis. The results indicate a significant focus on clean and equitable energy access, highlighting the critical need for policies and approaches to renewable energy. South Africa, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and India have emerged as key knowledge centres, with collaboration patterns revealing both global and regional research engagement. Four overarching thematic domains were identified: (1) Renewable Energy Technologies; (2) energy policy and management; (3) Infrastructure and Efficiency; and (4) Economic Aspects. This bibliometric review provides valuable insights into global research trends and identifies gaps and opportunities for targeted research in Southern Africa, thus facilitating knowledge transfer and adaptation of global advancements to regional contexts. Our findings can guide policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in prioritising research efforts and investment in renewable energy technologies tailored to Southern Africa’s unique needs and potential. The study explicitly advances the global agenda on Sustainable Development Goals by reinforcing SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), while highlighting the role of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through the collaborative research networks and knowledge exchange it reveals. This highlights that renewable energy transitions are technological and policy-driven, and deeply reliant on partnerships for achieving a just and sustainable energy future.
Rogers, Shawn (Psychology)
The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive processing in grade 3 learners in South Africa
In South Africa, the Language in Education Policy (LiEP) states that the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in the foundation phase (grades 0-3) should be a learner’s Home Language (HL). Unfortunately, this can be any of the 11 official languages, while English becomes the LoLT from grade 4 onwards. This policy is contentious, particularly regarding its impact on academic performance for learners with English as an additional language. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between bilingualism, language proficiency, and cognitive processing among grade 3 learners in South Africa. A sample of 111 grade 3 learners from two isiZulu and two English LoLT schools completed proficiency, reading, and cognitive assessments. These assessments were used to evaluate both the impact of language proficiency on cognitive processing and the influence of LoLT on language proficiency in both Home Language (HL) and First Additional Language (FAL). Results showed a significant relationship between language proficiency and cognitive processing in specific subscales of the NEPSY and AWMA assessments. However, the findings aligned with recent research, indicating there was no bilingual advantage as proficient bilinguals did not demonstrate increased cognitive control over less proficient bilinguals. As expected, LoLT significantly influenced language proficiency in both English and isiZulu (HL), highlighting the broader issue of LoLT impact on learners’ academic foundations. Socioeconomic status (SES) showed increased relevance, consistent with current international research. Given the study’s use of alternative cognitive assessments, large sample size, complex context, and lower SES population group, replication on a larger scale is recommended to develop comparable norms for the South African learner population and contribute to international research.
Methodologies in the Humanities
Barber, Nancy/Tam, Catherine /Watermeyer, Jennifer (SPPA/Faculty of Humanities)
Using Conversation Analysis to Analyse Student-Patient Interactions During Speech-Language Pathology Simulations to Inform Teaching and Learning Practice
Simulation-based learning is increasingly utilised in health sciences education at Wits, particularly in the Department of SpeechLanguage Pathology (SLP), to develop students’ clinical reasoning, communication skills, and professional identity. However, evaluating these learning experiences requires moving beyond outcome measures to analysing the interactions within simulations to understand what happens in real time.
Using Conversation Analysis (CA), student actions that supported or hindered the interactional project of assessment were identified. The video-recorded simulations involved an SLP student assessing a patient with a head injury through a series of questions to gather patient information. Examination of these interrogative sequences revealed moments where students struggled with communication competencies critical for eliciting accurate answers.
By analysing turn-taking, sequence organisation, and repair practices, problematic actions were identified, including asking unanswerable questions, closing sequences prematurely, and unsuccessful pursuit of information. Drawing on CA research, alternative strategies were identified to support interactional progressivity. These include using specific question structures, recognising interactional troubles, initiating repairs, and asking clarifying questions to achieve effective communication.
This presentation focuses on the unique contribution CA brings to the analysis of SLP simulations involving students and simulated patients. By focusing on turn-taking and repair sequences, CA has
provided insights into how students navigate complex communication scenarios and how their choices shape the unfolding interaction. Our preliminary analyses have already been integrated into learning and teaching plans for SLP students. Insights from CA informed targeted feedback to students, refined the design of our simulated learning experiences, and led to the development of structured teaching strategies to improve clinical communication skills. Importantly, CA has illuminated not only how students do assessing based on theory but also how they can improve the practice of assessment through flexible and responsive actions in the moment, bridging the gap between theory and clinical application.
Bhebhe, Sibongile (Drama for Life)
Reimagining and Realising Embodied and Inclusive Methodologies for the Humanities
In the 21st century, diverse research methods matter in Humanities because of their decolonial exigencies, interdisciplinary needs, and the evolving epistemologies. The diverse needs point to a growing recognition of practice-based knowledge and embodied inquiry in the Arts. My presentation explores Practice/Performance as Research (PaR) as both a methodology and a pedagogy. For the greater part of my teaching and supervision of postgraduate research, PaR has shifted my perspectives and convictions about research in the academy. PaR foregrounds the body, lived experience, and creative process as sites of knowledge production (something that the academy challenges). PaR challenges scientific method paradigms (including objective data) that are independent of human perception. It integrates artistic practice with ‘academic’ research. The teaching of PaR requires approaches that are human oriented such as workshops, devising processes, reflective writing, documentation, and critical dialogue. Such approaches help in scaffolding academic rigor within creative exploration. The experiential and practical rigor enhance knowledge theorisation as the body and mind are not split. It is high time that the Humanities start seeing PaR as an emergent and powerful
epistemology especially in the African/Global South contexts. PaR stands to be positioned as an inclusive decolonial methodology that validates indigenous and multiple ways of knowing. The argument also is that even in what is termed conventional methodology, the element of embodied knowledge is apparent. The presentation will offer a framework, teaching insights and examples from practice to help rethink methodology in the academy. PaR produces both embodied knowledge and critical reflection, expanding what counts as data.
Dhlamini, Mbali (Fine Arts)
Site specific drawing as worldmaking practice
This research paper locates site-specific drawing as a methodological approach to artistic worldmaking. It proposes that drawings created in dialogue with place become more than representation; they function as modes of inquiry, translation, and spatial extension. The research is grounded in a practice-led methodology, where drawing operates as both a research tool and outcome. Simultaneously, the site is approached not only as a subject, but as a collaborator and repository of knowledge.
Indigenous practices such as indigo making inform this research as living systems of knowledge, shaped and reshaped through making. These traditions lend a language of reading, cultivating, and preserving that underpins a methodology grounded in ecological interdependence and cultural resonance. Through presence, witnessing, and material engagement, the artist draws from and with the environment, allowing space, microbes, and the sensory to participate in the act of making. The drawings metabolize pigment, light, and invisible matter, embodying both the seen and the sensed.
This paper argues for an expanded understanding of artistic worldmaking, where place is not simply occupied but emerges as cocreator. It gestures toward a theory of knowledge production rooted in adaptation, ecological harmony, and material understanding. In this view, site-specific drawing becomes a generative mode of imagining
otherwise. Worldmaking is evident through drawing as situated, durational, and entangled with context. In doing so, it contributes to broader theories of artistic worldmaking grounded in African epistemologies of seeing, sensing, and being.
Mandikonza, Caleb (Science and Technology)
Teaching through double stimulation in a Flipped classroom: the case of a first year Natural Sciences cell biology classroom
The concern for facilitating students’ deeper understanding of biology concepts in the context of the ‘technology turn’ is unavoidable among biology educators. Conceptual information is available in digital information sources that are accessible to students and educators need to learn how to work in this context. Active learning strategies tend to offer more opportunities for students to engage with the intended knowledge and contribute to their own learning. The reflexive educator explored the use of the flipped classroom strategy to facilitate teaching and learning of concepts under Cell Biology for the Natural Sciences 1 course. This approach was motivated by the availability of digital resources and how they could be used to mediate teaching and learning. The lecturer generated task was for students to study the structure and functions of cell organelles outside the classroom using digital resources, including texts, pictures, and videos. Students were stimulated to engage with concepts by searching for appropriate content. They collaboratively organized presentation teams to share their understanding to the class. The lecturer intervened to emphasize on some terms used and consolidated the concepts taught by students with a PowerPoint presentation or a YouTube video presentation. Double stimulation of the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was used to analyze the roles of the task, the students’ and lecturers’ actions in the teaching and learning transaction. The task first stimulated students to find appropriate information, read and organize it into a presentation. The second stimulus was the need for students to innovate their teaching to the class. While double stimulation enabled students to learn and interact with the concepts,
it required a further stimulus from the educator to mediate a better understanding of concepts. Double stimulation was possible in the context of a carefully organized flipped classroom that is supported by digital resources.
Owen, Michael (Psychology)
Reflexivity in the Research Encounter with Gay Male Psychotherapists
Psychosocial research investigating the subjectivity of gay male psychotherapists by a gay male psychotherapist cannot disregard the need to consider reflexivity. This paper explores a research encounter between gay male psychotherapists and a gay male psychotherapist researcher. What emerged for the participants was an engagement with how difficult it felt to separate the personal from the professional, and, conversely, how this appeared to mirror private processes and experiences outside of the therapy room. The applicability of reflexivity to psychosocial framing is foregrounded in this paper as it also relates to the internal negotiation of what it means to be a gay male psychotherapist, embedded in a wider social experience of navigating the world as a gay male psychotherapist. This is new territory, as there is no prior research on the reflexively methodological considerations of a gay male psychotherapist exploring the subjective experiences of other gay male psychotherapists. This paper is a look at how reflexivity as a methodological tool made meaning in the intersubjective space, in the messiness of the research relationship, and not solely from the researcher’s perspective.
Tam, Catherine (Faculty of Humanities)
Ethnomethodological Conversation Analysis: Studying Social Injustices as Everyday Interactional Phenomena
Misconceptions persist, while debates continue, about the usefulness and value of Ethnomethodology and/or Conversation analysis (EMCA)
as a field and set of approaches for studying critical social issues and forms of discrimination. While the value of using EMCA to study mundane interaction is well-established, the false separation of macro from micro social issues drives misconceptions around the approaches usefulness in studying “isms”. I propose that the distinction between macro and micro social issues, is a false binary that abstracts social injustices preventing the study of actions that constitute injustice. This proposal is grounded in Harold Garfinkel’s call to stop using a conceptual gloss as stand in for seeing “differently sociologically” and evidenced with examples from a recent interdisciplinary project undertaken by ethnomethodologists and conversation analysts from across the globe who investigated asymmetries-in-action across diverse settings. I contrast this work with problematic publications that reestablish schemes, categories and “isms” instead of studying them. In conclusion, I propose an important interdisciplinary project for the humanities to pursue: the study of asymmetrical social order in action.
Vilakazi, Nonkululeko (Drama for Life)
Cross-Cultural Bereavement Rituals in Sesame Dramatherapy: An Ethnographic Study of Zulu, Hindu, and Muslim Traditions
This ethnographic study examines the integration of multicultural bereavement rituals, including South African Zulu mourning practices, Hindu funeral and mourning rites, and Muslim burial customs, within the Sesame dramatherapy framework. Conducted in London, UK, with children and young person’s permanently residing there, the study foregrounds the triadic positionality of the researcher as practitioner, scholar, and bereaved client. Three cases are explored: a 15-year-old Hindu girl who lost her father to sudden cardiac arrest, a 13-year-old Muslim girl whose mother died from COVID-19-related complications, and the researcher’s own bereavement experience as a South African Zulu woman following the sudden deaths of her brother and father. In each case, participants faced disruptions to culturally significant mourning practices due to circumstantial constraints. Through
role play and enactment of these rituals in dramatherapy sessions, symbolic and embodied engagement facilitated grief processing, meaning-making, and psychosocial integration. The findings highlight how culturally responsive dramatherapy can mediate the impact of interrupted mourning rituals across diverse contexts while allowing the researcher to critically reflect on personal and clinical experiences of loss.
Digital Humanities
Bernberg, Kate (Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies)
Disruption and/or Induction: Using multimodal ‘transitional’ genres for access and investment in an undergraduate arts theory course in South Africa
This presentation, drawn from a PhD in progress, explores how multimodal, cross-genre assessments may work to facilitate access and investment in ‘academic’ courses a highly diverse, (post)colonial Higher Education institution in South Africa. Many students in diverse contexts struggle with academic writing practices, which are largely “depersonalised”, “abstracted” and “systematised” (Slonimsky & Shalem, 2006, pp. 40-41) and often experience these as alienating (Shalem et. al., 2016). Using an approach that requires students to work across multiple genres and modes can potentially work to disrupt the prevailing norms of scholarly communication. Looking primarily at a range of ‘traditional’ written and multimodal ‘cross-genre’ assessments submitted by participating first year students in an arts theory course in 2024, this presentation reflects on how ‘transitional’ or blended multimodal genres, can provide opportunities for students to draw on multiple literacies in assessment. Importantly, because each mode has different ‘logics’ (Jewitt, 2014), genre norms are more easily exposed and challenged when working across modes. Multiple modes and genres of communication, many of which students use outside of scholarly contexts, can perhaps provide opportunities for
exposing and destabilising established, tacit, and often exclusionary practices within Higher Education. However, literacy practices are widely understood as genre specific and situated, and as such do not transmit effectively across domains (McKenna, 2010), and as such cross-genre assessments may elicit struggle. Using a multimodal social semiotic framework for analysis, the initial exploration of the data in this study seems to suggest that students can mobilise semiotic resources across genre domains effectively when the task is multimodal and explicitly framed as ‘experimental’ and ‘creative’. Such assessments may provide opportunities for more complex meaning, destabilise established practice, support epistemic diversity, facilitate access in valuing diverse communicative competencies, and encourage investment by prioritising the authorial engagement of students.
Bombi, Thandi (Wits Centre for Journalism)
Listening otherwise and gender-based violence: Exploring the listening habitus of South African journalists and the news framing of the #JusticeForCwecwe rape case
Media representations of rape and violence against women and children play a crucial role in shaping public awareness and opinion with regards to victims and perpetrators. On 28 March 2025, Drum magazine published a story of a mother’s account of the rape of her 7-year-old daughter while at school. The story sparked public outcry and the countrywide #JusticeForCwecwe protests against the abuse of the child and the slow pace of the police investigation. Although South Africans took to social media platforms to engage with and reflect on the case, journalists from various media organisations covered the story and added to the representations and discourses that shaped the public culture of listening with regards to genderbased violence in South Africa. This study aims to investigate the news coverage of the #JusticeForCwecwe case and the listening habitus of journalists reporting on it to determine the role that the news framing played in shaping the public’s listening and response to the
violence. Using a content analysis of the coverage, this study draws on prominent concepts of listening otherwise and listening habitus to map the schema, and languages used in the framing of the story. Listening is foregrounded to ask two central questions: What was reported by news organisations when the story first broke? And how do the representations frame the issue of child rape and gender-based violence in South Africa? Preliminary findings in the study indicate that various mainstream news reports have failed to contextualise the case as part of a broader systemic issue of gender-based violence. The news reports that did create the link to this structural violence, predominantly written by advocacy NGOs, were able to go beyond reporting the facts of the case and provide crucial information to assist in preventing and dealing with cases such as this one.
Botes, Mignon (SPPA)
Enhancing Language Development in LIC through Pre-Recorded Therapy Videos: Equipping Speech-Language Therapy Students with Digital Intervention Skills
In recent years, the field of speech-language pathology has witnessed a growing integration of digital technology into both clinical service delivery and professional training. Prior research highlights the role of telepractice and digital tools in speech-language therapy, particularly in addressing accessibility barriers in resource-constrained environments (Benz et al., 2022). Building on existing literature by examining how student therapists develop and apply these skills within an academic service-learning framework. This study explores the use of pre-recorded speech-language therapy videos as a tool for language development in early childhood centers in low-income communities, focusing on how student speech-language therapists acquire and perceive digital intervention skills. The study aims to assess students’ perspectives on the effectiveness, accessibility, and sustainability of this approach in low-income contexts. The study is grounded in experiential learning theory (Kolb, 2001) and socioconstructivist approaches (Saleem et al, 2021), emphasizing the role of hands-on experience and reflective practice in professional skill
development. A qualitative interpretivist approach was employed, analyzing 39 third-year speech therapy students’ reflections and focus group discussions through thematic analysis. Data sources include student-created therapy videos, reflections on the learning process, and their perceived value of digital tools in speech therapy. Ethical clearance was obtained, and informed consent was secured from all participants. Data was anonymized, and participation was voluntary, ensuring student autonomy and confidentiality. Findings suggest that students’ digital competency grew from technical insecurity to confident skill-building. However, students still struggled to align video outcomes with therapy goals to bridge creativity and clinical accuracy. This research showed the importance of professional identity and pride. Students’ ownership of culturally responsive practices grew beyond the classroom. Integrating digital intervention training into speech-language therapy curricula may enhance service delivery in under-resourced areas. Findings support policy recommendations for expanding telehealth competencies in speech-language pathology education.
Hassem, Tasneem (Psychology)
Expanding Access to Mental Health Support: The MDDSA Digital Screening Platform
Digital technologies hold significant potential to increase access to mental health care, particularly in resource-constrained contexts. Researchers in the Wits Psychology Department adapted a depression screening tool to be more applicable for the South African context and released this as an open access online depression screening at www. mddsa.co.za. The MDDSA project aimed to integrate psychological theory with digital accessibility to provide an innovative, reliable, and culturally responsive tool for awareness, screening, and support for people who may be experiencing depressive symptoms. Grounded in the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural Change, the MDDSA platform offers a digital self-screening tool that provides users with immediate feedback, access to self-help resources, and free telephonic
counselling through SADAG. Usage statistics and user feedback were analysed to evaluate reach, utility, and clinical impact. Since its launch, more than 4,000 individuals have completed the screening tool, with 928 requesting a counsellor callback. Users reported that the feedback provided clarity and guidance, while counsellors indicated that it enhanced the structure and focus of consultations. The tool also demonstrated strong psychometric reliability, reinforcing its validity as both a digital and clinical resource. The MDDSA platform demonstrates how digital technologies can effectively bridge innovation and equity in mental health and this aligns well with SDG3 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Planned enhancements, such as translation into African languages, will further strengthen its accessibility and cultural relevance.
Mnguni, Themba Isaac (Media Studies)
African Language Radio and AI, Challenges & Opportunities: The case of Phala Phala, Mughana Lonene, Ligwalagwa, Ikwekwezi FM, XK FM and Motsweding FM
This study explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can advance the preservation and revitalisation of indigenous South African languages by using the case study of the indigenous languages radio station within the SABC. This work is framed within the prism of digital humanities, defined as an intersection between computer technologies and humanities disciplines (Terras, Nyhan and Vanhoutte: 2013). Focusing on five SABC minority-language stations viz. Phala Phala FM, Mughana Lonene FM, Ligwalagwala FM, Ikwekwezi FM, and Motsweding FMthis study positions indigenous language radio as a medium for digital cultural archives that needs to be annotated and segmented into datasets to help develop a corpus for low-resource languages. Guided by Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory, this study examines how Natural Language Processing (NLP) and related computational tools can enhance digital archiving, automate transcription, and improve access to low-resource languages. Using a mixed-methods designliterature review, interviews, focus groups, and surveys, this study will
explore how digital and AI tools can be used to preserve and revitalise indigenous languages before they become at risk of being extinct, given the domination of colonial languages in mainstream media.
Moss, Linda (Psychology)
Beyond deficit and dysfunction: Using creative methodologies to explore the lived experiences of adolescents with
ADHD
This paper draws from the findings of my doctoral thesis, What makes adolescents diagnosed with ADHD Tik (Tok)? The lived experience of ADHD in online and offline worlds. The study examined how adolescents diagnosed with ADHD by a medical professional or who self-identified with the phenomenon, navigated online and offline worlds, and how experiences in both contexts shaped identity, agency and connection to others. Creative and visual methodologies including collage, body mapping and photographs, song lyrics and TikTok videos were used alongside semi-structured interviews to generate multimodal data. Findings highlight that the ADHD label provided most participants with a plausible and simplified reason for their difficulties, disappointments and academic struggles. However, this label tended to have a flattening effect on identity, obscuring the complexity threaded through their lives. The ADHD label shaped participants’ subjectivities and interactions with others, with imagined futures containing sharp references to inabilities and deficits. By contrast, participants’ stories and illustrations were rich, articulate and creative, demonstrating exceptional abilities to convey complex information, unique perspectives and imaginative ideas, providing a distinct contrast to the master narrative around ADHD. Although the participants acknowledged the pitfalls of the online world, it provided an imaginative space, offering connection, agency and a different kind of being in the world. TikTok provided humour, validation and alternative narratives that resonated with their struggles and sense of difference, with some using the platform to procure information, which was not always forthcoming in the material world. The virtual world provided an opportunity for identity play, underscoring the concept
that identity is fluid, multiple and context dependent. Using creative methodologies, this study offered a phenomenological exploration of the perceptions and experiences of this group of adolescents that would not have ordinarily been apparent during conversations within clinical, therapeutic or traditional research settings.
Peral, Sergio (Psychology)
Employee Personality Traits as Predictors of Technology Adoption in Organisations
The fast-changing world of work and the introduction of new technologies has increased the need for organisations to hire employees who have the necessary characteristics to adapt and maintain high levels of performance. The following study aimed to investigate the influence that personality has on employees’ willingness to adopt technology in the workplace. Using the Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model (TRAM) as the theoretical background, a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design (n = 230) was employed to determine whether an individual’s self-efficacy, openness to experience, and locus of control predict their levels of technology acceptance and technology readiness. Results from multiple regression analyses showed that locus of control and self-efficacy are significant predictors of technology readiness while openness to experience and self-efficacy are significant predictors of technology acceptance. The size and representativeness of the sample were one of the study limitations. Managers and practitioners are encouraged to hire employees who have the necessary personality traits to adopt and use technology for the betterment of their organisations.
