Uvile Memory Samkelisiwe Ximba

Second cohort of the African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges / Deuxième cohorte du programme de Bourses africaines pour la recherche sur les savoirs autochtones et alternatifs (AFRIAK) .

Affliation: University of Witswatersrand

Discipline: Political Studies

Country / Pays: South Africa

Project Title / Titre du projet: My proposed research will investigate how multiplicity in spiritual people (abantu abanedlozi) impacts their gender identity and sexuality and complicates binary, heteronormative conceptions of gender. It aims to show how disciplines can conceptualise gender more expansively through indigenous spiritual knowledge.

Biographie / Biography: I am currently registered at the University of Witswatersrand, completing my MA thesis, which explores multiplicity in the identities and selfhoods of individuals living with spiritual guides across South Africa and the continent.
I am currently conducting research full-time for my MA thesis. I am also under consideration to join the Wits University GBV chair, Prof. Relebohile Moletsane and her team, in her work investigating and developing transformative approaches to GBV and gender and working with young people across South Africa.