What does it mean to be an African living in Africa? Prof. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni wants to answer that and many other questions.
Professor Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Head of the Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI) and a 2012 C3 rated researcher. He holds a DPhil in Historical Studies from the University of Zimbabwe and has published extensively on African history and politics and his publication record includes over 40 peer reviewed journal articles, over 25 book chapters and more than five books. His major publications include Do ‘Zimbabweans’ exist? Trajectories of nationalism, national identity formation and crisis in a postcolonial State, Nationalism and national projects in Southern Africa: New critical reflections and many others.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni has taught history at the University of Zimbabwe, Midlands State University and International Studies at Monash University. He’s a Lecturer in African Studies at The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at the Open University in the UK, Senior Researcher at the South Africa Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and Development Studies at UNISA.
His current and future research is informed by decolonial critical theory. “My research challenges the thinking which is described by leading decolonial thinkers from Latin America as coloniality; that is, continuation of colonial relations, colonial thinking and colonial practice long after the end of direct colonial administrations,” he says. Ndlovu-Gatsheni describes his research as revolutionary, daring and extremely relevant to the mission of Unisa. “Decoloniality forms the ideal basis for transforming Unisa from being a university in Africa to being an African university. My research work is predicated on advancement of the core mission of Unisa, focusing specifically on complex question of power, being, and knowledge,” he says.
His future plans are crystallising around the articulation of AMRI which he has been asked to set up and lead. “AMRI is at my heart and mind. I am working hard to brand it into a pan-African centre of excellence. I am striving towards making AMRI the home for decolonial thought and social policy-oriented research,” Ndlovu-Gatsheni says.
Finalising AMRI’s vision and plan for the next five years and an AMRI Book Series on genealogies, trajectories and horizons of African thought are on his agenda. “Just like Professor Archie Mafeje, I am more than convinced that there is need for deeper knowledge of Africa capable of enabling an understanding of Africa from inside,” he says.
