Institute for Social and Health Sciences (ISHS)

Professor Shahnaaz Suffla

College of Human Sciences
Institute for Social and Health Sciences (ISHS)
Associate Professor
Tel: 021 938 0896
E-mail: suffls@unisa.ac.za

Qualifications

  • DPhil (Unisa)

Fields of academic interests

  • Critical African, Community and Peace Psychologies
  • Liberatory and Decolonising Philosophies and Epistemologies
  • Conflict, Violence and Peace
  • Participatory Action Research
  • Health and Peace Promotion Interventions in Contexts of Structural Violence

Books

  • Kessi, S., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (Eds.) (2022). Decolonial enactments in community psychology. Community Psychology Book Series. Springer.  
  • Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., Bawa, U., & Seedat, M. (2017). Children’s safety activism: Photo-stories from Africa. Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa and South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa Violence, Injury and Peace Research Unit.
  • Seedat, M., Suffla, S., & Christie, D.J. (Eds.) (2017). Emancipatory and participatory methodologies in peace, critical, and community psychology. Springer.
  • Seedat, M., Suffla, S., & Christie, D.J. (Eds.) (2017). Enlarging the scope of peace psychology: African and world-regional contributions. Springer.
  • Kessi, S., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2022). Towards a decolonial community psychology: Derivatives, disruptions and disobediences. In S. Kessi, S. Suffla & M. Seedat (Eds.), Decolonial enactments in community psychology (pp. 3-12). Community Psychology Book Series. Springer.
  • Ratele, K., Suffla, S., Swart, L., and Malherbe, N. (2021). Historical trauma and structure in violence against and by young men. In A. De Lannoy, M. Langa & H. Brooks (Eds.), Youth in South Africa: Agency, (in)visibility and national development (pp. 353-380). Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
  • Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2021). Africa’s knowledge archives, Black Consciousness and reimagining community psychology. In G. Stevens & C. Sonn (Eds.), Decoloniality, knowledge production and epistemic justice in contemporary community psychology (pp. 21-38). Springer.
  • Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., Day, S., Makama, R., & Suffla, S. (2020). African psychology. In D. Donald, S. Lazarus, & N. Moolla (Eds.), Educational psychology in social context: Ecosystemic applications in Southern Africa (pp. 34-39). Oxford University Press.
  • Suffla, S., Malherbe, N., & Seedat, M. (2020). Recovering the everyday within and for decolonial peacebuilding through politico-affective space. In S.M. Moss, Y.G Acar, & O.M Ulug (Eds.), Researching peace and conflict: Field experiences and methodological reflections (pp. 343-364). Springer.
  • Malherbe, N. Suffla, S., & Everitt-Penhale, B. (2019). Considering decolonising feminist community psychologies in a youth-centred participatory film-making project. In F. Boonzaier & T. Van
  • Niekerk, (Eds.), Decolonial feminist community psychology (pp. 77-93). Springer.
  • Malherbe, M., Suffla, S., Seedat, M., Bawa, U., El-sayed, H., & Abdo, H. A. (2018). Consciousness-raising capacities of Photovoice: Youth understandings of Egypt’s transitional moment. In T.
  • Shefer, J. Hearn, K. Ratele, & F. Boonzaier (Eds.), Engaging youth in activism, research and pedagogical praxis: Transnational and Intersectional perspectives on gender, sex, and race (pp. 179-196). Routledge.
  • Christie, D.J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. Christie, D. (Eds.) (2017). Toward a socially transformative peace psychology: Overview of the symposium and proceedings. In M. Seedat, S. Suffla & D.J. Christie (Eds.), Enlarging the scope of peace psychology: African and world-regional contributions (pp. 3-17). Springer.
  • Lau, U., Suffla, S., & Kgatitswe, L.B. (2017). Catalysing transformation through stories: Building peace in recognition, struggle and dialogue. In M. Seedat, S. Suffla & D.J. Christie (Eds.), Emancipatory and participatory methodologies in peace, critical, and community psychology (pp. 147-163). Springer.
  • Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., Seedat, M., & Bawa, U. (2017). Photovoice as liberatory enactment: The case of youth as epistemic agents. In M. Seedat, S. Suffla & D.J. Christie (Eds.), Emancipatory and participatory methodologies in peace, critical, and community psychology (pp. 165-178). Springer.
  • Seedat, M., Suffla, S., & Christie, D.J. (2017). Pluriversal readings of emancipatory engagements. In M. Seedat, S. Suffla & D.J. Christie (Eds.), Emancipatory and participatory methodologies in peace, critical, and community psychology (pp. 1-4). Springer.
  • Suffla, S., Seedat, M., & Christie, D.J. (2017). Interrogating the structure of knowledge: Some concluding thoughts. In M. Seedat, S. Suffla & D.J. Christie (Eds.), Enlarging the scope of peace psychology: African and world-regional contributions (pp. 297-300). Springer.

Journal articles

  • Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2022). Reflecting critically on the researcher-participant encounter in focus groups: Racialized, contestations and (re)presentations of South Africa’s ‘protest culture’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19(1), 221-243.
  • Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2021). Discourses of gender and political violence in South Africa. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxab005
  • Decolonial Psychology Editorial Collective (in alphabetical order: Adams, G., Ratele, K., Reddy, G., & Suffla, S.). (2021). Decolonial perspectives in (and on) psychology [Special issue]. Review of General Psychology, 25(4).
  • Decolonial Psychology Editorial Collective (in random order: Suffla, S., Reddy, G., Ratele, K., Adams, G., & Stevens, G.). (2021). General psychology otherwise: A decolonial articulation. Review of General Psychology, 25(4), 339-353.
  • Fanon-Mendès-France, M., Maldonado-Torres, N., Ratele, K., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (in alphabetical order) (Eds.). (2021). Fanon, southern theory and psychoanalysis: Dialogues on race, gender and sexuality [Special issue]. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 22(4).
  • Gómez-Ordóñez, L., Adams, G., Ratele, K., Suffla, S., Stevens, G., Reddy, G. (2021, September). Decolonising psychological science: Encounters and cartographies of resistance. The Psychologist, 34, 54-57.
  • Ismail, G., Isobell, D.L., Arendse, N., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2021). Caregivers’ and interventionists’ perceptions of a child-centred home visitation intervention. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 7(2), 60-80.
  • Maldonado-Torres, N., Fanon Mendés France, M., Suffla, S., Seedat, M., & Ratele, K. (2021). Fanon’s decolonial transcendence of psychoanalysis. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 22(4), 243-255.
  • Malherbe, N., Ratele, K., Adams, G., Reddy, G., & Suffla, S. (2021). A decolonial Africa(n)-centred psychology of antiracism. Review of General Psychology, 25(4),437-450.
  • Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2021). Analyzing discursive constructions of community in newspaper articles. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(3-4), 1-14, 433-446.
  • Malherbe, N., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2021). Understanding community violence: A critical realist framework for community psychology. Journal of Community Psychology, 1-13. doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22660
  • Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., Cornell, J., & Taliep, N. (2021). Three pathways for enlarging critical African psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 51(3), 430-440.
  • Ratele, K., Suffla, S., Seedat, M., Fanon Mendés France, M., & Maldonado-Torres, N. (2021). Introduction to the special issue: In dialogue with Fanonian and southern thought. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 22(4), 237-242.
  • Reddy, G. Ratele, K., Adams, G., & Suffla, S. (2021). Decolonising psychology: Moving from developing an inclusive social psychology to centring epistemic justice. Social Psychological Review, 23(2), 10-12.
  • Seedat, M., Suffla, S., & Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. (2021). Mbeki’s ‘I am an African’ speech: Mobilising psychopolitical resources for political reconstitution of post-apartheid South Africa. African Studies, 80(3-4). 451-465.
  • Seedat, M., Van Niekerk, A., & Suffla, S. (2021). The state of violence prevention: Reflections from the first South African National Conference on Violence Prevention. Social and Health Sciences, 19(1), 80-102.
  • Cornell, J., Seedat, M., Malherbe, N. & Suffla, S. (2020). Splintered politics of memory and community resistance. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(5), 1677-1695.
  • Malherbe, N., Day, S., Cornell, J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2020). Exploring police-protester interactions. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 26(3), 236-246.
  • Ratele, K., Malherbe, N., Cornell, S., Dlamini, S., Helman, R., Makama, R., Titi, N., & Suffla, S. (2020). Elaborations on (a) decolonising Africa(n)-centred feminist psychology. Psychology in Society, 59, 1-19.
  • Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2020). Decoloniality and psychology’s reckoning with rebellion. South African Journal of Psychology, 50(3), 293-295.
  • Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2020). Risk factors for female and male homicidal strangulation in Johannesburg, South Africa. South African Medical Journal, 110(8), 802-806.
  • Cornell, J., Malherbe, N., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2019). Reflecting critically on the researcher-participant encounter in focus groups: Racialized, contestations and (re)presentations of South Africa’s ‘protest culture’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2019.1577519
  • Day, S., Seedat, M., Cornell, J., & Suffla, S. (2019). A multimodal reading of public protests. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37(6), 1005-1023. 
  • Suffla, S., Seedat, M., & Swart, L. (2019). Neighbourhood correlates of homicidal strangulation in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. Acta Criminologica: African Journal of Criminology & Victimology, 32(1), 1-18.
  • Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2019). Socio-demographic and spatio-temporal predictors of homicidal strangulation in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. African Safety Promotion: A Journal of Injury and Violence Prevention, 17(1), 1-16.
  • Day, S., Cornell, J., Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2018). A multimodal reading of public protests. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 0(0), 1-19.
  • Bangdiwala, S.I., Hassem, T., Swart, L., van Niekerk, A., Pretorius, K., Isobell, D., Taliep, N., Bulbulia, S., Suffla, S., & Seedat, M. (2017). Evaluating the effectiveness of complex, multi-component, dynamic, community-based injury prevention interventions: A statistical framework. Evaluation & the Health Professions, 1-21, DOI: 10.1177/0163278717709562.
  • Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2017). Special Issue: Liberatory and critical voices in decolonising community psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 419-543.
  • Seedat, M., & Suffla, S. (2017). Community psychology and its (dis)contents, archival legacies and decolonisation. Special Issue: Liberatory and critical voices in decolonising community psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 421-431.

 

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

  • President: Psychological Society of South
  • Chairperson: South African National Committee for the International Union of Psychological Science
  • Co-Editor: Springer Community Psychology Book Series
  • Member: Advisory Board, Centre for Critical Peace Studies
  • Member: Editorial Board of Journal of Social and Political Psychology
  • Member: Editorial Board of Journal of Community Psychology
  • Member: Editorial Board of Community Psychology in Global Perspective
  • Member: Editorial Board of Social and Health Sciences
  • Consulting Editor: Feminism and Psychology
  • Member: International Peace Psychology Network
  • Member: Health Professions Council of South Africa