Prof Gretchen du Plessis

Qualifications

• BA Social Sciences (UP 1983)
• BA Honours Rural & Urban Development (UP 1987)
• MA Sociology (UP 1989)
• D Lit et Phil (NMMU 2007)

Currently teaching

• Human Security and Development
• Research Methodology
• Honours Research (Development Studies and Gender Studies)
• Masters and PhD supervision

Fields of academic interests

• Development Studies
• Human Security
• Research Methodology
• Gender and development
• Clinical Sociology

Field of Specialisation

• Women’s empowerment beyond the millennium development goals
• Gender mainstreaming in development
• Methodology: quantitative, qualitative, participatory and mixed methods research approaches.

Books

• Chapter in the revised 2020 edition of Sociology: A South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2019. South Africa: problems and solutions in the rainbow society, in the book, Global South Powers in Transition: A Comparative Analysis of Mexico and South Africa, edited by D Geldenhuys & H González. Pretoria: HSRC Press.
• Ferrante, J & Du Plessis, GE. 2016. Culture and socialisation : with emphasis on influences on African and South African Cultures, in the book Sociology : A South African Perspective, edited by J. Ferrante, M Seedat-Khan, Z Jansen and R Smith. Andover: Cengage Learning. 
• Ferrante, J, Jansen, Z & Du Plessis, GE. 2016. Environmental sociology and social movements : with emphasis on environmentalism in Africa and specifically South Africa, in the book Sociology : A South African Perspective, edited by J. Ferrante, M Seedat-Khan, Z Jansen and R Smith. Andover: Cengage Learning.
• Seedat-Khan, M, Uys, T, Kaziboni, A & Du Plessis, GE. 2016. The dynamics of groups and leadership : with emphasis on South Africa, in the book Sociology : A South African Perspective, edited by J. Ferrante, M Seedat-Khan, Z Jansen and R Smith. Andover: Cengage Learning.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2015. HIV/AIDS as a cross-cutting social issue  a chapter in the book “A reader on selected social issues, Sixth Edition” Edited by FJ Bezuidenhout. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers. 2019 update in press.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2014. Population a      chapter in the book “Sociology: A South African Introduction”, edited by P Stewart and J Saaiman, 2014. Cape Town: Juta. ISBN: 9780702188787. 2019 update in press.

Journal articles

• Dziva, C & Du Plessis, GE. 2020. Girls with disabilities in Zimbabwe's inclusive rural schools: challenges and possibilities. Southern African Journal Of Social Work And Social Development 32(1): 1-18.

• Du Plessis, GE. 2019. Reflexive encountering and postgraduate research training in South Africa. Education as Change 23(1): 1-25.

• Du Plessis, GE. 2019. Gendered human (in)security in South Africa: what can ubuntu feminism offer? Acta Academica 5(2): 88-110.

• Gumede, P, Du Plessis, GE & Gumede, P. 2013. The psychosocial needs of teenagers orphaned by HIV and AIDS: A qualitative study in KwaZulu−Natal. The Social Work Practioner Researcher, 25 (1): 79−95.
• Lekganyane, R & Du Plessis, GE. 2012. Dealing with HIV-related stigma: A qualitative study of women outpatients from the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 23 (2):155-162.
• Du Plessis, GE & Celliers, H. 2011. Narrating maternal HIV infection: The voices of mothers living with HIV. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 21 (1):54-64.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2011. The good mother and the contaminating mother: experiences and expectations of motherhood following an HIV-positive diagnosis. Published as conference proceedings, University of Texas.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2011. Individual responsibility for health and HIV Infection: A critical investigation of the lived experience of HIV-positive women. South African Journal of Psychology, 41(4): 465-476.
• Lekganyane, M & Du Plessis, GE. 2010. The role of food gardens in reducing women’s vulnerability to HIV and AIDS: a study in Limpopo, South Africa. The Journal of Social Development in Africa, 25(2):97-120.
• Du Plessis, GE, 2000. Contribution to the State of South Africa’s Population Report. Population, poverty and vulnerability. Produced by the National Population Unit, Department of Social Development.
• Du Plessis, GE. 1999. Transition in fertility preferences in South Africa: issues of conscious choice and numeracy. A paper included in the printed conference proceedings of the UAPS/NPU Third African Population Conference, Durban 6-10 December 1999. Book
• Du Plessis, GE. 1996. Reproductive choice and motivation in South Africa, 1987-1989. Southern African Journal of Demography, 6 (1): 33-49.
• Du Plessis, GE & JPH Rossouw. 1994, Unwanted fertility, contraception and induced abortion in South Africa. Southern African Journal of Demography, 4 (1):12-29.
• Du Plessis, GE & JPH Rossouw. 1994. Surgical sterilisation and hysterectomy in South Africa: 1988. Southern African Journal of Demography, 1994, 4 (1):29-.
• Du Plessis, GE. 1995. The development of demography in South Africa: A relevant social science or a tool for counting subgroups? An article published in the Southern African Journal of Demography, 5 (1): 52-60.
• Du Plessis, GE. 1996. The impact of housing and settlement design on the health status of residents in Knoppieslaagte: a socio-demographic profile of selected squatter settlements in Knoppieslaagte. Report to the Urbanisation and Health Programme of the Medical Research Council. Publication of the Centre for Population Studies at the University of Pretoria.
• Du Plessis, GE &      Damar, A. 2010. Coping versus grieving in a death-accepting society: AIDS-Bereaved women living with HIV in Indonesia co-authored with Alita Damar. Journal for African and Asian Studies, 45 (4): 424-431.
• Du Plessis, GE & Bezuidenhout, F. 2009. Capital in the field of reproductive rights: women and HIV. Acta Academica, 41(2):132-157.
• Du Plessis, GE & Bezuidenhout, F. 2009. HIV/AIDS as biographical disruption: A qualitative study of female clinic attendees. Social Work Practitioner-Researcher, 21(2): 202-218.
• Du Plessis, GE. 2003. HIV and fertility in South Africa: Some theoretical and methodological considerations, in HSRC. Fertility,      current South African issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS and youth. Seminar proceedings. Page 77-116.

Paper presentations

• Du Plessis, GE. 2011. The good mother and the contaminating mother: experiences and expectations of motherhood following an HIV-positive diagnosis. Published as conference proceedings, University of Texas.

• Du Plessis, GE. 2003. HIV and fertility in South Africa: Some theoretical and methodological considerations, in HSRC. Fertility, current South African issues of poverty, HIV/AIDS and youth. Seminar proceedings. Page 77-116.
• Du Plessis, GE, 2000. Contribution to the State of South Africa’s Population Report. Population, poverty and vulnerability. Produced by the National Population Unit, Department of Social Development.

• Du Plessis, GE. 1999. Transition in fertility preferences in South Africa: issues of conscious choice and numeracy. A paper included in the printed conference proceedings of the UAPS/NPU Third African Population Conference, Durban 6-10 December 1999.

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

• Awards: MA, BA Hons and BA cum laude. Dux matriculant
• Professional positions: Professorship, UNISA

Projects

• Mexico-South Africa comparative study jointly funded by the Universities of Stellenbosch and Johannesburg and the NRF. Completed in 2019.
• Gendered human insecurity: New Project. 2019.
• Encountering the other in postgraduate research training: New Project 2019. 

Other

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8213-861