Ms Chanel van der Merwe

Title: A Multilingual University in Africa, or Multilingualism for an African University?

Chanel van der Merwe is a lecturer in linguistics and applied linguistics at Nelson Mandela University, and a doctoral candidate at University of Cape Town. Her research interests include the African university, language policy, multilingualism, feminist and southern epistemologies.

She is an organizing team member of the Global Virtual Forum hosted by the African Studies Centre at Penn State University under the leadership of Professor Sinfree Makoni. In July, Chanel was the chairperson of the inaugural Global Southern Forum conference hosted by Nelson Mandela University, Penn State University, and University of Connecticut. She is a recipient of multiple international and national funding for her postgraduate studies. Her most recent publications includes a forthcoming co-edited book with Sinfree Makoni titled Decolonial Options in Higher Education: Cracks and Fissures published by Multilingual Matters.