Faculty of Humanities
PROF KAMMILA NAIDOO: A MENTOR WITH A VISION AND A FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
appointed as Executive Dean in 2020 just as we went into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we will all remember, this was a rough and difficult time. UJ exploded with energy and innovative strategies to save the academic year and cater for its students,” said Prof Naidoo. She added that her Faculty was very much part of this collaborative effort, and that academics in Humanities went the extra mile to accommodate students and inspire them to achieve good results whilst working remotely. She is now in her 5th year as Dean. The Faculty has thirteen Departments, structured as follows: “I often refer to them as being built into four clusters. The first cluster is simply referred to as the Humanities cluster. We have Philosophy (headed by Dr Chad Harris), English (Prof Ronit Frenkel is Head), Religion Studies (Prof Elena Hankela is Head) and History (Dr Faeeza Ballim is Head). Another cluster would be Languages – here we have African Languages (headed by Prof Bonisiwe Zungu) and LanCSAL (with Dr Cindy Ramhurry as Head). The third cluster is the social sciences with Sociology (Prof Malehoko Tshoaedi is the Head), Politics and International Relations (Prof Bhaso Ndzendze is the
If there is an academic who has always been interested in problem-solving and thinking through ways to improve people’s lives, it has to be Prof Kammila Naidoo. The Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at UJ has a passion and belief in the power of education and its transformative effects. “I am a sociologist, a teacher, and above all, a mentor,” she said. After completing a master’s degree at the University of Durban-Westville, now part of the University of KwaZulu- Natal (UKZN), she joined the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1992. She worked at Unisa for five years before receiving a Commonwealth Scholarship to study full-time towards a PhD at the University of Manchester in the UK. Her PhD focused on poverty and inequality and the ways in which ‘everyday crises’ shape women’s lives in particular parts of South Africa. “After completing my PhD, I joined the University of Pretoria. I left UP to join UJ in September 2010 and in 2013 became Head of the Sociology Department. In 2017, I became Vice- Dean and in 2019 I served as Acting Dean. I was formally
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