School of Social Sciences

Professor Vivian Besem Ojong

Professor Vivian Besem Ojong

Dean & Head of School

DisciplineDevelopment

Email ojong@ukzn.ac.za

Contact Number 033-260-5007

CampusHoward College Campus

Office Address 672

Last Updated 10 months ago

Degrees Held

  • PhD Anthropology, (University of Zululand)

Research Interests

  • Identity politics
  • Migration, globalization and diaspora Studies
  • African feminism
  • Gender
  • Culture and religion

Teaching Interests

  • Research methodology
  • Theoretical frameworks
  • Migration and globalization
  • Gender and feminism

Academic positions

  • Lecturer, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (June 2004 – March 2007)
  • Senior Lecturer, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 April 2007–31 December 2013)
  • Associate Professor, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 January 2013 –December 2018)
  • Full Professor, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 January 2019 – present).

Administrative positions

  • Academic Coordinator (1 April 2007 – December 2013)
  • Academic Leader (1 June 2016 – 30 April 2019)
  • Acting Head of the School of Anthropology, Gender and Historical Studies (January 2008 –June 2011)
  • Acting Dean and Head of School, Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 May 2019 – 31 August 2021)
  • Dean and Head of School Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa (1 September 2021–present)
  • Dean of Research (Interim), College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (1st September 2023 -present )

Selected Publications

Culture

Student Supervision

Internal Examining

External examining

Committees

Journal reviewing/referee

Keynote/Conference papers

  • B. Ojong. 2024. Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Intersecting Transformative Gendered Responses across Sectors in a Globalized World. Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies Biennial Conference at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.
  • B. Ojong. 2022. Internationalisation as the strategic think tank for Africa’s development: the role of UKZN as the Premier University of African Scholarship. Internationalisation Summit: Reconnecting after Disconnecting: Reimaging Internationalisation Post COVID-19 and Beyond. Thursday, 20 October 2022, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
  • Ojong, V. B. and Mhkize, G. 2018 Rethinking gender inequalities: Religio-cultural language as major covert driver of gender-based violence in Africa. “Thetha Sizwe: Intersections, practices, and identities — Rethinking gender in African languages and 5 and 6 April , University of Pretoria.
  • Ojong, V. B. and Hingston, C. A. 2014. “Double-edged sword”: Gender identity in the context of African migration in South Africa.
  • Ojong, V. B. and J.M Muthuki, J. M. 2012. The agenda of feminist anthropology in Southern Africa: continuity and inconsistencies, Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • Hingston, C. A., Ojong, V. B. and Muthuki, J. M. 2012. The migratory context of complex realities: A platform for generating new gender perspectives. Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • M. Muthuki and V. B. Ojong: “In theory we understand but in practice we struggle to implement’. Gender Equality as an epistemological category requiring reinterrogation.
  • Otu, M. N. and Ojong, V. B. 2012. Valuing other: personal and impersonal life in South Africa. Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • Kilimani, L. and Ojong, V. B. 2012: Men’s challenges over women’s empowerment in host country. Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • N. Fomunyam,B. N., Ojong, V. B. and J.M. Muthuki, J. M.2012. Defining maleness in the context of migration: contested masculinities. Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • Ogana, W. and Ojong, V. B. 2012: The applicability of gender ideology in how African male and female immigrants relate to each other in the migratory context. Annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, 31 August to 3rd September.
  • Ojong, V. B. and Muthuki, J. M. 2010. The gender dynamics of conducting fieldwork and its implications for the writing of ethnographies. Paper presented at the Anthropology Southern Africa annual conference, at the University of Forth Hare East London, 20th-23d September.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2010 “Strangers in their land”: the African others in South Africa; reflections from within on the role of the diaspora in South Africa. Paper presented at the International Seminar on Diaspora: Heritage in the Context of Globalisation. Durban University of Technology Hotel School Conference Centre, 7 Ritson Road, Berea, Durban
  • Ojong, V. B. 2009. The gist of the Africa Diaspora: engaging the concept of the African Diaspora for relevance. Paper presented at the 5th Biannual conference of the Association of Africans in the Diaspora Ghana August.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2006. Beyond territoriality: identity and the politics of belonging in post-apartheid South Africa. Paper presented at the Social science conference in Pretoria)
  • Ojong, V. B. 2006. Pentecostalism as a constructed space for the renegotiation of migrants’ identity. Paper presented at the joint conference organised by ASA, PAM, and IUAES in CapeTown.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2005. Home as an unfix concept: Identity struggles and transnationalism. Paper presented at the annual conference for Anthropology Southern Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
  • Buijs G and Ojong, V. B 2005. Migrant women in South Africa: A review of some factors influencing the migration of women during and after the apartheid era. Paper presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Social Science History association, Portland, Oregon, November 3-6.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2004. ” Issues of Identity and Entrepreneurship: A Study of Ghanaian Women.” Paper presented at the Friends of Anthropology Seminar Series, Anthropology Department, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. April.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2004The birth of a new era: cognitive orientation and the glory of being Ghanaian in post-apartheid South Africa. Paper presented at the annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, University of the Free State, South Africa.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2003. “Entrepreneurship and the Drive to Succeed: Ghanaian Women of Durban”. Paper presented at the Anthropology Association of Southern Africa Annual Conference, University of Cape Town, South Africa, August.
  • Ojong, V. B, 2003. “Why African Women Migrate Independentlÿ’. Paper presented at the Pan African Anthropological Association Annual Conference, University of Port Elisabeth, South Africa, June.
  • Ojong, V. B. 2002. African migrant women in KwaZulu-Natal. Paper presented at the annual conference of Anthropology Southern Africa, Rhodes University, South Africa.

Referees

  • Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice Principal, Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, UNISA. Email: meyiwt@unisa.ac.za
  • Prof Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, Senior Anthropologist, USAID, Washington DC. Email: leclercmadlala@gmail.com