Prof. Ylva Rodny-Gumede

Senior Director: Global Engagement
Name: Ylva Rodny-Gumede
Location: International House, Madibeng Ground Floor Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Communication and Media Academic Staff, Department of Communication and Media Staff, Internationalisation, Rated Researchers, Senior Directors  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: 011-559-4446

Personal/Executive Assistant: Ziyanda Sam

About Prof. Ylva Rodny-Gumede

Professor Ylva Rodny-Gumede

Professor Ylva Rodny-Gumede is the Head of the Division for Global Engagement and a full Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a Senior Associate Researcher with the Stanhope Centre for International Communications Policy Research at the London School of Economics and the Senior Leader for the University at Universitas 21. She holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University as well as an MA degree in Politics from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and an MA in Journalism from Cardiff University in the U.K. She also holds a certificate in Executive Leadership from the Johannesburg Business School, South Africa.

She has worked in higher education, journalism, marketing and PR and has consulted for several government, private and academic institutions in Europe and Southern Africa including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education. She has also worked as a researcher and project officer for the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Freedom of Expression Institute of South Africa and the SADC Parliamentary Forum. She currently serves on the International Council of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and she is the former President of the Southern African Communications and Media Association (SACOMM). She also serves as a non-Executive Director on the board of the Institute for Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) and is a former Trustee of the board of Brand South Africa.

In her current position, she oversees and drives the University of Johannesburg global engagement strategy as well as international collaborative partnerships and stakeholder engagements, including research, researcher and student exchanges and the recruitment and admission of international students. Her portfolio also entails adherence to diplomatic protocol, communications and marketing, and international fundraising. She contributes extensively to both print and broadcast media locally and internationally.

Professor Rodny-Gumede holds a C 2 rating from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF). Her current research concerns journalism and journalistic practices, strategic communications in higher education and the broader transformation of higher education in South Africa. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed and accredited research publications.

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

Books

2021  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C & Jaffer, Z & Ponono, M. (Eds.) Decolonising Journalism Education in South Africa: Critical perspectives. UNISA Press.

2020  Swart, M & Rodny-Gumede, Y. (Eds.) Marikana Unresolved. JUTA: Cape Town.

 Articles and chapters

2024  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Democratic deliberation and the political functions of the South African news media in the 30 years since liberation. In Liberation diaries: Reflections on 30 years of democracy, edited by Busani Ngcaweni. Johannesburg: Jacana, pp. 159-168.

2023  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Reflections on a decolonised communication and media studies curriculum. In Decolonising Media and Communication Studies Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Selina Linda Mudavanhu, Shepherd Mpofu and Kezia Batisai. London: Routledge, pp. 93-109.

2023  Mutsvairo, B., Rodny-Gumede, Y., Chasi, C. IAMCR and Africa: Harmonizing Discourses of History, Hegemony, and Hope. In: Becker, J., Mansell, R. (eds) Reflections on the International Association for Media and Communication Research. Palgrave Macmillan.

2022  Rodny-Gumede, Y. The Triple Oppressions: Race, class and gender in South African journalism, in Women Journalists in South Africa: Democracy in the age of social media, edited by Glenda Daniels and Kate Skinner.

2022  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Decolonial journalism: New notes on ubuntu and the public interest. Journalism Studies, 23(13): 1625-1637

2021  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Transformation, fragmentation and decolonisation: The contested role of the media in postcolonial South Africa. In Political Communication as Decolonisation and Performance: Africa and the Diaspora, edited by Beschara Karam and Bruce Mutsvairo. London: Routledge.

2021  Chasi & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Critical Consciousness and Cultural Emancipation in (South) African Heritages of Communication for Social Change. Matrizes. Available from: https://www.revistas.usp.br/matrizes/article/view/192718/178304

2021  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Towards a research agenda for African media and communication studies: Pathfinders must first know where they are, in Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C & Jaffer, Z & Ponono, M. (Eds.) Decolonising journalism education in South Africa: Critical perspectives. UNISA Press.

2021  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C. Rethinking peace journalism in light of ubuntu, in Media, Conflicts and Peace building in Africa, edited by Admire Mare and Jacinta Maweu. London: Routledge.

2020  Chasi, C and Rodny-Gumede, Y. Innovation in media and communication studies: Reflections from South African academics, Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 46 (2): 107-125.

2020  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C. Decolonising media and communication studies: An exploratory survey on global curricula transformation debate. In Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication, edited by Winston Mano & viola milton.

2020  Chasi, C. & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Ubuntu, innovation and decolonisation in media and communication studies. In Hoechsmann, M & Carr, P & Thesee, G. Education for Democracy 2.0: Changing Frames of Media Literacy. Brill Publishers.

2020  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Expanding comparative media systems analysis from transitional to postcolonial societies, International Communication Gazette, 82(7): 611-627.

2020  Chasi, C. & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Reimagining the University as a Transit Place and Space: A Contribution to the Decolonialisation Debate. In Down, B. & Steinberg, S.R. (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Critical Pedagogies. Newbury: SAGE, pp. 416-427.

2020  Rao, S & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Gazing past the glass ceiling: Indian and South African female journalists’ perceptions of their role and power in the newsroom, Global Media and Communication, 16(1): 57-74.

2020  Rodny-Gumede, Y& Chasi. C. Metaphors of transformation of education and fitness for purpose: Towards a humanizing agenda. South African Journal of Higher Education, 34(1): 213-230. (DoHet accredited)

2020  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Reporting Marikana: What went wrong and has it changed South African journalism? In Marikana Unresolved Edited by Mia Swart and Ylva Rodny-Gumede. JUTA: Cape Town.

2019  Rodny-Gumede, Y. The fourth industrial revolution, the changing world of work and imperatives of internationalisation in higher education. The Thinker, Issue 82 November 2019. http://www.thethinker.co.za/resources/Thinker_82/82%20gumede.pdf

2019  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Undercover reporting, The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies.

2019   Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. No Pain No Gain? Reflections on decolonization and higher education in South Africa, Africa Education Review. Vol 16 (5): 120-133.

2019  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. An ubuntu approach to Peace Journalism. In Conflict-sensitive journalism: A practical handbook for journalists in southern Africa, edited by Admire Mare. Department of Communication, Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).

2018  Rodny-Gumede, Y. A teaching philosophy of journalism education in the global South: A South African case study, Journalism, Theory, Practice and Criticism. Vol 19(6): 747-761.

2018  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Bridging critical and administrative research paradigms in the interest of a politically engaged African research agenda. In Palgrave handbook on media and communication research in Africa, edited by Bruce Mutsvairo. London: Palgrave, pp. 177-194.

2018  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Decolonising Communication Studies: Advancing the discipline through fermenting participation studies, In Palgrave handbook on media and communication research in Africa, edited by Bruce Mutsvairo. London: Palgrave, pp. 55-71.

2018  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Fake it till you make it: The role and impact of fake news on the media-politics nexus. In Perspectives on political communications in Africa, edited by Bruce Mutsvairo. London: Palgrave, pp. 203-219.

2018  Gudipaty, N & Lago, C & Pasti, S & Xu, Y & Li, X & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Gender: Moving towards professional equality, in The BRICS Journalist in the Age of Net Mobility, edited by Svetlana Pasti and Jyotika Ramaprasad pp. 104-129.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Towards new co-creational approaches for research and supervision in professional journalism degree programmes, African Journalism Studies. Vol 38 (3&4): 100-117. 

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C. Ubuntu values individuals: An analysis of eulogies of Mandela, Journal of Literary Studies. Vol 33 (4): 106-123.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Ubuntu and the cinematic dramaturgy of Elelwani, Communitas. Vol 22 (1): 16-30.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. The centrality of media hearings to transitional justice processes, in Limits to transition: A Critique of the TRC, edited by Karen van Merle and Mia Swart. Leiden; Boston: Brill Nijhof publishers, pp. 253-281.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Milton, V & Mano, W. Rethinking the link between Media and Democracy in the post-colony: One size does not fit all. Communicatio:South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, Vol 43 (2):1-9.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Questioning the media-democracy relationship: The case of South Africa, Communicatio:South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, Vol 43 (2): 10-20.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Social media and the re-affirmation of the role of ‘journalism’: Cursory notes on the potential for widening the public sphere in a postcolonial society, Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. Vol 8(2&3): 169-187.

2017  Chasi, C and Rodny-Gumede, Y. High deception in Higher education, in Deception: Motivations, Recognition Techniques and Behavioral Control, edited by Innocent Chiluwa. New York: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 227-243.

2017  Rodny-Gumede, Y. The impact of social media on journalism, in P.J. Fourie Media studies Vol 4: Social (new) media and mediated communication today. Cape Town: Juta, pp. 267-292.

2017  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Of despots and saints: Towards a nuanced understanding of African leadership through the analysis of eulogies of Mandela, in Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: Decolonial Ethics of Liberation and Servant Leadership, edited by Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni & Busani Ngcaweni. New York: Africa World Press.

2016  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Ubuntu journalism and nation-building magic, Critical Arts. Vol 30(5): 728-744.

2016  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Chasi, C. The truth and nothing but the truth: A re-affirmation and re-evaluation of undercover journalism practices, African Journalism Studies. Vol 37(3): 107-128.

2016  Chasi, C & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Smash and grab, truth and dare…, International Communication Gazette. Vol 78 (7): 694-700.

2016  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Awareness towards Peace Journalism among Foreign Correspondents in Africa, Media and Communication. Vol 4 (1): 80-93

2016  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Gender equity in South African newsrooms, in Media and Democracy in Southern Africa. Edited by Glenda Daniels. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung – Fes. Media Africa.

2015  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Re-conceptualising the analysis of trajectories of media development in post-colonial societies, Global Media and Communication. Vol 11(2): 131-146.

2015  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Gender and public discourse formation in South Africa: Male and female journalists’ influence on news agendas, Communicatio: South African journal for Communication Theory and Research, 41(2): 206-219.

2015  Rodny-Gumede, Y. South African journalists’ conceptualisation of professionalism and deviations form normative liberal values. Communicare 33(2): 54-69.  

2015  Rodny-Gumede, Y. An assessment of the public interest and ideas of the public in South Africa and the adoption of ‘Ubuntu journalism’, Journal of Media Ethics, 30 (2): 109-124.

2015  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Coverage of Marikana: War and conflict and the case for peace (journalism), Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies, 41(2): 359-374.

2015  Swart, M & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Introduction: Considering the aftermath of Marikana, Social Dynamics, 41 (2): 323-326.

2014  Rodny-Gumede, Y & Hyde-Clarke, N. Conducting online research and the use of online sources: South African journalist practices. In Online Journalism in Africa. Edited by Mabweazara, H. New York: Routledge, pp.104-120.

2014  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Challenges of Teaching Journalism at the University of Johannesburg.  Rhodes Journalism Review 34.

2013  Ogola, G. & Rodny-Gumede, Y. Current quality levels in the journalism of South Africa and Kenya.In The Future of Quality News: A cross continental analysis. Edited by Anderson, J & Ogola, G & Williams, M. New York: Routledge, 227-247.

2013  Rodny-Gumede, Y. The local in the global: Challenges of teaching global journalism. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies. Vol 34 (2):128-141.

2012  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Race, class and gender and the transformation of the South African news media. Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa. December 2012 Vol 18: 159-176.

2012  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Peace journalism and the usage of online sources. Communicare,  October 2012, Vol 31: 57-74.

2011  Rodny-Gumede, Y. Analysing ethics and political bias in South African news media. In Communication and Media Ethics in South Africa. Edited by Hyde-Clarke, N. Cape Town, SA: Juta, 147-175.