Staff Bios
Department of Communication and Media Academic Staff
| Name | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Prof Shanade Barnabas Associate Professor and Head of Department Location: B-Ring 6 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: sbbarnabas@uj.ac.za | Shanade Bianca Barnabas is an NRF Y rated scholar, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication and Media Studies. Her research is at the juncture of culture, indigeneity and heritage. Since 2008, she has conducted research together with the !Xun and Khwe San communities of South Africa’s Northern Cape province, publishing book chapters and journal articles on issues of heritage, indigeneity, and marginality as experienced by these communities. |
 | Dr Sifiso Mnisi Senior Lecturer and Head of School Contact Details: Email: sifisoz@uj.ac.za | Sifiso Mnisi is a senior a lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg. He has PhD in Communication Studies which focused on youth subcultures of consumption in South African townships. He has a wealth of experience in higher education both in the private and public higher education institutions spanning over 10 years. Prior to returning to UJ in 2021, Sifiso worked as Deputy Dean: Research at another institution of higher education. He has attended and presented research papers at a number of local and international conferences. Sifiso is a member of many professional bodies in South Africa and abroad these include amongst others: The South African Communications Association, South African Private Higher Education Association, the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), and The Golden Key International Honour Society. |
 | Prof Nicole Stremlau Reseach Professor Location: B Ring 604 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: nstremlau@uj.ac.za | Nicole Stremlau is Research Professor in the Humanities at the University of Johannesburg and she is Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on media and conflict, particularly in the Horn of Africa. Stremlau is currently working on a book examining new technologies and innovation in Somalia and Somaliland. She is the recipient of a 1.5 million euro European Research Council grant that examines questions around social media and migration and her research and work has also been funded by the Open Society Foundations, Google, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the United Nations, among others. |
 | Prof Sarah Chiumbu Associate Professor Location: B Ring 604A Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: sarahc@uj.ac.za | Prof Sarah H Chiumbu is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Johannesburg. Before joining the University of Johannesburg, she was Senior Research Specialist in the Human and Social Development Research Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). She also spent 7 years the University of Witwatersrand where she was a senior lecturer in media and communication studies. She holds a PhD and MA in media studies from the University of Oslo, Norway. |
 | Dr. Maud Blose Senior Lecturer Contact Details: Tel: 011 559 7247 Email: maudb@uj.ac.za | Maud Blose is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media. She is currently a Teaching Advancements at a University (TAU) Fellow. She holds a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is also a Fulbright Scholar with a MSc in Broadcast Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Chicago, U.S.A. She has over a decade experience as a lecturer in the higher education sector. |
 | Prof. Ylva Rodny-Gumede Professor and Senior Director International House, Madibeng Ground Floor Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: | Professor Ylva Rodny-Gumede is the Head of the Division for Internationalisation and a 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 diploma in Marketing and Business Communication from the Institute of International Education in Stockholm. |
 | Dr. Aimee Viljoen-Stroebel Lecturer Location: B Ring 6 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Tel: 0118838528 Email: aviljoen@uj.ac.za | Aimee Viljoen-Stroebel is a lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Johannesburg. Her field of focus is film and television studies with an emphasis on audience research. Her teaching moto is inspired by Benjamin Franklin and reads “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”. Apart from lecturing, Aimee is a mother and plant enthusiast. When she is not teaching, you can find her digging around in a veggie garden. As a younger scholar, Aimee’s mission is to humanise the research process to inspire more young people to strive towards a career in research. |
 | Dr Varona Sathiyah Lecturer Location: B-Ring 628 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: varonas@uj.ac.za | I am a lecturer at the Department of Communication Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. I have worked in the publishing industry as the editorial coordinator of an internationally accredited academic journal titled: Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies. I have presented seminars on indigenous tourism practices as economic survival strategies at national and international conferences. My thesis is titled: “Cultural tourism and representation strategies in the South African context: a case study of the Baleni and Fundudzi cultural camps on the Limpopo African Ivory Route”. My specific interest is in how indigenous communities construct their identities and representation of cultural practices for heritage and tourism purposes. |
 | Dr Shelley Barry Senior Lecturer Location: B 5 Building 164 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: sbarry@uj.ac.za | Shelley was awarded a full scholarship from the Ford Foundation to study towards her Master of Fine Arts in Film in the United States and graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia in 2006. Her films span across genres and are largely experimental in style. She often shoots her own films, exploring the aesthetics of cinematography from the perspective of a wheelchair user. Screenings of her work have been held at major festivals and events around the world and been acquired by television, including MTV, DUTV and WYBE in the U.S and SABC and etv in South Africa. New York University is one of the international libraries that has purchased her work. |
 | Prof. Admire Mare Associate Professor Location: B Ring 603 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: amare@uj.ac.za | Admire Mare is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also a Research Fellow at the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to his latest appointments, he was an Associate Professor and a Deputy Head of Department: Communication at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek. He currently leads the international research project ‘Social Media, Misinformation and Elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe’ (SoMeKeZi) funded by the Social Science Research Council (2019-2022). |
 | Dr. Oswelled Ureke Senior Lecturer B Ring 708A, APK +27 (0) 11 559 4942 | Oswelled Ureke is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). He teaches theory and applied courses in journalism, film and television studies and digital media production. He also supervises post-graduate students in the broad areas of audio-visual communication and journalism. Oswelled was previously a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. He holds a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies from the University of KwaZulu Natal’s (UKZN) Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS). He is a former University of Cape Town (UCT) African Filmmaking Fellow (AFF) and former UJ Global Excellence and Stature (GES) post-doctoral research fellow. Oswelled’s research interests combine practical and theoretical elements of screen media production and study, journalism as well as political economy of the media. |
| Prof Mariekie Burger Associate Professor Location: B-Ring 631 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: mburger@uj.ac.za | Mariekie Burger currently lectures courses in global communication and social change in the Communication Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Her research interest falls on identity expressions in a range of communicative instances. In line with the participatory turn, much of her research focuses on how people express, or agentically engage with their identity online, offline and in the mass media. This interest she has extended to health communication (especial HIV/Aids communication) by arguing that instead of instead of campaign-based persuasion a key point of curbing the spread of the virus could be to strengthen existing community-based efforts ‘from below’. Similarly she has made a case for companies’ social engagement and universities’ social engagement ‘from below’. | |
| Ms Antoinette Hoffman Lecturer Contact Details: Email: amhoffman@uj.ac.za |
 | Sylvia E. Vollenhoven Professor of Practice Location: B-Ring 603A Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: svollenhoven@uj.ac.za | A writer, award-winning journalist, playwright and filmmaker. In 2019 appointed the University of Johannesburg’s first ever Professor of Practice. Awarded Sweden’s main journalism prize by the Publicistklubben, the prestigious Nordic academy of writers and publishers. The citation reads… “For doing a brave, professional job under difficult circumstances…”. Nomination: Cinema for Peace Award 2021 for Jozi Gold (Co Director & SA Producer). This feature documentary – a Sweden, SA & Norway co production – was chosen for a special screening to launch the 21st Encounters Film Festival (SA) and for an international premiere at the prestigious CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. Former Foreign Correspondent for Sweden’s main daily newspaper Expressen. Commissioned by the District Six Museum and Artscape to write Dance of the La Gumas – Revolution, Rumba & Romance, a play about the renowned writer Alex La Guma that had a sold-out debut run in 2022. Commissioned by the Volksoperahuis of Amsterdam to write Krotoa Eva van de Kaap, a play that premiered in the Netherlands to standing ovations before sold-out runs in South Africa. Her seminal dance drama about Khoisan identity, The Keeper of the Kumm (based on the creative non-fiction novel of the same name), opened on the main programme at the National Arts Festival (NAF). Winner of the Jury Prize, Audience Award and the 1st Prize at the Caribbean Tales Big Pitch at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) for her feature film in her feature film in development, Buckingham Palace District Six. A play she co-authored, My Word, Redesigning Buckingham Palace, was chosen for a run on London’s West End and for the main programme at the NAF. The Main Festival also selected another of her plays, Cold Case – Revisiting Dulcie September. The latter won both the inaugural Adelaide Tambo Award for Human Rights in the Arts as well as a Standard Bank Audience Award. SA Producer for the BBC TV mini-series Mandela the Living Legend. Chair of the 2018 & 2019 Alan Paton Literary Award Jury. Guest Lecturer at the Universities of the Free State, Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Member of the International Emmy Awards 2018 Jury. Led media projects for the UK’s Thomson Foundation in association with Oxford and Cardiff Universities. |
 | Prof Keyan Tomaselli Distinguised Professor Location: B-ring 6 Email: keyant@uj.ac.za
| Keyan G Tomaselli is Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Humanities Dean’s Office. His post is administered via the Dept of Communication and is a research fellow also in the UJ Centre for Africa-China Studies. He is also a Professor Emeritus and Fellow, University of KwaZulu-Natal and is an Honorary Professor in the Centre for Trans-media and Trans-culture at Capital Normal University, Beijing, and he has been a member of the Shanghai University Expert Program. His holds a Laureate Fellow position conferred by the International Communicology Institute. Tomaselli is recipient of the KWANZA Award for The Cinema of Apartheid (1988) and the Heroes and Legends Award, Simon “Mbhunu” Sabela Awards. Co-editor of Critical Arts and the Journal of African Cinemas. Between 2021 and 2014, Tomaselli is chair of the Academy of Science for South Africa’s Scholarly Publication Committee, and is an honorary fellow of the SA Communication Association. |
 | Mrs. Lindsay Fisher Email: lindsayl@uj.ac.za Office: B-Ring 633A Ext: 011 559 7249 | Lindsay is an nGAP lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media, in the Faculty of Humanities. She is currently enrolled for her PhD at the University of Johannesburg. Her research is focused on the philosophy of communication, human communication, and aspects of humanness relating to cooperation, altruism, love, servant leadership and ubuntu, participatory culture and communication. |
Department of Communication and Media Administrative Staff
| Ms Barbara Leeuwner Departmental Secretary Location: B Ring 6 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Tel: 011 559 4526 Email: barbaral@uj.ac.za |
| Mr James Mbewe Departmental Secretary Location: B Ring 6 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Tel: 011 559 4327 Email: jmbewe@uj.ac.za | |
| Mr Enoch Mabona Studio Manager Location: B 5 – 166 Studio Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: emmabona@uj.ac.za | |
| Mr Mafa Sikhafungana General Assistant Location: B5 Studio Auckland Park Kingsway Campus Contact Details: Email: mafas@uj.ac.za |