Selected Publications
I have published in internationally accredited journals, as well as books, and have co-edited a poetry anthology based off workshops run under my non-profit organisation, NonScenes. Below is a selection of my most significant publications, reflecting across memory studies, pedagogy and cultural practice, as well as links to these publications. For further information on these and my other publications (forthcoming and previous), as well as conferences and scholarships/fellowships, please consult my curriculum vitae.
2026. "Challenging the Implicated Subject: Bringing memory activism into the South African university classroom". Journal article Published in Memory Studies (Issue number to be advised)
Abstract
In this article, I explore the value of engaging with the intersections between memory studies scholarship and memory activism within the university classroom. I do so by documenting the approach I took to teaching Michael Rothberg’ s theory of the implicated subject to South African university graduate students.
2025. "Multidirectional Memory in the NGO Sector: The Case of the Hate Crimes Group and the Value of Cross-Sector Engagement". Book chapter in Simply Human: A Guide to Understanding and Combating Hate. The book is edited by Kenneth S. Stern and published under Toronto University Press.
Abstract
In this chapter, I explore how literary scholar Michael Rothberg's theory of multidirectional memory can be used as a framework to create connections between NGOs that occupy differing social, cultural and political orientations. The chapter uses the South African- based Hate Crimes Working Group (HCWG) as a case study to demonstrate how multidirectionality could be employed.
2024. Poetry Non-Scenes: New performance poems beyond the struggle. This is a poetry anthology, comprised of poems written by participants from our Poetry NonScenes poetry workshops in Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was co-edited with Tom Penfold and Deirdre Byrne and published under uHlanga Press. The anthology is supported by the Johannesburg Holocaust Centre, the External Engagement Committee of the History Department of University College London, the University of Pretoria and the University of South Africa.
2024. "'If I Speak Like You, I Am You': Racial Passing in Trevor Noah's Born a Crime and Other Stories". Journal article published in Literature, Critique , and Empire Today (Vol. 59, Issue 2-3)
Abstract
In his memoir Born a Crime and Other Stories (2016), stand-up comedian Trevor Noah, draws on the thematic concerns of his stand-up performances, as he documents his experiences of racial passing in apartheid and then post-apartheid South Africa. Noah's reflections on these experiences of passing are integral to shaping his commentary on how racial identities are constructed and perceived. In this article, I examine how Noah's racial passing narrative expands upon depictions of and commentaries on race presented within works of South African racial passing
memoir writing.
2023. "The Humanity of Whiteness in Sindiwe Magona's Mother to Mother". Journal article published in Safundi (Vol. 24, Issue. 3).
Abstract
In this article, I use a textual analysis of Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother (1998) as a framework through which to critique and expand upon the concerns reflected in current studies of whiteness.
2021. "Breaking Silences in the Aftermath of Historical Trauma in Elie Wiesel's Day". Journal article published in Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History (Vol 27, Issue 3)
Abstract
This article employs a close reading of Elie Wiesel’s third novel, Day (1961), as a lens through which to explore the difficulties inherent in disengaging from the Holocaust past and their impact on the Holocaust survivor’s efforts to live in the present.
2020. "Find the 'Herstorical Narrative in Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give". Journal article published in English Studies in Africa (Vol 63, Issue 1). This article was also republished as a book chapter in Cultures of Populism : Institutions, Practices and Resistance, edited by Merle A. Williams and published under Routledge.
Abstract
In this article I use Angie Thomas’s popular young-adult novel The Hate U Give as a lens through which to explore how young adult fiction, produced by African American writers, can serve to facilitate social activism and change.