Vanessa Mpatlanyane

Vanessa Mpatlanyane is a sociologist. She studied at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, where she obtained a BA in Humanities, a BA (Hons) in Sociology, and an MA in Sociology with a dissertation that examined student activism in post-apartheid South Africa focusing on the Open Stellenbosch movement. She undertook short courses in Women in Leadership at the Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Institute for Student Leadership Development (FVZS) in Stellenbosch, South Africa and participated in student exchange programmes with the University of Helsinki, Finland. In 2020 she launched a social media project entitled "mere mortal" that explores the different dimensions of being a young 'mortal' through everyday narratives. Vanessa lectures Sociology in the Department for African Studies at the University of Venda, South Africa. Her research at HUMA explores the ways class and race (re)shape ideals around adulthood and one's sense of humanness among young black professionals in the Mpumalanga province, South Africa.