BSocSc (University of Natal in Durban); Honours in Social Science (UKZN); PGDip in Higher Education (UKZN); MA Social Sciences (Albert-Ludwigs-Universitaet in Freiburg, Germany); PhD (UCT)

Consultation Times:
(by appointment) 
Please email me in advance.

 

I joined the Department of Sociology at UCT in November 2019, from working as a senior researcher at the Chris Hani Institute in Johannesburg. Previously I worked at the University of KwaZulu Natal as a lecturer and at the Durban University of Technology as a senior lecturer and research associate. I am a Fulbright scholar, Global Studies Program alumni, Honorary Research Associate at DUT, South African Review of Sociology Journal co-editor. 

In the Sociology department, I convene the PhD program. In the Faculty of Humanities, I serve as a member of Transformation committee, Employment Equity Representative and a Humanities Student Advisor. I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses, namely: Introduction to Sociology; Social Justice and Inequality; Social Theory and Sociological Analysis Today.

 

Publications 

Monograph

(2017) Xulu-Gama N, Hostels in South Africa: Spaces of Perplexity. UKZN Press. Pietermaritzburg. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37925

Edited Book

(2022) Rugunanan P. & N. Xulu-Gama, Migration in the Southern Africa. IMISCOE Regional Reader. Open Access. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-92114-9?page=1#toc

 

Book Chapters

• (in press) Xulu-Gama N. From the City’s supposed ‘Edge’ in (eds) Oldfield, S, Selmeczi, A & Barnett C.  Knowing the City: South African Urban Scholarship from apartheid to democracy. University of KwaZulu Natal Press. Pietermaritzburg.
• (2023) Xulu-Gama N. & Lorgat A, Volunteerism as band-aid for lack of work: The experiences of Community Health Care Workers in Gauteng (eds) Tshoaedi, M; Bischoff, C; Bezuidenhout, A. Labour Disrupted: Reflections on the Future of Work in South Africa. Wits Press.
• (2022) Xulu-Gama, N. Migrant Women’s Experiences in the City: A Relational Comparison in (eds) Rugunanan P. & N. Xulu-Gama, Migration in the Southern Africa. IMISCOE Research Series.
• (2022) Xulu-Gama; N.; SR Nhari, M Malabela and T Mogoru Policy Implementation Challenges for Worker Education and Foreign National Migrants in (eds) Rugunanan P. & N. Xulu-Gama, Migration in the Southern Africa. IMISCOE Research Series.
• (2022) Sass C. & Xulu-Gama N. South African Youths’ response to unemployment and exclusion (eds) Akanle, O. Youth Exclusion and Empowerment in the Contemporary Global Order.
• (2020) Xulu-Gama N.  KwaMashu Hostel: Rural-urban interconnections in KwaZulu-Natal edited by Bank L and Posel D with Wilson F in Migrant Labour After Apartheid: Continuities and Change. HSRC Press, Cape Town.
• (2018) Hemson, C; Ngidi N.D; Xulu-Gama, N. & Magudulela N. Gender, violence and the first year curriculum edited by Patman R & Carolissen R; Transforming Transformation in Research and Teaching at South African Universities. African Sun Media, Stellenbosch.
• (2012) Xulu N. Cosatu and Internal Migrants Workers: old fault lines, new dilemmas in Buhlungu, S. A Contested Legacy: COSATU’s triumphs and dilemmas in the second decade of democracy. HSRC Press.

 

Journal articles

• (in press) Moleko, T. & Xulu-Gama Learning disrupted through high school dropouts: Perceptions of access to education. South African Review of Sociology
• (2022) Xulu-Gama N. & Hadebe S, Language as a critical aspect of epistemological access to higher education in South Africa. South African Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 36(5) pp291-307. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20853/36-5-4788
• (2022) Xulu-Gama N. & Lorgat A, Navigating entry and survival in the city: A relational comparison of migrant workers and university students in the city of Durban. South African Review of Sociology. Vol. 52(2) pp73-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2022.2051598
• (2022)  Mlambo Y. & Xulu-Gama N. The significance of renaming Memorial Hall after Sara Baartman, University of Cape Town. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa. Vol. 10(1) pp145-156. DOI: 10.24085/jsaa.v10i1.2187
• (2019) Xulu-Gama N.  The role of student housing in student success: An ethnographic account. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa. Vol 7(2) pp15-25. DOI:10.24085/jsaa.v7i2.3822
• (2018) Xulu-Gama N.; S. R. Nhari; A. Alcock & M. Cavanagh.  A student centred approach: A qualitative exploration of how students experience access and success in a South African University of technology. Higher Education Research and Development  Vol. 37(6) pp. 1302-1314. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1473844
• (2018) Xulu-Gama N, Hostels as ‘forgotten spaces’ for trade union mobilisation in the post-apartheid era. South African Labour Bulletin Vol 42 No. 1 Mar/April
• (2017) Xulu-Gama N. Violence and insecurity in the KwaMashu hostel at KwaZulu Natal.  Acta Criminologica: Southern African Journal of Criminology, Volume 30(2) pp 1–11. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-bb1c53e22
• (2015) Xulu N. Experiences of studying the former single sex hostel for migrant workers in South Africa Loyola Journal of Social Sciences Vol 29(1) pp. 75-93. https://loyolacollegekerala.edu.in/loyolajournal/home/articles/31
• (2014) Xulu N. From hostels to CRUs: Hostels as spaces of perpetual perplexity. South African Review of Sociology Volume 45 Number. 1 pp. 140-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2014.887919
• (2012) Xulu N. Gender dynamics in the former single sex hostel: KwaMashu. New Agenda Issue 45.
• (2007) Essa, A; Lorgat, A. Tame, B. Xulu, N. Reflections on WSF: talkshop, reminder of an alternate world of forum for mobilisation? South African Labour Bulletin. 31(1) Mar/April. 
• (2005) Xulu N. In search of a new social welfare system: Is the Basic Income Grant an appropriate policy framework for developing societies? The South African case Ingede Journal of African Scholarship.

 

Book Reviews

• (2024) "Whites and democracy in South Africa by Roger Southall (2022)" Gender Questions Journal. https://doi.org/10.25159/2412-8457/15932
• (2024) Ethnographies of power: working with radical concepts with Gillian Hart. South Africa Review of Sociology https://doi.org/10.1080/21528586.2024.2319301
• (2022) Polygyny and Gender: The gendered narratives of adults raised in polygynous families by Zamambo Mkhize (2021). South Africa Review of Sociology, pp.95-98. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uct.ac.za/10.1080/21528586.2022.2038452
• (2008) Inheriting Poverty? The link between children’s well-being and unemployment in South Africa by Paul Graham (ed) (2006 IDASA, Cape Town) New Agenda issue 32

 

Poetry

• (in press) Xulu-Gama N. Living through these feelings in (eds) Oldfield, S, Selmeczi, A & Barnett C.  Knowing the City: South African Urban Scholarship from apartheid to democracy. University of KwaZulu Natal Press. Pietermaritzburg.

 

Newspaper Article

• Hostel Horrors Take Root, Sunday Tribune Newspaper 21 October 2012

 

Supervision research interests

I am interested in supervising research projects that range from issues of former single-sex workers’ hostels now known as Community Residential Units; migration; (rural-urban and international), gender; sexuality; social reproduction, identity and belonging. I am also interested in higher education, student success, access, engagement, alienation and decoloniality. As an industrial sociologist, I take particular interest in studies relating to the working class, household livelihoods; trade union movement and workers’ rights.