Details about the MPhil here
PhD Anthropology Stanford University 2017
MSc Forced Migration Oxford University 2010
BSocSci (Hons) University of Cape Town 2008
NRF Rating, 2022
Research and Innovation Award: Most Productive Emerging Researcher, North-West University 2021
Engaged Teaching and Learning Award, North-West University 2021
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study Iso Lomso Fellowship 2022-2024
National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences: Longlist for best monograph 2021
My research interests are capacious but broadly fit into three thematic areas that centre Africa, oceanic connection, and imagination.
(i) education realities and futures
(ii) digital infrastructure and connectivity
(iii) class and social mobility
The geographic focus of my work has thus far been Angola and the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean region, specifically Mauritius, and to a lesser extent South Africa.
I have taught all levels of anthropology and social sciences, and in my new role am supporting qualitative research at UCT's Graduate School of Business. I currently teach ethography, systems thinking, research methods, and social/civic interventions for impact.
I currently have three MA students finishing their projects at NWU:
Casper Dreyer: Transformation, masculinity and rugby in an amateur club
Tebogo Maribe: Boys becoming men: a high school ethnography
Thandiwe Twala: Young South African Creatives: world and work making in Itsoseng, South Africa
At the GSB, I am currently accepting new MPhil and PhD students.
Jahaj is the Hindi word for boat. It is also what happens when my own initials are placed next to those of my life partner. Using the word in this way, I acknowledge that my work takes place within the family, nourished by home, relationality and care. (On a practical level, the text is pointed here from jessauerbach.net).
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Business
University of Cape Town
Research Affiliate
Centre for Research in Higher Education, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa
Curtin University, Mauritius
Universidade Katyavala Bwila, Angola
Optentia, North-West University, South Africa
Research Areas: Angola, South Atlantic, Mauritius, Indian Ocean,
Curriculum Studies
Research Thematics: class, aesthetics, science and technology studies, decoloniality, 21st century pedagogy, multinodal ethnography.
jess.m.auerbach@gmail.com