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Dr Qhama Noveve
A lecturer in Sociology and Anthropology, she recently graduated at Nelson Mandela University with her research titled “Governance practice in understanding gender transformation in higher education institutions in South Africa.”
Her study used Nelson Mandela University as a case study, examining how colonial legacies, apartheid geographies, and contemporary discourses continue to influence transformation efforts.
The appointment of an all-Black women senior leadership team in 2018 offered a strategic lens to analyse how race, gender, and representation reshaped institutional culture.
Findings revealed that although universities commit to equity and redress, they are often constrained by market metrics, managerialism, and global competitiveness, which create a tension between moral commitments and institutional pressures.
Like a swinging pendulum, transformation is both facilitated and restricted by the very rules, practices, and discourses that constitute the University. Overall, gender transformation in higher education emerges as an ongoing, contested, and contradictory process.
Sparking the interest
Dr Noveve reflected on her personal experiences with epistemic injustice: “Black people are often silenced in dominant societies through education, law, and cultural norms. Growing up as a Black girl in South Africa, I was taught to ‘know when to speak.’”
She described this silencing as a broader “connection and relational impasse,” where women speaking out can threaten relationships. Growing up in a working-class township in the Eastern Cape, she often feared voicing her perspective.
Her undergraduate sociology curriculum offered no intellectual role models resembling her, leaving her disconnected from her lived reality.
Over time, she absorbed the belief that legitimate knowledge required abstract theory. Her study, however, created space for epistemic disobedience by centring Black women academics whose experiences mirrored her own, challenging traditional notions of supposedly neutral scholarship.
New facts, ideas, and tendencies
Although the University continues to grapple with colonial and apartheid-era practices, all members contribute to sustaining, transforming, or disrupting institutional patterns. Practical solutions can emerge internally, guided by ubuntu, addressing what Dr Noveve calls the “connection crisis.”
The University’s vision of an “engaged university” reflects this dynamic process. Vision 2030 imagines a post-apartheid, outward-looking “travelling university” whose members continually evolve.
Her study also advanced the intellectual project of the Faculty of Humanities, which is driven by the need to reinvigorate the value of the Humanities in addressing societal challenges, fostering critical engagement and shaping learning transformative learning. In doing so, her work closely aligned with one of the Faculty’s key research themes: African Womanhood and Gendered Histories.
Dr Noveve’s research traced decades of renewal and bold transformation, making previously unthinkable possibilities tangible. Pulled between market pressures and moral imperatives, the University’s commitment to social justice sets it apart and demonstrates the potential of African universities.
Vision 2030 embodies a legacy shaped by its three Black women leaders, reinforcing the intellectual and social impact of Black women in leadership.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Sibongile Muthwa, in her 2018 inaugural address, spoke of her upbringing: “I come from a humble but confident stock of peasants who, while they had little material means, had a huge conviction of a great possibility that lies in education as a game-changer. My grandfather was not formally educated. He taught himself to read and write. He did not believe jobs were for either men or women. He believed, and told me many times, that I could be anything and I could do anything.”
Qhama interpreted this as Prof Muthwa acting as a bridge in a complex context, showing that women can occupy boundary spaces, challenge entrenched leadership, and leverage influence to advance transformation priorities.
Black women have historically shaped efforts to address gender inequality as activists, scholars, and professionals. The University’s leadership continues this legacy, navigating institutional contradictions in ways earlier generations could not.
The study also highlighted the care Black women bring into lecture halls, nurturing transformation and offering students socially embedded learning experiences.
Solutions and support
Transformation requires collective and coordinated action. Often, the academic project is under-articulated, and cultural engagement is limited, especially when non-academic managers wield decision-making power.
During her doctoral research, Qhama worked at The University’s Centre for Women and Gender Studies under professors Babalwa Magoqwana and Pumla Gqola, receiving mentorship, travel opportunities, and scholarly engagement. Support from the Engagement and Transformation Portfolio, led by Prof Andre Keet, further validated her research and praxis contributions.
The way forward
“I aspire to contribute to sustainable development, promote independent thought, and strengthen the humanities and social sciences in addressing human challenges. Like the University’s mission, I aim to link knowledge to action to change the world,” Dr Noveve said.
She emphasised the emotional labour central to teaching and transformation, aspiring to reach the academic ceiling as a full professor and contribute wherever her expertise is needed.
Dr Noveve (32) joined Mandela University in 2020, becoming a permanent lecturer in 2023. She holds a BA from the University of the Western Cape, two honours degrees in Development Studies and Psychology, and a master’s in Sociology from the University of Fort Hare.
Raised in Mdantsane township near East London, her research and career reflect her commitment to connecting scholarship with lived experiences, demonstrating how Black women’s leadership and intellectual contributions can drive meaningful institutional change.