Grant Andrews
Work Email: grant.andrews@wits.ac.zaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-andrews-8a439824/
Summary
Researcher and lecturer specialising in Queer Visualities, Film Study, South African Creative Works and LGBTQ issues in Education. Recipient of Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. Committed to excellence in teaching, receiving 80% or higher for undergraduate and postgraduate student evaluations. 5 research publications over past 2 years, and forthcoming book Father, Nation & Text with UKZN press.
Education
- Graduated April 2016
PhD (English Studies), University of the Western Cape under the title Representations of Fatherhood and Paternal Narrative Power in South African English Literature. Supervisor: Prof Hermann Wittenberg.
- Graduated December 2010
MA (Cum Laude) in English Studies, Stellenbosch University, full thesis with the title Representation and Identity in the wake of 9/11. Supervisor: Prof Shaun Viljoen.
- Graduated December 2008
BA Hons in English Studies (Cum Laude), Stellenbosch University, Courses taken in Teaching Theory, Cultural Studies, Modern Theory, Oceanic Passages and Creative Writing
- Graduated December 2007
BA (Humanities), Stellenbosch University, Courses taken in Psychology, English Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, French and Art History
Work Experience
01/2018 - Present
Lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
Full-time research and teaching post. Responsibilities include:
• Course coordinator, English I (EDUC1276A/ EDUC1228), 2018 – 2019
• Courses taught: Undergraduate: Media Studies, Critical Literacy, Marginalised Stories and Identities (Film and Short Stories Studies), Academic Literacies. Undergraduate English courses had a focus on gender, sexuality and diversity studies, as well as film & literature studies.
• Postgraduate courses taught: Research Design & Methods, Visual Literacy
03/2016 – 12/2017
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stellenbosch University
Responsibilities:
• Host: Dr Mathilda Slabbert, under the title “Textual and Visual Performativity of Queer Identities and Sexualities in South African Literary and Cultural Productions”. March 2016 - present
• I presented an elective 278 seminar series based on my PhD research entitled “Masculinities and Queer Identities in South African Fiction”, 2015 - 2016
• English 178 Tutor, Dept. of English, Stellenbosch University, 2008 – 2010
• Academic Assistance tutor for students requiring additional academic writing skills, 2009
01/2011 – 02/2016
Lecturer and Tutor, University of the Western Cape
Responsibilities:
• Lectured EED 117 and 127, sharing responsibilities with co-lecturer and course coordinator Kenneth Goodman, 2014 - 2016
• Lectured courses in English for Educational Development (EED) 101 (Law) and EED 117/127 (Science), dealing with academic writing and reading skills to large lecture groups
• Course coordinator for English 151 (Nursing), creating course content and overseeing student and tutor admin, 2012
• Tutored in English courses to students with varying skill levels, with many students who spoke English as a second or third language, 2011 – 2016
Postgraduate Supervision
University of the Witwatersrand
M.Ed. Supervision
• Student: Phumla Sekhonyane, project: “An Examination of Rhetorical Strategies used by South African Politicians.” Co-Supervisor on 50% Thesis. Ongoing, Expected completion 2020.
B.Ed. Honours Supervision
• Student: Thabiso Mogane, project: “Dethroning the Okonkwo Spirit: Pedagogical Opportunities to Challenge Patriarchal Masculinities in English FET Prescribed Literature.” Passed with distinction (90%), 2019.
• Student: Ariela Berkman, project: “Challenging Macbeth in South African Education: A Feminist Analysis of Pedagogical Approaches and the Pervasiveness of the Text in School and University Curricula.” Passed with distinction (78%), 2019.
• Student: Filipa Mateus, project: “Addressing bullying behaviour in South African English classrooms: Perceptions and classroom practices of three high school English teachers”, passed with distinction (75%), 2018.
Committees & Service
University of the Witwatersrand School of Education (WSoE)
• Chair of the Website and Marketing Committee at the WSoE, designing new marketing materials and coordinating updates and redesigns of the School’s website, 2018-present
• Member of the Transformation and Decolonisation committee at the WSoE, working with a team to formulate a vision and mission around transformation and decolonisation, and engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the voices of staff, students and the broader community are incorporated in transformation practices, 2019
• Recipient of the Early Career Academic Development Grant, developing my research and teaching skills through a series of seminars and collaboration with the university’s research department, 2018
• Co-organiser and facilitator of research seminars in the Division of Languages, Literacies and Literatures, 2018-present
• Presented a staff seminar on using online portals in order to further blended learning at the WSoE, 2018
Conferences & Seminars
• Presented at the International Society for the Study of Gender and Love Conference, paper entitled “YouTube Queer Communities as Heterotopias: Reimagining Space, Identity and ‘Realness’ in Queer South African Vlogs”, September 2019
• Presented at the London International Conference on Education, paper entitled “Teaching gender and sexuality courses in initial teacher education: moments of mutual disruption through the lens of critical pedagogy”, December 2018
• Attended Stellenbosch University Conference for the IABA Africa, 2017.
• Presented on a panel at the African Literature Association Conference at Yale University, New Haven, presenting a paper entitled “Race and the Boundaries of Desire in South African Queer Film: Oliver Hermanus’ Skoonheid”, 2017
• Presented a seminar at the University of Stellenbosch seminar series entitled “The Queer Son and the Declining Patriarch: Water as a Symbol of Change and Disruption in Mark Behr's Kings of the Water”, 2016
• Presented a paper at the University of the Western Cape English Department Conference, Place & Imagination, entitled: “Shifting Paternal Narratives in South African Fiction”, 2015
Awards, Grants & Academic Activities
• Applied for the Thuthuka Grant for funding a large project on Queer Visualities in South Africa. Expected outcome December 2019.
• Recipient of the South African Humanities Deans’ Association Scholarship for PhD studies for academic excellence, 2014-2015
• Awarded the prestigious Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, involving extensive training in the four cornerstones: leadership, reconciliation, entrepreneurship and education, 2010
• Recipient of Postgraduate merit bursary awarded for academic excellence, 2009 & 2010
• Recipient of the Babette Taute Scholarship for excellence in English Studies, 2008
• Member of the African Literature Association
• Assistant to Organising International Conference on the works of Zoë Wicomb, acting as personal liaison to keynote speakers and guests, Coordinator: Prof Meg Samuelson, Stellenbosch University, 2009 – 2010