Events

Events Search and Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

  • ACMS Seminar: Queering Sex work and Mobility in South Africa

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    Presenter: Ntokozo Yingwana Date: Wednesday, 6 August 2025 Time: 12:30 – 13:45 Venue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions) Zoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1 Register: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 Abstract: Drawing from a doctoral thesis with a similar title, this paper explores the intersections of sex work, mobility, migration and gendered sexualities through a queer lens. The study informing it made use of digital storytelling and WhatsApp to engage 17 migrant and mobile sex workers in South Africa, during 2019 and 2020. Through a queering of sex work, migration and mobility analysis we learn that because sex work is essentially about using one’s body to perform varying sexual acts with different types of people for financial gain, a migrant/mobile sex worker is exposed to different ways of experiencing sexual (dis)pleasure. According to the research participants this can then broaden the body’s erotic vocabulary and expand one’s range of sexual desires, along with their expressions; to the point whereby it can also have an influence on one’s gendered sexuality and choice of intimate partner. However, the respondents also stressed the integral role movement plays in this evolution of one’s gendered sexuality. Hence, this paper argues for the recognition […]

  • ACMS Seminar: Managing the Transition – Adjusting Migration Policies to Respond to a World Undergoing Demographic Change

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    Presenter: Dr Andrew Selee Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2025 Time: 12:30 – 13:45 Venue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions) Zoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1 Register: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 Abstract: The world is undergoing rapid demographic change, with most upper and upper-middle-income countries dropping below replacement level fertility and many middle-income countries following close behind. As populations shrink in these countries, immigration will become one of the few ways that countries maintain a robust labor force and ensure fiscal solvency, even taking into account productivity gains and changes in workforce needs brought about by technological innovation. And African countries will almost certainly be the source of most of the migrants that are willing to move to these rapidly aging societies. However, this transition is likely to be less than smooth, with increased migration also leading to significant push-back within destination countries and to calls both for greater border controls. As a result, managing this transition effectively will require building legal pathways proactively, adjusting the pace of change thoughtfully, and ensuring the credibility of immigration systems to facilitate mobility. It will also require rethinking narratives of national identity in destination societies, while ensuring that emigration from source […]

  • ACMS seminar: On the move — where does wellbeing fit?

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    Date: Monday, 25 August 2025 Time: 10:00 – 11:30 Venue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions) Zoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/99337631783?pwd=gvLi3k7R74aLv3N9R2t4IY2NtMa4RP.1 Migration and mobility shape multiple dimensions of wellbeing, from physical and mental health to social inclusion, identity, and access to rights. Yet, wellbeing often remains a secondary consideration in policy and research on migration. This webinar explores how wellbeing fits into the lived realities of those on the move — highlighting the challenges they face, the resilience they show, and the policies and practices needed to support them. SPEAKERS Ms Margaret Zulu – Project Manager, Save the Children, South Africa Dr Mwelwa Phiri – Researcher, Zambart, Zambia Dr Glynis Clacherty – Research Associate, ACMS, Wits University and Independent Consultant MODERATOR Dr Langelihle Mlotshwa- Researcher, ACMS, Wits University

  • WiP Seminar: The Securitisation of Migration: Consequences of EU Externalisation Policies on Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Africa

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    The featured image behind the title on the header was created using ChatGPT. Presenter: Dr Silindile Mlilo Date: Wednesday, 27 August 2025 Time: 12:30 – 13:45 Venue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions) Zoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1 Register: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 Abstract: This work-in-progress (WiP) paper examines the impact of global migration governance, particularly the European Union’s (EU) externalisation policies, on conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Africa. Following the 2015 so-called “migration crisis,” the EU increasingly framed migration as a security threat, prioritising border militarisation, containment strategies, and partnerships with African states such as Niger, Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia. These policies sought to curtail irregular migration while neglecting root causes, including conflict, poverty, and governance failures, and often exacerbated local tensions between migrants and host communities. Drawing on a critique of Eurocentric narratives, the paper foregrounds African perspectives to highlight the unintended consequences of these policies. It explores how the securitisation of migration governance has contributed to human rights violations, corruption, and the destabilisation of regional mobility frameworks like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Furthermore, the externalisation of migration policies has empowered non-state actors, such as smugglers and traffickers, while deepening economic […]

  • ‘The Borders of Transformation: The Continent and the South African University’ colloquium

    Ground Floor, Wartenweiler Library, Wits University

    This colloquium asks how universities in South Africa, and the scholars and activists housed within them, can respond to stormy political waters and to potentially competing visions of justice and transformation. Date: Thursday, 4 September 2025 Time: 13:00-17:00 (SAST) In-person venue: Ground Floor, Wartenweiler Library, Wits University Online: Link to be shared once RSVPed. RSVP: Lenore.Longwe@wits.ac.za, stating whether you will attend in-person or online. Description: This colloquium considers competing and complementary approaches to race and nationality in South African higher education, at a moment that marks ten years since the RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall protests as well as being characterised by the increasing visibility and weaponisation of national and international xenophobia. It poses this question as a reflection not just on the Fallist movements, but on a three-decade long history of contentious post-Apartheid efforts to align the country’s universities with broader commitments to equity and progressive social change. Current attacks on academic institutions represent them as sites of illicit patronage of apparently unqualified foreigners, while foreign academics themselves navigate bureaucratic mazes and hostile atmospheres. What can these contradictions tell us about the processes of transformation and change that were meant to be invigorated by #RMF? The colloquium also considers future institutional […]

  • AUDIO SLIDE: ‘Demographic Change and Migration Policy’ seminar presentation

    As part of the ACMS Public Seminar Series, Dr Andrew Selee recently (20 August 2025) presented on 'Demographic Change and Migration Policy.' Dr Selee is the president of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a non-partisan, independent think tank, which focuses on data, analysis, and prospective ideas for migration policy. The world is undergoing rapid demographic change, with most upper and upper-middle-income countries dropping below replacement level fertility and many middle-income countries following close behind. As populations shrink in these countries, immigration will become one of the few ways that countries maintain a robust labour force and ensure fiscal solvency, even taking into account productivity gains and changes in workforce needs brought about by technological innovation. And African countries will almost certainly be the source of most of the migrants that are willing to move to these rapidly aging societies. However, this transition is likely to be less than smooth, with increased migration also leading to significant push-back within destination countries and to calls for greater border controls. According to Dr Selee, managing this transition effectively will require building legal pathways proactively, adjusting the pace of change thoughtfully, and ensuring the credibility of immigration systems to facilitate mobility. It will also […]

  • VIDEOS: ‘The Borders of Transformation’ colloquium

    Earlier this month (4 September 2025), the University of the Witwatersrand held a colloquium on 'The Borders of Transformation: The Continent and the South African University'. This colloquium considered competing and complementary approaches to race and nationality in South African higher education, at a moment that marks ten years since the Rhodes Must Fall and Fees Must Fall protests, as well as being characterised by the increasing visibility and weaponisation of national and international xenophobia. Opening the colloquium, Wits University's Head of School of Social Sciences, Lorena Núñez Carrasco posed the following provocation: "So what can we do? Yes, we must keep speaking out against politicians who use fear and division to gain power. Yes, we must push for sound evidence-based policies on healthcare, taxation, education and more. But is that enough? Today is about going further. We are here to restart the conversations students began a decade ago. We are asking ourselves what role should we, as academics and institutions, play in shaping a fairer future? What are our goals? What stands in our way, and what tools and resources do we have to work with? This won't be an easy conversation. We hope it will be an honest […]

  • ACMS Seminar: Home and Away – An Analysis of Out of Country Voting in South African Elections

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    Presenter: Dr Catherine Musuva Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2025 Time: 12:30 – 13:45 Venue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor), East Campus, Wits University (directions) Zoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1 Register: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 Abstract: This research examines the extent to which South Africans living abroad are interested in participating in homeland elections. South Africa has a relatively large emigrant population, and non-resident citizens enjoy the right to vote in national elections. Yet, electoral behaviour is largely studied through a domestic voter lens, and the factors that influence emigrant political behaviour are not fully understood despite the growing interest of migration scholars and political scientists in external voting globally. A historical analysis of external voting data from the electoral commission of South Africa reveals that uptake is very low and opposition parties are the main beneficiaries of external votes. The research theorises on explanations for the data and contributes to broader debates on migrant agency, citizenship and transnational political participation. About the researcher/presenter: Dr Catherine Musuva is a senior researcher and postgraduate coordinator at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at Wits. She is also a research fellow at the Centre for Research on Democracy (CREDO) at Stellenbosch University. […]

  • PODCAST: Serge Alain Nitegeka’s ACMS walkabout of ‘Black Subjects’

    On 2 September, about 20 African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) staff and students were taken on a guided tour by renowned artist Serge Alain Nitegeka, of his latest exhibition called Black Subjects, currently showcasing at the Wits Art Museum (26 August to 1 November 2025). Nitegeka presents his first institutional solo show in Johannesburg. For Black Subjects, he stages a monumental sculptural intervention, whilst also working across painting and video. Nitegeka grounds his practice in a language of abstraction, geometry and colour. The experiential interaction with the work refutes passivity, resulting in a congruence between the body and space. A key tenet of the exhibition is the relationship between movement and load. In his paintings, figures carry unidentified cargo, moving across a landscape of abstracted obstacles, Nitegeka renders cargo and the personal effects of migration into a language of abstracted thought and form, emphasising the liminality embedded in these narratives. As the audience is transformed into the Black Subjects, the installation-performance exemplifies the ways the body becomes cargo and continues the artist's reflections on his experiences of forced migration and displacement. Listen to the podcast below of the discussion that Nitegeka had with ACMS during the exhibition walkabout. […]

  • Cities in Motion: Health, Violence & Crisis in SA’s Urban Worlds

    ACMS Seminar Room 2163, South East Wing, Second Floor, Solomon Mahlangu House, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus

    As part of the Migration, Health & Wellbeing in Context webinar series, the ACMS in partnership with Nuture4Youth, Global Health Research Group: GEMMS, the Cluster of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Migration & Health, and the Wits University School of Social Sciences is organising its second hybrid seminar, titled 'Cities in Motion: Health, Violence & Crisis in SA's Urban Worlds'. Date: Tuesday 11 November 2025 Time: 10am – 11.30am (SAST) In-person venue: African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) Seminar Room (see directions here) Online: Zoom link here Speakers: - Diego Iturralde, Chief Director: Demography and Population Statistics, Statistics SA - Silindile Mlilo, Xenowatch, ACMS, Wits - Rebecca Walker, Collective Voices and ACMS, Wits - Federica Duca, Johannesburg Crisis Working Group, PARI, Wits - Lorena Nunez, School of Social Sciences, Wits This webinar aims to facilitate an evidence-informed conversation about the intersecting and multi-level dynamics of migration and urbanisation and their impacts on population health and wellbeing in South Africa. Central to current debates is the need to focus on the structural and interpersonal violence – including that promoted by anti-foreigner vigilante groups - that remain defining features of life in many urban settings. It seeks to move beyond abstract policy debates […]