Prishani Naidoo

Abstract

Dr Prishani Naidoo is director of the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP), a research institute of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She has held this position since January 2019. In 2008, she joined the sociology department at Wits in a lecturing position. Her contribution to knowledge production includes research, writing and teaching across a number of academic fields and disciplines and across the academic???activist divide, addressing primarily questions related to poverty, protest and social movements, political subjectivity, in South Africa and the global South. Prior to rejoining Wits, Naidoo worked in and with social movements and organisations, including Indymedia and the Anti-Privatisation Forum in Johannesburg. Naidoo holds a BA in English and sociology and a BA(Hons) in comparative literature from Wits, and a PhD in development studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This chapter is based on an interview conducted by Ntokozo Bhengu, Thierry Luescher and Nkululeko Makhubu on 19 February 2019.