Sinoxolo Heleba

Masters Fellow, UK-RSA Bilateral Digital Humanities Chair in culture and technics

Sinoxolo Heleba is a Masters student at the Department of Historical Studies, and a UK-RSA Bilateral Digital Humanities Chair in culture and technics fellow. His research is interested in epistemological decolonization which, in his view, calls for elevation of (South) African forms of knowledge predicated on and infused with realities of contexts thereof. Sinoxolo’s research project is particularly located in the subject of “men and masculinities” and intends to provide decolonised theories of masculinities. In this respect, he uses an ex anti-apartheid male political activist’s autobiography to develop these theories. He believes that to tackle questions like “How do black South African men think?” and “Why do they think the way they do?” we need to be attuned to our troubled history of colonialism/apartheid which has a huge bearing on contemporary cultural constructions. Sinoxolo wants to contribute to efforts of foregrounding culturally relevant knowledge in respect to masculinities which could be used to transform them especially in the context of South Africa in which issues like Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) are rampant.