University of Cape Town Gender Studies

University of Cape Town Gender Studies

The School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics (AXL) was launched in 2012 and is the result of a merger between four previously distinct academic departments: the African Gender Unit; the Centre for African Studies and the departments of Social Anthropology and Linguistics. AXL is headed by Professor Jane Bennett, who is also the Director of UCT’s African Gender Institute.

The School is comprised of six research and teaching centres, all of which are strongly rooted in the Faculty of Humanities through disciplinary and interdisciplinary roots. The School’s current goal is to offer excellent teaching and research opportunities within each of the six centres, and to create an exciting set of interdisciplinary courses, projects, and public dialogues between them.

An important milestone for AXL has been the establishment of the Centre for African Languages Diversity (CALDi), a research unit headed by Dr. Matthias Brenzinger. CALDi has been created to stimulate the study and documentation of African languages in order to promote linguistic diversity on the continent. Through its scholarship programme and its collaborations with international institutions, the unit will soon attract MA and PhD students from around Africa.

Each of the four groupings (the African Gender Unit; the Centre for African Studies; Social Anthropology and Linguistics) within the School has its own website. These sites can be accessed through links under the main Humanities departments tab. Visit the AXL website.

Contact us

Wardah Daniels
Tel: 021 650 2970
Fax: 021 650 4840

Physical address:
African Gender Institute
Levels 2 and 4
Harry Oppenheimer Building
Upper Campus
University of Cape Town