The Department of English maintains a vibrant research culture for students and faculty on the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa campuses alike.

Research projects currently undertaken in the Department include studies of the processes and cultural practices involved in the formation of group identities; computer mediated communication; political emotion, protest cultures, and the management of public feeling; cross-cultural adoption; consumer cultures; the relationship between critical animal studies and African Cultural Studies; trans-hemispheric literacies; contemporary modes of citizenship education for global youth; the cultural organisation of (South) African urban space; African science fiction and Afro-futurisms; the postcolonial trafficking in images of children; as well as the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class, as reflected in various texts including film, literature, and mass media, to name just a few.

We have, in recent years, run a lively visiting speaker series featuring distinguished academics and creative writers from across the globe.