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UFS development studies alumnus now prominent international researcher in disability studies

03 July 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Stephen Collett

Prof Oliver Mutanga and Prof Melanie Walker — Prof Oliver Mutanga, one of the first PhD gradautes under the SARChI Chair in Higher Education and Human Development, pictured with his former supervisor, Prof Melanie Walker, during his first visit to the university after ten years.

Prof Oliver Mutanga, a University of the Free State (UFS) alumnus with a PhD in Development Studies and an experienced researcher focused on matters pertaining to disability, education, equality, and health issues, recently took up the position of Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Prof Melanie Walker, Director of the SARChI Chair in Higher Education and HumanDevelopment (HEHD) at the UFS, invited Prof Mutanga to discuss his own research via an open webinar and to engage with members of her research group.

Prof Walker explained that she was delighted to host Dr Mutanga at the university, given his profile as an outstanding and internationally mobile early career researcher, from whom others in her group could learn. “Further, I very much wanted Dr Mutanga to speak about his own research, given its overall academic excellence, quality, and impact. Going forward, I am looking forward to developing this link with Dr Mutanga and his colleagues abroad around critical diversity studies,” she states.

Profs Walker and Mutanga have collaborated in the past to write articles for academic journals arising from his doctoral research. Examples include, ‘Towards a disability-inclusive higher education policy through the capabilities approach’ (published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities) as well as ‘Exploration of the academic lives of students with disabilities at South African universities: Lecturers’ perspectives’ (published in the African Journal of Disability).

Prior to joining Nazarbayev University, Prof Mutanga gained valuable research and development experience in various countries, including Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

He has also received several accolades for his work, including the prestigious Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oslo, Norway, and the Global Challenges Research Fellowship at University College London's Institute of Education.

A unique outlook on disability

In 2013, Prof Mutanga was part of the first cohort of PhD students under the SARChI Chair in Higher Education and Human Development. Recently, during his three-day visit to the UFS, he addressed the HEHD research group and an international academic audience during a hybrid seminar on the perceptions and experiences of disability within the Tembo Mvura communities of Northern Zimbabwe.

In his research for this paper, Prof Mutanga uses storytelling and in-depth interviews to offer a distinctive, community-based, and Southern interpretation of disability. By applying the capabilities approach and the ubuntu philosophy, his study presents a contrast to Western perceptions of disability that often emphasise individual limitations and differences based on physical and mental characteristics, which have the potential to both result in isolation and to understanding people as autonomous but isolated beings.

Within the Tembo Mvura communities, he discovered that disability is viewed through a lens of interconnectedness between individuals, their environment, and the spiritual world: “They recognise the inherent worth and dignity of all individuals, irrespective of their impairments,” found Prof Mutanga. Indeed, impairment of full personhood is understood as lacking in any of the three dimensions outlined above.

Thus, Prof Mutanga explored the complex interaction of identity, access to land, laws, and language, as well as labelling, highlighting how these factors shape perceptions and experiences of disability within these communities.

He is of the view that these findings will have implications for North-dominated disability discourse and for policy, practice, and research within indigenous contexts, such as the Tembo Mvura, where disability is uniquely perceived and experienced.

In addition to the hybrid seminar, Prof Mutanga led valuable sessions with the HEHD Research Group, where the PhD and postdoctoral fellows had the opportunity to workshop and refine various aspects of their current research papers and to engage in discussions around building their academic careers.

News Archive

RAG resilience shines despite rain

2017-02-07

Winning float for 2017: Armentum, Vergeet-My-Nie,
and Emily
Photo: Lelanie de Wet

Although the 75th RAG festivities were challenged by ominous weather, in true Kovsie spirit students and organisers still made a gleaming success of the day.

Students help to create sunny feeling
On 6 February 2017, the annual float-building activities culminated in the handing over of schoolbags to 150 learners from schools in and around Bloemfontein. This took place at the Rag Farm on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free (UFS), since the morning procession to Twin City Mall in Heidedal had to be cancelled due to bad weather.

“It is of course a huge disappointment to all of us that the events had to be cancelled, but we are grateful for the rain,” said Karen Scheepers, Head of Kovsie Rag Community Service and Assistant Director: Student Affairs.

The evening KFC Rag procession took place as planned, with students having the option of taking part despite the weather. Unfortunately, the Chevrolet Music Festival had to be cancelled.

“The very important actors of today are our students who have worked long hours to build the floats and who have worked together to make this rainy day on the outside feel sunny inside,” said Prof Francis Petersen, incoming UFS Vice-Chancellor and Rector, when he addressed the crowd at the Rag Farm. Prof Petersen will take up office on 1 April 2017.

Armentum, Vergeet-My-Nie, and Emily take honours
Armentum, Vergeet-My-Nie, and Emily Hobhouse were the overall winners of the 2017 Rag float-building. “It was worth the hard work. Always remember to ask for advice during float-building,” said Pieter Kotze, RC Rag of Armentum residence on the Bloemfontein Campus. “I also want to thank both the RC Rag from Vergeet-My-Nie and Emily Hobhouse.”

The float theme was Proudly South African, and the winning float encapsulated it with local flavours such as Chappies, a Rooibos tea box and a Lion matchsticks box. They also went the extra mile by incorporating each hostel’s logo within a Chappie design.

The Central Rag Committee would like to thank all their sponsors who made the events possible. The Rag Coronation Ball will take place on 17 February 2017, where the new Rag Queen and Mr Rag will be crowned.

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