Student Essay Competition

2024

For PhD Category: Oyisa Sondlo-Mzileni (NMU), ‘A Paulo Freire Reading of Community Struggles For a People’s Education in Mlungisi, South Africa’

For the Honours/Masters Category: Zimingonaphakade Sigenu (HSRC), ‘Socially Constructed Meanings of Impucuko in a Comparative Historical Analysis’

2023

For PhD Category: Shaka Keny Bob, SU, for 'Public space and informal employment. The contribution of women-led solidarity movements in promoting decent work and social dialogue in South Africa'
For the Honours/Masters Category: Lydia Eghosasere Iyi, UWC, for 'Structural and Traditional Inhibitions to Healthcare: A Comparative Study of Somali Women’s Access to Sexual and Reproductive Care in South Africa and United States of America'.

2022

For PhD Category: Kudzaiishe P Vanyoro, from WITZ for his article titled 'Negotiating black queer (in)visibility: A critical diversity literacy (CDL) reflection on who can afford resilience in Johannesburg'
For the Honours/Masters Category: Simamnkele Dingiswayo, from UCT for her essay titled 'The Relational Dynamics of Power When Families Come Together'.

2021

Sociology without Borders: The relevance of Sociology in Society, Life, and Academia in the 21st Century
(PhD Category) Pedro Mzileni, NMMU: 'Political Pedagogies, Invented Spaces and Social Movement Education: Implication for Decolonisation and Future University Studies'
(Hons/MA Category) Luqman Opeyemi Muraina, UCT: 'Gender Relations in Indigenous Yoruba Culture: A Reflection of present Feminism Actions and Advocacy'

2020

Sociology without Borders: The relevance of Sociology in Society, Life, and Academia in the 21st Century
(PhD Category) Martin Bekker, UJ 'Using Machine Learning to analyse Police-recorded protest data'
(Hons/MA Category) Lucky Matenga, US: 'When Irresistibility Meets Immovability: State Repression and Street Traders’ Resistance in Harare Metropolitan in Zimbabwe's New Dispensation'

2019

Work, Life & Society: Meanings, Manifestations and Trajectories of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Africa
(PhD Category) Michelle Peens, UNISA, ‘A Qualitative Analysis of the Precarious Non-Poor in South Africa: Striving for Prosperity’
(Hons/MA Category) Simon Rakei, UCT, ‘The Azanian Liberation Tradition and the Student Movement: Tracing Moments and Connections in African Philosophy and the Black Radical Tradition’

2018

Navigating Uncertainty: (re)situating and (re)imagining sociological knowledge within the context of contemporary South Africa, Africa, and the Global South
(PhD Category) Sinazo Nomsenge, Rhodes, "Who and Why? Factors influencing NGO participating amoung learners in Joza, Grahamstown, South Africa"
(Hons/MA Category) Loreal Magro, UJ, "Perceptions and Experiences of Intimacy: Class Positionality, Gender Dynamics and Relationship Maintenance from a Coloured Perspective"

What Must Rise: Critical sociological reflections on contemporary protest movements
(PhD Category) Mzingaye Brilliant Xaba, Rhodes, "Restitution or Relocation? Questioning the meanings and success of land restitution in South Africa"
(Hons/Masters Catergory) Stephni Borchard, Stellenbosch, "What are we SEA-ing? An exploration of the communication strategies and extent of public participation at the strategic environmental assessment (sea) public hearing for shale gas development in the Karoo"
(Hons/Masters Category) Yanda Bango, Rhodes, "Is there a place for Freire's liberatory pedagogy in the South African education system? A study about the knowledge acquisition process and experiences of Ngangelizwe youth graduates of the Eastern Cape"

Higher Education: Power Practices and Discourses
(PhD Category) Dostin Lokika, Wits
The food we eat here weakens us: Food practices and health beliefs amoung Congolese forced migrants in South Africa