Vanessa Wijngaarden

Vanessa Wijngaarden is a senior research associate at the University of Johannesburg, with a background in social anthropology and political science. Some of her interests are 'othering' and stereotyping, multivocality in academia, and human-animal relationships. She teaches Q methodology and works as a certified ATLAS.ti senior professional trainer on three continents. With a passion for reflexive and dialogical approaches, methodological innovation, extensive fieldwork and creative research dissemination, she has made several nominated and awarded documentary films.

During her time at the ASCL she will focus on the multispecies turn in African Studies, where interspecies approaches have lagged behind, although the field has much to offer. The ASCL’s collaborative research group ‘Trans-species perspectives on African Studies’ has been a pioneer and Wijngaarden’s fellowship is aimed at expanding its span of influence by employing her ongoing research with booming success of professional animal communicators in South Africa. Specific aims are 1) collaborating with these animal communicators to contribute to cutting-edge methodological innovations to include non-human animals as full research participants; and 2) critically address the logics, political incentives and effects of the ongoing divide between Indigenous and academic practices and knowledges.