Doctoral

Name: Professor Vulindlela Nyoni

Topic: Diaspora in dialogue: Three Zimbabwean artists in South Africa on belonging

Name: Karen du Plessis

Bio: Karen completed her BA (VIsual Studies), BA (Hons) (Visual Studies) and MA (Visual Studies) at the University of Pretoria. She is currently studying towards a PhD in Philosophy, while lecturing on a part-time basis in the Department of Media and Communication.

Topic: Karen's PhD deals with food and eating anxieties in our current globalised contexts, and how we can possibly start to address our eating confusions in a positive way. In short, Karen is interested in exploring potential ways to eat that might be considered life-affirming. Karen's thesis draws from both Friedrich NIetzsche and Gilles Deleuze's work, specifically nihilism, morality and the image of thought.

Name: Gary M Koekemoer

Bio: Philosopher wannabe. Interested in human beings as complex adaptive systems and how this expresses itself in aspects such as race, conflict, organisational dynamics and world views. Proud dad, open water swimmer, and terrible skier. Love sharks, mountains, Land Rover’s and complexity. Masters and Honours degrees in Labour Relations from NMU and also an NMU Honours in Philosophy. Spent a fair bit of my life working for corporates across the globe in the area of Human Resources. Twitter addict and regular columnist for the Herald.

Topic: Race - can we change the South African conversation