Dr Grace Idahosa
- College positions:
College Lecturer
- University positions:
Assistant Professor in Education and Social Justice
- Subjects: Education
Degree(s):
Doctor of Philosophy in Political and International Studies, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Master of Arts (With Distinction) in Political and International Studies, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations, Redeemer’s University (RUN), Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Research interests
I am a political sociologist, an intersectional, and an interdisciplinary scholar. My research program encompasses two complementary lines of inquiry: Agency and Higher Education Transformation and Feminist and Decolonial Thought. The first is a hermeneutic phenomenological interpretation of the impact of structures, cultures, and identity on academic staff and university leaders' agency to contribute to social change. Within this project, my interest lies in the somatic representations of power and how it produces and is reproduced by different bodies to enable the reproduction/transformation of the social world. This interest is explored within the context of higher education transformation in South Africa, India, and Northern Ireland. Higher education in my work is understood not just as an educational space where learning occurs but as an institution and organisation with its own logic that mirrors, produces, and reproduces societal inequalities while creating the conditions of possibility for changing and transforming these inequalities. I attempt to understand the intersectional nature of the reproduction and transformation of legacies of oppression and domination within HE systems and how individuals (staff, faculty, management, students) within these spaces challenge and transform them. The second strand of my research draws on feminist and decolonial scholars employed within my study to develop a framework for analysing agency and transformation within contexts marred by legacies of oppression. My research interests encompass the social dimension of political and feminist theory, higher education transformation, agency, gender, social change, body politics, marginalities, decolonisation, and qualitative research methodology.
Teaching Interests
My teaching philosophy is guided by a commitment to providing the necessary conditions for students to think critically, ethically, and engage with contextually relevant issues while promoting a critical sense of the self and 'other. I hold a view of teaching-research intersection where my research informs my teaching and vice-versa, ensuring a feedback loop between teaching and research. In this respect, I have taught courses and co-taught courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate level on 'Puzzles in Contemporary Political Philosophy,' 'Qualitative Research Methods' and 'Higher Education in the 21st Century', ‘Social Justice and Education’ and Education, Policy and Society’. I am interested in teaching subjects related to ‘Education and Social Justice’, ‘Higher Education Transformation’ ‘Decolonisation’, ‘Agency and Social Transformation’, ‘Intersectionality’.
Awards and prizes:
2021 United Nations, Economic Commission for Africa Fellowship.
2019 The Nordic Africa Institute, Guest Researcher Fellowship.
2019 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence for a proposed project titled ‘Mid- level Managers Agency for Transformation’.
2020-2021 National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Johannesburg.
2017-2019 Global Excellence Stature Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Johannesburg.
2017 National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Rhodes University.
2016 Rhodes University Prestigious Scholarship, Rhodes University.
2014-2015 Andrew Mellon PhD in Humanities Fellowship, Rhodes University.
2014 Rhodes Doctoral Degree Scholarship, Rhodes University.
2014 SAVUSA Skills Scholarship for Exchange Study at the ISS, The Hague.
Award: All expense paid: Travel, Accommodation and Monthly Stipend.
2013 Sandisa Imbewu Rhodes University Prestigious Scholarship.
Publications
Journal Articles
Dhawan, N.B., Belluigi, D., and Idahosa, G.E. 2022. Higher Education (Online).
Idahosa, G.E. and Mkhize, Z. 2021. . Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity. 35(2): 110-122.
Idahosa, G.E. 2020. . Gender, Work and Organization. 27(6): 988-1003.
Idahosa, G.E, and Bradbury, V. 2020. . Acta Academia, 52(1): 31-53.
Idahosa, G.E and Vincent, L. 2019. . Higher Education Research and Development, 38(4): 780-792.
Idahosa, G.E and Vincent, L. 2019. . Third World Quarterly, 40(1): 147-162.
Belluigi, D.Z., Alcock, A., Farrell, V., and Idahosa, G.E. 2019. . Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South (SOTL), 3(2): 110-120.
Idahosa, G.E and Vincent, L., 2018. . International Journal for Critical Cultural Studies, 15(4): 13-28.
Vincent, L., Idahosa, G.E., and Msomi, Z., 2017. African Identities, 15(2): 324-388.
Idahosa, G., and Vincent, L., 2014. Agenda: Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity, 28(1): 59-71.
Idahosa, G., and Vincent, L., 2014. . Africa Review, 6(2): 94-104.
Vincent, L., and Idahosa, G., 2014. , South African Journal of Higher Education, 28(4): 1433-1447.
Book and Book Chapters
Belluigi, D., Dhawan, N.D., and Idahosa, G.E 2022 . In Role of Leaders in Managing Higher Education: Governance and Management in Higher Education. Emerald Publishing Group.
Wijngaarden, V. and Idahosa, G.E., 2021. ‘’ In E. Woldegiorgis, I. Turner, and A. Brahima (Eds). Decolonisation of Higher Education in Africa: Perspectives from Hybrid Knowledge Production. London: Routledge.
Idahosa, G.E. 2020. . London: Routledge.
Idahosa, G.E. 2019. In O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (Eds.). The Palgrave Handbook on African Women’s Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Idahosa, G.E. 2019. In O. Yacob-Haliso and T. Falola (Eds.). The Palgrave Handbook on African Women’s Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Reports and Policy Briefs
Idahosa, G.E., Brink, T., & Sibanda, A., 2022. The contributions of scientific research during the Covid-19 pandemic in response to the associated challenges and opportunities of the Pandemic. Policy Brief. Covid-19 Second Edition Country Report. DPME (Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation), GTAC (Government Technical Advisory Centre) & NRF (National Research Foundation), Pretoria: April.
Jobson, J., Alexander, K., Horwitz, D., Idahosa, G. E., Kalla, S., Kritzinger, C., Mokgele, K., Mutekwe, P., Roman, N., van Noordwyk, J-M., Zembe, Y. & Zembe-Mkabile, W., 2021. . South Africa Covid-19 Country Report. DPME (Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation), GTAC (Government Technical Advisory Centre) & NRF (National Research Foundation), Pretoria: May.
Idahosa, G.E. 2020. . Report on Research Funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), London, United Kingdom.
Dhawan, N.B., Belluigi, D., and Idahosa, G.E. 2020. Sustainability and Transformation in Higher Education: Interactional Dynamics in Gender and Intersectionality. Report on Research funded by Jadavpur University, India, under the RUSA 2.0 scheme of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
Vincent, L., and Idahosa, G.E. 2014. Academic interpretation of transformation at Rhodes. Research Commissioned by the Equity and Institutional Culture Office. Unpublished Report. Rhodes University, Grahamstown. South Africa.
Op-ed
Idahosa, G.E. 2019. ‘’ Convivial Thinking. How we know the world series.