QUALIFICATIONS

PhD (Sociology), Rhodes University
MA (Sociology), Rhodes University (with distinction)
BSocSci (Honours) (Economics and Sociology), Rhodes University (with distinction)
BCom (Economics), Stellenbosch University

E-mail address: t.alexander@ru.ac.za

Office number: +27 (0)46 603 8363

GENERAL PROFILE:

Dr Tarryn Alexander’s research focuses on critical university studies, critical theory, and dialectic philosophy. Her PhD examines how academic values, identity, and public engagement are constituted within South African higher education institutions, particularly as scholars navigate contradictions shaped by contemporary capitalist ideology in post-Apartheid South Africa.

A summary of courses taught and areas of supervision follows below:

UNDERGRADUATE MODULES

• Institutions and Inequality 
• Contemporary Social Theory 
• Gender Inequality, Capitalism and Social Reproduction Theory 
• Political Sociology : Knowledge Production and Social Change 
• Social Research Methods
• State and Society
• Sociology of Higher Education

POSTGRADUATE MODULES

• Sociology of Race
• Development Studies
• Advanced Social Theory 

AREAS OF SUPERVISION

• Higher education, institutional culture and transformation
• Gender, labour and social reproduction theory
• The politics of knowledge production
• Activism, counter-publics and social movements
• The social construction of race, gender identities and inequalities

QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD (Sociology), Rhodes University
• MA (Sociology), Rhodes University (with distinction)
• BSocSci (Honours) (Economics and Sociology), Rhodes University (with distinction)
• BCom (Economics), Stellenbosch University

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• Alexander, T. and Helliker, K. 2018. A feminist perspective on autonomism and commoning, with reference to Zimbabwe. In: L. v.d Walt and K. Helliker (eds). Politics at a Distance from the State: Radical and African Perspectives. London: Routledge Press.
•  Alexander, Tarryn and Kirk Helliker (2016), “A feminist perspective on autonomism and communing, with reference to Zimbabwe”. Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 34(3).
•  Alexander, Tarryn and Kirk Helliker (2016), “El feminismo autónomo, el comunizar y las ocupaciones de tierra en Zimbawe”. Bajo el Volcán. 16(24)