Ms Iris Nxumalo obtained a Bachelor of Political Sciences in International Studies (distinction) and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Relations (distinction) from the University of Pretoria. In her tenure as a student at the University of Pretoria, Iris occupied various student governance positions and served as a Content Tutor (2013) and Intern Lecturer (2014) at the Department of Political Sciences. She also volunteered for the African Youth Union, a pan- African youth Non-Governmental Organisation that seeks to act as a conduit between the youth, African governments and regional organisations.
Iris recently completed a Masters of Science in African Studies at the University of Oxford as a Chevening Scholar. Her dissertation explored the operationalisation of gender in the Rwandan Defence Force, and examined the 'window of opportunity' provided by the post-conflict moment as a prism to explore the entry and exit of female personnel in the armed forces. Iris is currently working on an independent research report for the Dahrendorf Programme for the Study of Freedom, where she will make the case for the existence of online epistemic communities of freedom that seek to refashion and negotiate womanhood and citizenship in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Research Interests
- Gender, Peace and Security
- Discourses on African Statehood
- SSR/T and Gender Mainstreaming
- The Role of Gender in African Liberation Struggles
- Women's Leadership in Politics and Security Governance
- The Construction of National Identities and its Relation to Power and Questions of Displacement and Belonging
