Who’s Who
Prof Andy Carolin
Department of English
University of Johannesburg
E-mail: andyc@uj.ac.za
Tel: +27 11 559 2063
Google Scholar
Andy Carolin (PhD) is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of the award-winning book Post-Apartheid Same-Sex Sexualities: Restless Identities in Literary and Visual Culture (Routledge 2021). His current research focuses on sexuality studies, queer theory, and gender studies in both South African and Irish literature and culture. His most recent work has appeared in journals such as Modern Fiction Studies and Textual Practice.
Vice-Chairperson
Dr Neil van Heerden
Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature
University of South Africa (UNISA)
E-mail: vheern@unisa.ac.za
Tel: +27 12 429 6424
Neil van Heerden studied at the University of Pretoria, completing a PhD in 2018 on the relationship between crime fiction and the literary canon in Afrikaans, with specific reference to the novels of Deon Meyer. He is currently affiliated with the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature at the University of South Africa (Unisa), where he teaches Afrikaans literature. His academic interests include narratology, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, popular fiction and crime fiction.
Secretary
Dr Thobekile Masombuka
Department of English
University of Johannesburg
E-mail: thobekilem@uj.ac.za
Tel: +27 11 559 2063
Thobekile Masombuka is a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Department of English. She has an MA degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes University, and her PhD thesis (obtained from UJ) examines the representations of religious syncretism in contemporary Nigerian novels. Her research interests include religion and spirituality in contemporary African literature, and popular fiction.
Treasurer
Gemma Field
Department of English
University of the Free State
E-mail: fieldgrn@ufs.ac.za
Gemma Field is a lecturer in the University of the Free State’s Department of English. Based at the QwaQwa campus at the foothills of the Drakensberg, she teaches Modernism, Contemporary Literature, and Environmental Humanities and Ecocriticism. A PhD candidate in the University of Johannesburg’s Department of English, her dissertation explores the relationship(s) between rural space and queerness in contemporary South African literature. She holds a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Cape Town.
Additional Members
Dr Reinhardt Fourie
Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature
University of South Africa (UNISA)
E-mail: fourir@unisa.ac.za
Tel: +27 12 429 6603
Google Scholar | ORCID
Reinhardt Fourie studied at the University of Pretoria, Ghent University (Belgium), the University of Leuven (Belgium), and Stellenbosch University. He was previously affiliated to the Department of Afrikaans and the Unit for Academic Literacy at the University of Pretoria. He was lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of South Africa (Unisa) between 2014 and 2022. He currently holds the position of senior lecturer in the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature (Unisa). He served as chairperson of LASA from 2019 until 2025. His research interests include comparative literature (English/Afrikaans) and postcolonialism.
Dr Silindiwe Sibanda
Department of English
University of Pretoria
E-mail: silindiwe@gmail.com
ORCID
Silindiwe Sibanda has been a researcher and lecturer in literature for more than two decades. She has a PhD in young adult and children’s literature from the University of the Witwatersrand, and over the last six years she has turned her attention to teaching, subsequently acquiring a PGCE from the University of Sunderland. She has worked as a lecturer in the English departments of Unisa and the University of Pretoria. She has taught at the Venture Education Centre in Beijing, working with second language English learners to prepare them for English medium education and university entry. In addition, she taught English and Individuals and Societies at both high school and primary school level at the Western Academy of Beijing, where she also worked as a learning support teacher. Her recent research has been on how to encourage learners to read, as well as incorporating and accommodating visually impaired learners in mainstream schools.
Editor: Journal of Literary Studies
Prof. Alan Northover
Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature
University of South Africa (UNISA)
E-mail: northra@unisa.ac.za
Tel: +27 12 429 6794
Google Scholar | ORCID
Richard Alan Northover is professor in general literary theory and critical theory in the Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature at the University of South Africa. His PhD (2010), obtained at the University of Pretoria, concerns J.M. Coetzee and animal ethics. In addition to articles on Coetzee, he has published on Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy and southern African rock art, both prehistoric and contemporary, placing his work in the fields of animal studies and ecocriticism. From 2016-19, he chaired the Literature Association of South Africa (formerly SAVAL/SASGLS).