The Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Dr Josephine Ahikire has been appointed Honorary Professor of the Nelson Mandela University, affiliated to the Centre for the Advancement of Non Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD).
The appointment was announced by Prof. A Govindjee, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Innovation and Internationalization at the Nelson Mandela University on 1st February 2020.
The Honorary Professor title at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa recognizes a level of distinction commensurate with the status of a Professor and is conferred on persons with an associative relationship with the University.
Dr Ahikire’s appointment was in recognition of her intellectual and scholarly accomplishments in the development and application of knowledge that has a transformative impact on society, particularly in advancing the goals of a more democratic, equal, socially just and sustainable world through her vital work on democracy and gender in the African context.
As an Honorary Professor, Dr Ahikire’s roles will include research collaboration, supervision of students undertaking research, guest lecturing and contribution to distance education learning materials.
About Dr Ahikire
Dr. Ahikire is an Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Makerere University and the Acting Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) at Makerere University. She has over the years worked in the area of feminist political theory and has extensively published works on women and politics as well as labour and urban culture. She has led various research teams on gender and land, elections, women and parliamentary performance, gender and the politics of Access and many other areas connected with livelihood and social justice. She is an active member of the Uganda Women’s Movement and is also member of regional bodies such as the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and African Gender Institute (AGI) University of Cape Town.
Recent works
1. Contesting Ideas, aligning incentives: The politics of Uganda's Domestic Violence Act (2010). In Negotiating Gender Equity in the Global South: The Politics of Domestic Violence Policy (1st Editionst ed., pp. 67 - 87). London: Routledge. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351245623
2. ESID working paper -Gender Equitable Change and the Place of Informal Networks in Uganda’s Legislative Policy Reforms - The paper compares three policy cases – the 1997 Universal Primary Education policy, the 1998 legislative reform around spousal co-ownership of land and the 2010 Domestic Violence Act. Drawing on feminist institutionalism, the paper explores how gender norms operate within institutions (both formal and informal) and how institutional processes construct, reproduce or challenge gender power dynamics in policy reforms. http://www.effective-states.org/wp-content/uploads/working_papers/final-pdfs/esid_wp_134_ahikire_mwiine.pdf
3. Principal Investigator on a five-year collaborative research titled “Beyond War Compensation: Gender Justice, Livelihood and Rights in Northern Uganda” supported by the London School of Economics and Political Science under the UK Research and Innovation and Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI-GCRF). Partner Institutions – Makerere University and Amani Institute in Gulu. The project focusing on four districts in Northern Uganda namely; Gulu, Pader, Amuru and Nwoya seeks to unravel new gendered realities of post-war conflicts associated with land acquisition in Northern Uganda. It also seeks to examine local justice mechanisms and how these can be harnessed to deal with some of the critical peace building gaps.