Imraan Buccus, PhD
he/him/his
Dr. Buccus has an undergraduate degree in education, a master’s degree in social policy from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and a PhD that straddled Radboud Nijemegen University in the Netherlands and the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. He is widely published in academic journals and book chapters and is the former editor of the journal Critical Dialogue. He is a columnist for South Africa’s most widely publication, The Daily Maverick, and is often called upon by television and radio stations to offer political analysis.
During apartheid, Dr. Buccus was active in student politics. In 2008, he was an Open Society Foundation Media Fellow and in 2009, he appeared on the prestigious Mail & Guardian list of South Africa’s 200 Leading Young South Africans. He worked as academic coordinator at Workers’ College, a progressive college for trade union members. He was involved in multiple international research projects and co-authored the National Framework on Public Participation for the South African government. During his time at the Centre for Public Participation, he led an initiative to bring policymaking spaces closer to ordinary people and led a project to assess participatory democracy in Namibia.
Courses Taught
Graduate Courses
South-South Relations in the Context of BRICS
Undergraduate Courses
Development, Transformation and Nation-Building
Select Publications
Buccus I. (in press). You can’t go to the army and expect to be a vice chancellor – they must become good scholars. South African Journal of Higher Education.
Buccus I. (2021). Rebuilding public participation after COVID-19: The South African case. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(4), 2720-2728.
Chen, H. E., Bhana, D., Anderson, B., & Buccus, I. (2019). Bruin ous Are the main ous: Memory and Masculinity in a South Durban Township. Journal of Southern African Studies, 46(10), 73-90.
Bhana, D. & Buccus I. (2016). Blue lagoon: race, class, space and the making of Indian masculinities. African Identities, 14(4), 321-331.
Select Presentations
Buccus, I (2016, Dec 1-3). South Africa at a crossroad: exploring scenarios and possible future directions (conference presentation). ASA 2016, Washington DC
Buccus, I (2017, Nov 16-19). Struggle solidarity -SA and Mozambique (conference presentation). ASA 2017, Chicago, Illinois
Buccus, I (2019, Nov 21-23). The Economic Freedom Fighters: Authoritarian or Democratic Contestant (conference presentation). ASA 2019, Boston, Massachusetts
Research Interests
Higher education and transformation in South Africa
South Asian women and their role in the military wing of the African National Congress (SA’s ruling party)
Education
- PhD, Radboud Nijmegen/University of KwaZulu Natal
- B Paed, University of KwaZulu Natal
- MA, Social Policy Planning, University of KwaZulu Natal
