Upcoming Event

As part of the AIKRN Quarterly Webinar Series, the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) and the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University, Invite you to join us for: “Ubuntu translanguaging: Valuing local languages in community-engaged digital storytelling with isiXhosa-speaking Cape Flats residents to address environmental disaster risks“.

Speaker: Prof. Tsitsi Mpofu-Mketwa,School of Social work, Carleton University.

Date: September 30, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (EST) or 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM GMT

Abstract:

This presentation draws on nine isiXhosa digital stories produced as part of an interdisciplinary research project that employed household surveys, participatory methods including community mapping, photovoice and digital storytelling. The project sought to co-produce knowledge and address community resilience against flooding, drought and fire disasters in three Cape Flats vulnerable communities. The co-researchers elucidated their experiences of disasters and their understanding of resilience through digital storytelling. They emphasised ubuntu values of humanism and interdependency in framing their sense of resilience. Here we unpack why we recommend translanguaging- expanding boundaries of language use from the conventions of English to incorporate other meaning-making modes, including narrative scripts, creative art and linguistic tools to generate richer knowledge. By validating isiXhosa and other cultural identities, co-creating the concept of resilience and narrative analysis of isiXhosa scripts, we demonstrated that translanguaging is pivotal to decoloniality and enhances knowledge co-production in the context of environmental disaster risks.

About the speaker

Dr Tsitsi Mpofu-Mketwa joined Carleton University in 2023, bringing in more than 15 years of experience in the academic and non-profit sectors. Tsitsi worked in the field of poverty and social development in the Cape Flats communities of Cape Town, with a specific focus on child protection social work, youth development, and women’s empowerment. Dr Mpofu-Mketwa’s research interests are in applied community-engaged and participatory research that draws on human development paradigms to build capacities of marginalized and most deprived communities in response to urban poverty and social exclusion.  Dr Mpofu-Mketwa’s research aims to promote sustainable livelihoods in poverty contexts and understand how resilience, individual and collective agency contribute to social and human development. Dr Mpofu-Mketwa has taught sociology and social work courses on poverty, development, and community development at undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr Mpofu-Mketwa is actively involved in environmental advocacy by tackling invasive species to promote green spaces as part of green social work through the Greenspace Stewardship Committee of Alta Vista Community Association in Ottawa. Dr Mpofu-Mketwa holds a PhD degree in Sociology of Development and an MSoc Sci in Social Development from the University of Cape Town. She is currently the Director of the Centre for Studies on Poverty and Social Citizenship.