Professor Deevia Bhana

Deevia Bhana is a Professor in the School of Education. Her research interests comprise childhood sexualities, gender, inequalities and schooling. Her inquiries into the complex dynamics of children’s gendered and sexual cultures and questions about how schools can work towards gender equality, takes on an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the sociology of childhood, critical feminist and sexuality studies, masculinities, and the political economy. 

She is a recipient of two Fogarty Fellowship Awards at Columbia University in the Mailman School of Public Health. She also holds two Women in Science Awards. In her first time application to the NRF, she was awarded a C1 rating from 2010. Professor Bhana has been on UKZN’s Top 30 prolific researchers in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and is regarded as pioneer in the field of South African gender and childhood sexualities. She is an Associate Editor of the international journal Health Education. She has published in some of the most prestigious journals in her field including Social Science and Medicine, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Educational Review, Sexualities, Culture Health and Sexuality.

Her latest sole authored book on homosexuality and schooling is in press and the next on childhood sexualities and HIV is forthcoming. She is a co-author of Towards Equality? Gender in South African schools during the HIV/AIDS pandemic (2009, UKZN Press) and a co-editor of the book Babies and/or Books: Pregnancy and young parents at school (2012, HSRC Press).

The latest 2014 articles include Ruled by hetero-norms? Raising some moral questions for teachers in South Africa, Journal of Moral Education; Sex, gender and money in African teenage conceptions of love in HIV contexts, Journal of Youth Studies ; Managing’ the rights of gays and lesbians: Reflections from some South African secondary schools, Education, Citizenship, Social Justice;  When African teenagers become fathers: Culture, materiality and masculinity (with V Nkani), Culture Health and Sexuality. Race matters and the emergence of class: views from selected South African university students, SAJHE.