Ms. Andile Mthombeni

Andile Mthombeni is a Southern African scholar whose work centers on gender, sexuality, and social justice within higher education and broader community contexts. Research engages critically with heteronormativity, institutional cultures, and the lived experiences of marginalized groups, with a strong emphasis on advocacy-informed scholarship that seeks to influence inclusive policy and practice.

A significant strand of Mthombeni’s research explores LGBTIQ+ experiences, preferred terminologies, and the social impact of discriminatory language. Using qualitative and phenomenological approaches, including innovative digital methods such as WhatsApp-based data collection, this work advances ethical and context-sensitive methodologies for engaging vulnerable populations.

Additional contributions address gender-based violence, sexual harassment in higher education, and the intersection of absent fatherhood and social harm in sub-Saharan Africa. Through critical analyses and scoping reviews, Mthombeni highlights structural inequalities and calls for transformative institutional interventions grounded in nuanced understandings of gender, power, and identity.