Prof. Khaya Mchunu

Overview

About National Diploma in Fashion (UJ) / Bachelor’s Degree in Technology: Fashion (UJ) / Master’s Degree in Technology: Fine Arts / PhD in Visual and Performing Arts (DUT) Supervisors: Research interests South African fashion studies and history South African dress and fashion archives for alternative fashion imaginaries and narratives Community sewing circles Transdisciplinarity and creative practices Publications Khaya Mchunu and Isaiah Negedu. 2025. The Lagos Space Programme’s Re/construction and queering of masculinity. The Thinker 102(1). Available: https://doi.org/10.36615/7ckpxq62 Khaya Mchunu and Kiara Gounder. 2024. Drum magazine project: A decolonial shift in teaching fashion theory and history. DISCERN: International Journal of Design for Social Change, Sustainable Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Available: https://www.designforsocialchange.org/journal/index.php/DISCERN-J/article/view/162 Khaya Mchunu. 2023. The PhD journey: Reflections + Creative Practices. NIHSS Alumni: Doctoral Journey Reflections (Unaccredited publication) Khaya Mchunu. 2023. The activism of Simon Nkoli’s clothed and styled body. Gender Questions 11(1): 1-23. Available: https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/GQ/article/view/11822 Khaya Mchunu. 2023. Matri-archive, matrilineality and creativity in beadwork: Toward an inclusive design process. Design and Culture. Available: https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2022.2141802 . Khaya Mchunu. 2023. The boubou and post-colonial African musical performances: Ami Koïta, Bi Kidude and Sibongile Khumalo. Fashion Theory. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1362704X.2022.2102857?src= Khaya Mchunu and Busisiwe Memela. 2022. Existence is resistance: A reflection on Dr. Beverly Ditsie’s 90s quare fashion. Biography: An interdisciplinary quarterly 45(3): 249-270. Available: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/article/882912 Tinashe Mutero, Khaya Mchunu, and Ivan Govender. 2021. Sewing friendship: Increasing inclusivity through creating shared social spaces for migrant and local populations in Durban. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning 9(1): 1-18. Available: https://www.cristal.ac.za/index.php/cristal/article/view/236/292 . Khaya Mchunu. 2020. Self-representation in the works of Busisiwe Nzama: An analysis of the Frida ‘little travellers’ and more. Image and Text Special Issue 34: 1-30. Available: http://www.imageandtext.up.ac.za/imageandtext/article/view/221/214 Khaya Mchunu and Busisiwe Memela. 2019. Fashioning Resistance: The Unsung Fashions of Miriam ‘Mama Africa’ Makeba. Alternation Special Edition Volume 26. Available: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/articles/special-editions/26/04-Mchunu.pdf Khaya Mchunu. 2019. Appraising understandings of a social justice-infused pedagogy: Adinkra symbols as probes. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South 3(2). Available: https://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=85&path%5B%5D=47 Khaya Mchunu. 2019. Sewing 4 Africa – skills training, solidarity and African sisterhood. Agenda – Empowering women for gender equity 33(1). Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.2019.1598274 Khaya Mchunu and Sunthra Moodley. 2019. Students’ reflection on co-design: A cross-disciplinary collaboration between two SADC countries. South African Journal of Higher Education 33(2). Available: https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/2829 Khaya Mchunu and Kim Berman. 2018. Arts-based methods as tools for co-design in a South African community-based design co-operative. Cubic Journal 1(1). Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324566885_Arts-based_methods_as_tools_for_co-design_in_a_South_African_community-based_design_co-operative Khaya Mchunu. 2017. Preparing fashion students for a socially engaged university project through Zulu Proverbs. Conference proceedings for DEFSA conference 2017 Theme of conference: Decolonise Available: https://www.defsa.org.za/sites/default/files/downloads/2017conference/Mchunu%23decolonise.pdf Khaya Mchunu. 2014. The use of co-operative inquiry to enhance collaboration and participatory design in a South African rural sewing co-operative. Conference proceedings for the Cumulus Johannesburg Conference Theme of conference: Designing with the other 90%: Changing the world by Design Available: https://www.cumulusassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/CumulusJoburgProceedings_Sep14.pdf