Dr. Silindile N. Mlilo
Dr. Silindile Nanzile Mlilo is a migration scholar, practitioner, and consultant with extensive experience in research and project management at the intersection of migration and mobility governance, xenophobia and social cohesion, youth, and policy development across Africa and Asia. She is also a part-time content creator, producer, and interviewer, committed to amplifying African voices in migration scholarship and public discourse. Silindile is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Project Manager at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand, where she leads research and monitors xenophobic discrimination in South Africa through the Xenowatch project. She is also the co-founder of Meraki Afrique, a social enterprise focused on advancing regional integration in Africa. Silindile holds a Ph.D. in Migration and Displacement from the University of Witwatersrand, an MA in Advanced Development in Social Work through a consortium of European universities, including the University of Lincoln, Aalborg University, Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas (University of Lisbon), and Université Paris Nanterre, MA in Human Rights and a Bachelor of Social Work both obtained at the University of Fort Hare, respectively. Her doctoral dissertation, “Political Subjectivities in Post-colonial States: Identity and Belonging Among Botswana’s non–Tswana Migrant Descendants,” examined how postcolonial nation-building in mono-ethnic states shapes identity, belonging, and citizenship for people of migrant descent, introducing new theoretical insights into hybrid identities and everyday practices of citizenship. Silindile was a 2024 Next Gen Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellow. She is also an alumna of the Young African Leaders Programme at the European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance and an Erasmus Mundus Scholar.
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