![Thomas Penfold BA (Hons), PhD, FHEA](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/6668?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Thomas Penfold
(he/him)
BA (Hons), PhD, FHEA
Academic
Overview
My research focuses on contemporary South African history. The majority of my work has been dedicated to exploring the numerous ways poetry and performance culture in the country interact with its turbulent poltiics. However, I have recently begun a new project investigating the links between South Africa's ruling African National Congress and Irish Republicanism. My research is highly collaborative and I work closely with ZAPP (The South African Poetry Project), publishers and politiicans.
Publication
2023
- Penfold, T. 2023. Reading emotion, reading joy: South Africa's literary non-scenes. African Identities (10.1080/14725843.2023.2261637)
2021
- Penfold, T. 2021. Angifi Dladla's bleakness of freedom. Research in African Literatures 51(3), pp. 145-163. (10.2979/reseafrilite.51.3.08)
2020
- Penfold, T. 2020. Angifi Dladla and the bleakness of freedom. Research in African Literatures 51(3), pp. 145-163. (10.2979/reseafrilite.51.3.08)
2019
- Penfold, T. 2019. Exploring Brasilidade through the postcolonial crime fiction tradition. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 60(5), pp. 527-537. (10.1080/00111619.2019.1635076)
- Penfold, T. 2019. National identity and sporting mega-events in Brazil. Sport in Society 22(3), pp. 384-398. (10.1080/17430437.2018.1490266)
2018
- Penfold, T. 2018. Being a better human being: in conversation with Angifi Dladla. Journal of the African Literature Association 12(3), pp. 324-340. (10.1080/21674736.2018.1553426)
2017
- Penfold, T. 2017. Black consciousness and South Africa's national literature. Palgrave. (10.1007/978-3-319-57940-5)
- Penfold, T. 2017. A specific kind of violence: insanity and identity in contemporary Brazilian and South African literature. Journal of Southern African Studies 43(5), pp. 1049-1067. (10.1080/03057070.2017.1356028)
- Penfold, T. 2017. Writing the city from below: graffiti in Johannesburg. Current Writing 29(2), pp. 141-152. (10.1080/1013929X.2017.1347429)
- Gunner, L. and Penfold, T. 2017. Dissonances from the global south: song, art and performance from cultures of struggle. Social Dynamics 29(2), pp. 155-166. (10.1080/02533952.2017.1369244)
2016
- Penfold, T. 2016. Mxolisi Nyezwa’s poetry of no sure place. Social Dynamics 42(3), pp. 504-529. (10.1080/02533952.2016.1237974)
2015
- Penfold, T. 2015. Towards a new public space: performance culture in 1980s South Africa. Journal of African Cultural Studies 27(3), pp. 311-325. (10.1080/13696815.2015.1026882)
- Penfold, T. 2015. Volume, power, originality: reassessing the complexities of soweto poetry. Journal of Southern African Studies 41(4), pp. 905-923. (10.1080/03057070.2015.1055547)
2012
- Penfold, T. 2012. Public and private space in contemporary South Africa: Perspectives from post-apartheid literature. Journal of Southern African Studies 38(4), pp. 993-1006. (10.1080/03057070.2012.751182)
Articles
- Penfold, T. 2023. Reading emotion, reading joy: South Africa's literary non-scenes. African Identities (10.1080/14725843.2023.2261637)
- Penfold, T. 2021. Angifi Dladla's bleakness of freedom. Research in African Literatures 51(3), pp. 145-163. (10.2979/reseafrilite.51.3.08)
- Penfold, T. 2020. Angifi Dladla and the bleakness of freedom. Research in African Literatures 51(3), pp. 145-163. (10.2979/reseafrilite.51.3.08)
- Penfold, T. 2019. Exploring Brasilidade through the postcolonial crime fiction tradition. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 60(5), pp. 527-537. (10.1080/00111619.2019.1635076)
- Penfold, T. 2019. National identity and sporting mega-events in Brazil. Sport in Society 22(3), pp. 384-398. (10.1080/17430437.2018.1490266)
- Penfold, T. 2018. Being a better human being: in conversation with Angifi Dladla. Journal of the African Literature Association 12(3), pp. 324-340. (10.1080/21674736.2018.1553426)
- Penfold, T. 2017. A specific kind of violence: insanity and identity in contemporary Brazilian and South African literature. Journal of Southern African Studies 43(5), pp. 1049-1067. (10.1080/03057070.2017.1356028)
- Penfold, T. 2017. Writing the city from below: graffiti in Johannesburg. Current Writing 29(2), pp. 141-152. (10.1080/1013929X.2017.1347429)
- Gunner, L. and Penfold, T. 2017. Dissonances from the global south: song, art and performance from cultures of struggle. Social Dynamics 29(2), pp. 155-166. (10.1080/02533952.2017.1369244)
- Penfold, T. 2016. Mxolisi Nyezwa’s poetry of no sure place. Social Dynamics 42(3), pp. 504-529. (10.1080/02533952.2016.1237974)
- Penfold, T. 2015. Towards a new public space: performance culture in 1980s South Africa. Journal of African Cultural Studies 27(3), pp. 311-325. (10.1080/13696815.2015.1026882)
- Penfold, T. 2015. Volume, power, originality: reassessing the complexities of soweto poetry. Journal of Southern African Studies 41(4), pp. 905-923. (10.1080/03057070.2015.1055547)
- Penfold, T. 2012. Public and private space in contemporary South Africa: Perspectives from post-apartheid literature. Journal of Southern African Studies 38(4), pp. 993-1006. (10.1080/03057070.2012.751182)
Books
- Penfold, T. 2017. Black consciousness and South Africa's national literature. Palgrave. (10.1007/978-3-319-57940-5)
Research
My research is varied and dynamic. I am currently writing my second book, The History of Post-Apartheid South Africa, while working on two other projects. The first focuses on the historical relationship between South Africa's ANC and Irish Republicanism. I am also working on an ongoing poetry project, Poetry NonScenes, that is dedicated to promoting the study of performnace poetry within the academic space. Through this project, I have run numerous poetry workshops in Johannesburg and Pretoria and more are planned elsehwere in South Africa in 2025.
Prior to the projects, my research has explored the history of publishing and performance culture in South Africa. My first monograph, Black Consciousness and South Africa’s National Literature (2017), explored how Black Consciousness poets shaped the direction of South African politics during a fifty-year period. I have also been influential in introducing the Poets of No Sure Place to the African literary canon.
Teaching
I teach on modern African history, with a focus on decolonialism and how it is expressed through culture. I will be teaching on the Year 1 Global Histories module and the Year 2 Anti-Colonial Resistance module.
I am also keen to work with researchers working on African histories, culture or wider post-colonial and decolonial politics.
Biography
Tom is a Lecturer in Modern African History and a Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand. He gained his PhD in 2013 and, before joining Cardiff, held positions at University College London and the University of Birmingham.
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- 21st
- 20th Century
- South Africa
- Student protest
- Black Consciousnes