International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies (IJCDS) launched in 2018 is administered by the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS) based in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand. WiCDS is an interdisciplinary initiative designed to produce cutting-edge knowledge which contributes towards the deepening of local and international; theoretical and practical understandings of diversity.

WiCDS was established in 2014 at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. WiCDS aims to build capacity to meet the challenges of diverse societies, especially in post-apartheid South Africa through interdisciplinary postgraduate education and research. In addition to being grounded in social justice imperatives, WiCDS’s education, programmes and research are informed by Melissa Steyn’s (2007) notion of Critical Diversity Literacy (CDL) which is “a sharply focused critical lens which examines those operations of power which implicate social identities to create systems of privilege, advantage, disadvantage and oppression.” 

International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies (IJCDS) aims to provide an undisciplinary platform for critical engagement with hierarchies of power that create and sustain privilege and oppression along axes of difference. Areas of interest include the constructions of social locations and positionalities; intersections, co-constructions and co-constitutions of systems of oppression; race; gender; sexuality; dis/ability; class; age etc.; the politics of knowledge production; the politics of being and affect; the politics of history and time; the politics of geography and location; reproduction and resistance social injustice; reframing differences. This journal will accept original articles (research and theoretical), commentaries and book reviews.

Editorial Team 

Nicky Falkof, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, Editor-in-chief

William Mpofu, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, Book review editor

Esra Sarioğlu, University of Virginia, USA, Editorial team

Scott Burnett, Pennsylvania State University, USA, Editorial team

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, University of California, USA, Irvine, Editorial team

Rudo Mzite, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, Editorial assistant

Editorial Board

Annika McPherson, University of Augsburg, Germany

Camila Andrade, Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil

Garth Stevens, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Jolanta Drzewiecka, Washington State University, USA

Katlego Disemelo, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Kirk Sides, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Lewis R. Gordon, University of Connecticut, USA

Malose Langa, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Maria Soledad Falabella, University of Chile, Chile

Marla Jaksch, College of New Jersey, USA

Melanie Bush, Adelphi University, USA

Mörsch, Dr. Carmen, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Nirmala Erevelles, University of Alabama, USA

Pauline Leonard, University of Southampton, UK 

Peace Kiguwa, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Pumla Gqola, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa

Robert McRuer, George Washington University, USA

Sanja Nivesjö, Uppsala University, Sweden

Sara Orning, University of Oslo, Oslo

Sisanda Nkoala, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Tamara Shefer, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Ulla Klingovsky, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Switzerland

Yianna Liatsos, University of Limerick, Ireland

Advisory Board

Melissa Steyn, Founding Editor

Tommaso Milani

Srila Roy

Haley McEwen

Heather Dalmage

Mehita Iqani

Shelley Tremain

Boaventura de Sousa Santos

Jasbir Puar

Lydia Potts

Morgan Ndlovu

Ramόn Grosfoguel

Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlov

France Winddance

Tom Nakayama

Instructions for Authors

Authors are required to adhere to specific guidelines when submitting manuscripts. For detailed instructions, please see IJCDS Instructions for Authors.

Instructions for Reviewers

Thank you for agreeing to review an article for IJCDS. Please see our Instructions for Reviewers. 

Editorial Office:

International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
South Africa,
Private Bag 3,
Wits,
2050, 
Johannesburg,
South Africa.

Tel: +27 11 717 4418

Email: ijcds.wicds@wits.ac.za

Publisher Pluto Journals, evek@plutojournals.com  

The Journal is a bi-annual, peer-reviewed journal published in June and December. The journal has been indexed on DOAJ since March 2023. For the purposes of preservation and restoration the PORTICO archiving system is used to create permanent archives for the journal. For more information on WiCDS visit the official website here. 

The journal is Open Access and the Open Access statement, Open Access license terms, copyright terms as well as a statement on its absolute lack of author charges can be found here. 

The journal became Open Access on 1 January 2021 and is published open access on ScienceOpen. All journal material published prior to 1 January 2021 is also published, Open Access on ScienceOpen here. This means the reuse rights of published material is all under the open  CC BY 4.0 license as stated here. .

This journal follows Pluto Journals’ Ethics and Code of Conduct policy, which aligns with the ethical standards endorsed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In particular:

• We expect all authors to state in their article if they have a conflict of interest which could potentially
  bias their opinions – for example funding or employment.
• All named authors on the articles should confirm that they have jointly participated in the research and
  writing of the article, and that no author has been omitted from the list of authors.
• We require authors to warrant that their articles are original, have not been previously published, and do
  not plagiarise or otherwise copy someone else’s work without attribution. (If the article is a translation,
  we are happy to consider this for publication but the authors must inform the editors on submission.
• We also require authors to warrant that their article does not defame, libel, or bring another person into
  disrepute, and neither does it contain anything illegal (e.g. copyright infringing).
• Editors and reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, their handling of a manuscript. Conflicts may include personal relationships, academic competition or financial interests related to the work under consideration. If a conflict exists, editors and reviewers must decline to participate in the review or editorial decision-making process. The journal maintains procedures to ensure that editorial decisions are made without bias and based solely on scholarly merit. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers in which they have a conflict of interest and such submissions are handled by another qualified editor.
• All submissions are checked for originality during the editorial review. The reviewer’s role includes the process of checking and dealing with text similarity and suspected plagiarism. Plagiarism includes the unattributed use of another author’s words, ideas, data, or images, as well as excessive text recycling from one’s own prior work. Reviewers are responsible for reporting potential misconduct concerns to the Editor, who handles concerns according to the COPE plagiarism flowchart https://members.publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/plagiarism-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf. Manuscripts found to contain significant plagiarism are rejected, and if plagiarism is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retraction and notify the authors’ institution as appropriate. The editor is responsible for guiding the process and for publishing corrections, retractions or expressions of concern when appropriate. All authors will be informed and their consent (where possible) obtained before any changes are made. Appropriate measures will be taken, including possible retractions of articles, when cases of scholarly misconduct are detected.
• Retraction of articles may be required when there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication, plagiarism) or honest error; when the work has been previously published elsewhere without proper attribution; or when the research or publication process was unethical. Retraction notices are published promptly, clearly identified as such and linked to the original article, which remains in the public record but marked as retracted. The notice will include the reasons for retraction and who is retracting the article.
• Corrections (errata or corrigenda) are published by the journal to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. If an error is identified that affects the publication’s reliability, but not its overall conclusions, a correction will be issued. Corrections will clearly describe the change, reference the original article, and be freely accessible. Minor errors that do not affect the interpretation of the work will not typically warrant formal correction.
• Appeals: should an author wish to appeal a decision of Reject, they should write to the Editorial Executive. Two members of the Editorial Board not involved in the original review process for the article will reconsider the article and reviews and to submit their recommendations. Only one round of appeal will be permitted per manuscript.

Trump in the Global South

Special issue of the International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies

Editors: Nicky Falkof, Iginio Gagliardone and Nkululeko Sibiya (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Since his second arrival into office in 2025, Donald Trump has saturated news, social media and public debates well beyond US borders. Yet most scholarship on Trumpism remains US-centric. In this special issue of the International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies we ask how his political brand – populist nationalism, nativism, authoritarian tendencies, eugenic rhetoric and violent attacks on difference – resonates or clashes with political realities, historical experiences, social structures and cultural values in the Global South, parts of which he famously dismissed as ‘shithole countries’. We also ask how perspectives from the Global South allow a reading of Trump and Trumpism that goes beyond increasingly insular frameworks centred on the rise of the far right and threats to civil liberties in the US. With a focus on the first year of Trump’s second presidency, this special issue examines how his policies, and the divisive representations of race, gender, sexuality, disability and nationality that often underpin them, have been received and reported in the South. It invites empirical, critical analyses of how communities, political actors, religious groups, media and social movements in the Global South have interpreted, appropriated, resisted or supported Trump, his discourses and his political agenda.

Scope and key themes:

This special issue encourages contributions that critically explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Unexpected alliances and affinities: Where does support for Trump or Trumpism appear among communities in the Global South? How do we understand cases where such alignments may appear counter-intuitive?

Resistance and rejection: What forms of critique, resistance or satire targeting Trump and Trumpism emerge from the Global South? How significant are they in national public debates and how likely to influence national politics?

Enforcing identities: How do responses to Trump and Trumpism enforce resistant, traditional, dominant or minority identities in the Global South? How do these constituencies use their affective responses to Trump to further cement the meanings of their identities?

Mediated engagements and digital cultures: How do traditional and social media in Global South countries frame Trump, facilitate the spread of his ideas or foster communities of support/critique? How do local digital cultures engage with Trumpist discourse (memes, hashtags, influencer commentary)?

Contradictions and repercussions: How do Trump’s rhetoric and policies intersect with local realities? How do engagements with Trumpism exacerbate existing social fractures or create new ones? What are the tangible consequences of these trends?

We invite submissions from across the social sciences and humanities, including (but not limited to) critical diversity studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, international relations, media and communication studies, religious studies and gender studies. We strongly encourage interdisciplinary work and welcome a range of methodological approaches, from ethnography and discourse analysis to digital methods, computational social science and mixed-methods research.

We are particularly interested in contributions from scholars based in, or conducting research in, Africa, Latin America and Asia. We aim to create a platform for voices that are often marginalised in global academic discourse and to foster a dialogue that places the Global South at the center of critical analyses of global political phenomena.

Timeline and submission details

• Abstract submission deadline: November 15, 2025
• Notification of acceptance: December 15, 2025
• Full paper submission deadline: March 1, 2026
• Expected publication date: Late 2026

Extended abstracts (between 500 and 750 words) and a short bio (max 150 words) should be sent to nkululeko.sibiya@wits.ac.za.

Final papers should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words (including references) and will undergo a double-anonymous peer review process according to the journal’s guidelines. The International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies is published by Pluto Press. The journal is Gold Open Access and there are no article processing charges.

Download this CFP.