International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies
International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies is a bi-annual, peer-reviewed journal published by Pluto Journals and administered by the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies.
Print ISSN: 2516-550X / Online ISSN: 2516-5518. The journal is hosted on Science Open and can be found here to read online.

About the Journal
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.”
Aims & Scope
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.
Journal Information
The Journal is a bi-annual, peer-reviewed journal published in June and December. For more information on WiCDS visit the official website here.
Editor-in-Chief
Melissa Steyn, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Associate Editors
Book Review Editor: William Mpofu, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Commentary Editor: Haley McEwen, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Editorial Assistant
Gillian Jena, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Editorial Researcher
Rudo Mzite, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Editorial Board
Authors are required to adhere to specific guidelines when submitting manuscripts. For detailed instructions please see Instructions for Authors.
The Journal is still publishing but has experienced some significant delays in its publication schedule and is working to release the delayed issues.
The schedule below outlines when the issues are expected:
Issue | Expected release date |
Volume 2 Issue 1, 2019 | February 2021 |
Volume 2 Issue 2, 2019 | February 2021 |
Volume 3 Issue 1, 2020 | February 2021 |
Volume 3 Issue 2, 2020 | April 2021 |
Editorial Office:
International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Postal Address:
Private Bag 3,
Wits,
2050,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Tel: +27 11 717 4418
Email: ijcds.wicds@wits.ac.za
Publisher Pluto Journals, kush@plutojournals.com
Read the Journal Online
Table of Contents available on JSTOR.
Recent articles available to read online from the Journal:
‘Technology’s Invisible Women: Black Geek Girls in Silicon Valley and the Failure of Diversity Initiatives’, France Winddance Twine, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2018).
‘Raced Repetition: Perpetual Paralysis or Paradoxical Promise?’, Garth Stevens, Vol. 1 No. 2 (2018).
