Akhona Ndzuta

Dr Akhona Ndzuta is the Head of Department and Lecturer at the Department of Cultural Policy and Management (CPM) at the Wits School of Arts. She is interested in the role of culture in South Africa’s democratic project. Her research activities are in the intersections of the management of South African music and public policy. Akhona holds a PhD from The Ohio State University, an MA from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), a BMus (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, a NDip in Human Resources Management from Technikon Witwatersrand (now the University of Johannesburg). She has occupied two postdoctoral fellowships. The first, in the Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre, at the University of Fort Hare. The second, in the Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair, at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her university teaching has included courses in musicology, cultural studies, and arts management at UNISA, Wits University, the Ohio State University, the Tshwane University of Technology, and the University of Fort Hare. She was a contributing editor to volume 1 of the book ‘Culture and Liberation Struggle in South Africa: from Colonialism to Post-Apartheid’. As a music practitioner, she managed performing musicians, ran a jazz gig guide, performed in various popular music genres between 2000 and 2010 in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and co-hosted a regional radio station music show focused on World Music. At CPM, she coordinates 3rd year programs and teaches undergraduate and (post)graduate courses. She supervises (post)graduate research on the labour conditions of South African music practitioners in domestic and international contexts, cultural entrepreneurship, South African cultural policy foundations and processes, music and cultural diplomacy, and arts education.