Research on South Africa

Dr. Frans Kamsteeg

Dr. Frans Kamsteeg works at the department of Culture, Organisation and Management and he specialises in organisational ethnography, identity and cultural change.

Current research
In 2008 he started a research project on culture and identity aspect of mergers in South African Higher Education institutions. In 2004, the South African higher education system was transformed, resulting is many forced mergers of institutions of higher education. One example is the North West University (NWU, for more information see the page Partners in South Africa) which was the result of the merger between a historically white (Potchefstroom) and black (Mafikeng) university. So far, Frans Kamsteeg has done fieldwork at NWU trying to answer the question how employees experience the outcomes of this merger process. Research outcomes are based on the study of narratives and documents, gathering during three short periods of participant observation. His research is planned to be included in a SANPAD project (“In search of a merged identity: narratives of transformation at a multi-campus university, the case of North West University, South Africa”) designed by sociologist Kiran Odhav and others from the NWU Mafikeng campus. By July of this year it should become clear whether this project will start off.

As the title of the SANPAD proposal indicates, merging will be studied from the perspective of (political and social) transformation, which means that social cohesion and diversity will be central research concepts. Master students from VU University Amsterdam and NWU (and possibly other SA universities) will take part in the research. The project will also have space for at least two PhD students.

Currently Frans Kamsteeg is also supervising two COM students who did fieldwork at all three NWU campuses on the effects of the merger on program alignment and female career development respectively.

In development
Together with Harry Wels, Frans Kamsteeg is projecting research on the complexity of diversity policy at a number of SA universities.

For more information, see Frans Kamsteeg’s personal website.