I am Amanda Nyanhongo, a researcher based in South Africa, currently serving as an AFRIAK Fellow with CODESRIA. I hold an MA with Distinction in International Education and Development from the University of Sussex (2024/2025), earned as a Chevening Scholar, and bring over five years of experience in research and development work across Southern Africa and wider regions.

My professional expertise spans both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, developed through roles at GeoPoll and Kantar. My interdisciplinary foundation—combining a Bachelor of Commerce and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management from the University of the Witwatersrand—enables me to bridge rigorous data analysis with social development perspectives.

My research focuses on decolonising education by reclaiming indigenous African knowledge systems, particularly pre-colonial gender and sexuality practices. My AFRIAK fellowship project, building on my distinction-level dissertation, documents linguistic and cultural evidence of diverse gender expressions across Africa—from tshiozwi (wives of Venda female husbands) to di-bu-no (a genderless Igbo term for family head used for female husbands)—and develops practical educational tools for curriculum integration. I am partnering with GALZ (Zimbabwe) and GALA Queer Archive (South Africa) to ensure community-centred, non-extractive research practices. 

As a South African citizen with lived experience as a Zimbabwean immigrant and a LGBTQ+ activist, I bring intersectional perspectives to my work. My vision as an AFRIAK Fellow is to challenge colonial narratives that frame diverse expressions of gender and sexuality as "un-African," creating culturally grounded resources that foster inclusive societies rooted in African epistemologies.