Professor of English and Linguistics

Faculty of Commerce, Human Sciences and Education

Inaugural Lecture

Title NARRATIVES, IDENTITIES AND PLURIVERSALITY: AN AFRO-TRIUMPHALIST REIMAGINING OF HUMAN WELL-BEING IN ADVERSARIAL CONTEXTS

PROFILE OF PROF NELSON MLAMBO

Professor Nelson Mlambo is an academic in literature, communication, and applied linguistics, specializing in literary studies, storytelling for change, applied communication, and rhetorical studies. As a Professor of Literature, Communication and Applied Linguistics at NUST’s Department of Communication and Languages, he has a rich academic background spanning over two decades, including strategic partnerships with international institutions such as Oxford University’s Wolfson College (as an AfOx fellow) and Leeds University (as a LUCAS/LARHI fellow).

His inaugural lecture, titled “Narratives, Identities and Pluriversality: An Afro-triumphalist Reimagining of Human Well-being in Adversarial Contexts”, through the African literariscape, examines the nuanced re-imaginings of life in tempestuous times; how fi[a]ction captures the innovative and resilient ways used by extra/ordinary people inhabiting harsh environs during strenuous, dystopian and trying times to rise above adversity, and how they manage to live with hope and positivity through innovation, serendipity and proteanism.

He has supervised over 40 Master’s and PhD students, thus inspiring future knowledge creators to shape life-inspiring African narratives and worldviews. With six books and over 100 scholarly publications to his name, Prof. Mlambo has established himself as a thought leader, with sensitivity to reconstructing and creating a more inclusive, Africa-led narrative; reclaiming Afro-human dignity as justice through literary live artifacts; and fostering ecologies of knowledge for collective well-being.