Finex Ndhlovu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Community, Ethnicity and Policy Alternatives (ICEPA). He is working on the project 'The Intersections of English Language Testing for Citizenship and the Politics of Exclusion in Australia'. Finex holds a PhD from Monash University. His thesis was on nationalism, hegemony and the socio-politics of language marginalization in postcolonial Zimbabwe. He also holds a Master of Arts in African Languages and Literature and a Bachelor of Arts Honours both from the University of Zimbabwe; a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the Zimbabwe Open University and a Certificate in Supervisory Management from the Zimbabwe Institute of Management.
Finex has close to 10 years of higher education teaching and research experience. He has held academic positions at Midlands State University (full time), Zimbabwe Open University (part time) and Monash University (sessional).
Research Interests
- Language politics
- Language and nation building in postcolonial Africa
- Language, ethnicity and identity formation
- Language policy and planning
- Language testing and migration policies
- Minority languages and their maintenance
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Multilingualism and African Australian Diaspora Studies
- Discourses of ethnic exclusion and inclusion
Recent Publications
(2008) The Conundrums of Language Policy and Politics in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Australian Journal of Linguistics Vol. 28(1), pp. 59-80.
(2007) The Role of Discourse in Identity Formation and the Manufacture of Ethnic Minorities. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. Vol. 2(2), pp. 131-147.
(2007) Reflections on the Challenges of Researching Maintenance and Language Vitality in South-western Zimbabwe. In Nicholas Ostler and Maya David (eds.) Working Together for Endangered Languages - Research Challenges and Social Impacts. Bath: Foundation for Endangered Languages, pp. 127-134.
(2007) Historicizing the Socio-politics of Shona Language Hegemony in Zimbabwe. Lwati Journal of Contemporary Research. Vol. 4, pp. 295-313.
Selected Community and Academic Organizational Involvement
- Founder member of the African Australian Diaspora Research Group
- Member of the African Academic Skills Leadership Group, Victoria University
- Full member of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA).
- Full member of the Midlands State University African Languages and Culture Society.
- Full member of the Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe
- Full member of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA)
- Full member of the Australian Linguistics Society (ALS)
Awards and Recognition
- Price-Waterhouse-Coopers Scholarship for Best Student in the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) Ordinary Level, 1991.
- University of Zimbabwe Book Prize for Academic Excellence (Part II, B.A. Honours Coursework and Examinations), 1994.
- Zimbabwe Public Health Association/University of Zimbabwe Hiv/Aids Poetry & Essay Competition Third Prize, 1995.
- Zimbabwe Institute of Management Prize for Best Student in the Certificate in Supervisory Management, 1997.
- NUFU/ALLEX Project Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Zimbabwe, 1997 - 1998.
- Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS) and Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MIPRS), 2005.
- School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics Top-up Scholarship (Monash University), 2005.
- Language and Society Research Grant, Linguistics Program, Monash University, October 2005.
- African Research Mobility Scholarship, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, May 2006.
Contact Details
Email Finex Ndhlovu
Ph: +61 3 9919 4440 (Bus.); +61 4 0571 5075 (Mob.)
Fax: +61 3 9919 4164
Postal Address: PO BOX 14428, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 8001
