Subeshini Moodley

Subeshini Moodley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media & Communication at Nelson Mandela University specialising in film theory and video production. Her PhD, which she obtained in 2015, focused on film as a social development tool for women empowerment. Subeshini’s lecturing, supervision and research experience spans 22 years across two institutions (University of KwaZulu-Natal and Nelson Mandela University). She also serves as an external examiner for postgraduate qualifications both nationally and internationally. In 2023 and 2024, she received Vice-Chancellor Excellence Awards for Engagement, Creative Outputs and Faculty Researcher of the Year. Her current and recent projects involve a Teaching Advancement Universities (TAU) Fellowship for innovation in creative practice teaching, a National Research Foundation (NRF) funded project in Filmmaking as Therapy for Gender-Based Violence Survivors.
 
Research Project
 
Awarded National Research Foundation Post-PhD Track Funding from 2021 – 2023 for a project titled “Postcolonial Feminist Film Practice: Promoting Empowerment and Healing through Storytelling among South Africans Post-Trauma”. The project investigates the impact of participatory filmmaking as a form of therapy for women who have survived gender-based violence.
 
Engagement
 
2024:
Invited to screen research participant films and speak on filmmaking-as-therapy at a GBV and LGBTQIA+ Support Group Event hosted Transformation Office. Film titles: Voices (by Vumile Bilitane) and Uhambo Lokhupila (by Vuyo Ngcofe and Siya Mhlom) at North Campus Senate Hall, Summerstrand, Gqeberha
 
2023:
Invited to screen an Honours Student film and co-present a paper during the Nelson Mandela University Pride Week Celebrations hosted by the Transformation Office. Film title: Plastic Off the Sofa. Paper title: Claiming a Queer Voice in Media Representation at South Campus Council Chambers, Summerstrand, Gqeberha
 
2021, 2022 & 2024:
Awarded Teaching Development and Innovation grant funding for the production of a departmental annual online repository. The initiative served as a work-integrated learning opportunity for students through a simulated industry agency model, in addition to creating an archive for staff and student work.
    
 
Research Interests
  • Feminist Filmmaking
  • Documentary Filmmaking
  • Postcolonial Theory
  • Diaspora Studies
  • Gender and Media
  • Participatory Media
 
Modules
  • Moving Image Production & Reception
  • Film Theory & Analysis
  • Adavnced Video Production
  • Production Management
  • Television & Video Production
  • Integrated media Project
 
Online Profiles

 

Articles

2026 (accepted for publication)

  • Moodley, S & Rennie, T. (forthcoming in 2026). “E-book Online Repository: Digital Archiving from Crisis Response to Pedagogical Opportunity: In The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society (online).

2018

  • Moodley, S. (2019). “The Scholar as Activist: Postcolonial Feminist Film Practice as a Tool for Social Development, Empowerment and Resistance” in South African Journal of Philosophy (Special Edition: Social Cohesion & Identity). New York: Taylor & Francis.

2009

  • Moodley, S. (2008). “Telling the Stories of South African Hindu Women: Participatory Video as a Tool for Feminist Research” in Agenda, 77: pp. 116 – 125.

2004

  • Moodley, S. (2004). “Postcolonial Feminisms speaking through an ‘Accented’ Cinema: The Construction of Indian Women in the films of Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta” in Agenda, 58: African Feminisms 3, pp. 67 – 75.

Book Chapters

2025 (accepted for publication)
  • Moodley, S. (forthcoming in 2025). “Stories of Healing: The Postcolonial Feminist Filmmaking Journey after Gender-Based Trauma” in Cain, J. & Maasdorp, L. (eds). Documentary Film/making in South(ern) Africa. South Africa: HSRC Press.
  • Mathurine, J. & Moodley, S. (forthcoming in 2025). “Framing AI and Society in Contemporary Documentary Making: A View from the Global South” in Kääpä, P. & Sills-Jones, D. (eds). Documentary In The Age Of A.I. Switzerland: Peter Lang Publishers.
2024
  • Asuman, MKA & Moodley, S. (2024). “Chapter 1: Promoting Political Participation and Accountability through Popular Culture. A Study on Women and Community Radio in Northern Ghana,” in Aiseng, K., Fadipe, I.A. & Mpofu, P. (eds). Political Economy of Contemporary African Popular Culture: The Political Interplay. New York, USA: Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group).
2023
  • Asuman, MKA & Moodley, S. (2023). “Livelihood Improvement Through Participatory Mass Communications: A Study on Community Radio and the Lives of Women in Northern Ghana,” in Mpofu, P., Fadipe, I.A. & Tshabangu, T. (eds). Indigenous African Language Media: Practices & Processes. Singapore: Palgrave: MacMillan.
  • Asuman, MKA & Moodley, S. (2023). “Women’s Participation through Indigenous Language Media and it’s Outcomes, An analysis on Community Radio and Women in Northern Ghana”, in Mpofu, P., Fadipe, I.A. & Tshabangu, T. (eds). African Language Media (1st Edition). UK: Routledge.
2021
  • Moodley, S. (2021). “Through the Lens of Post-Apartheid Filmmaking: Spaces of Poverty and Social Disparity in Yesterday, Jerusalema and District 9” in N Bohler-Mulle, V Reddy & C Soudien (eds.) (2021) (State of the Nation (Ethics, Politics, Inequality: New Directions). Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). 2009
  • Moodley, S. (2009). “Eastern Mosaic: Shades of Hindu Women in South African Media” in Duncan Brown (ed.) (2009) Religion & Spirituality in South Africa: New Perspectives. Pietermaritzburg: UKZN Press. pp. 191 – 204.
 
Conferences
 
2025
  • Presented paper titled “Framing Technology and Agency in AI Documentaries: A View from the Global South” at the South African Communications association from 8 – 12 September, hosted by The Department of Media & Communication, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa

2024

  • Presented paper titled “Book Online Repository: Digital Archiving From Crisis Response To Pedagogical Opportunity” at the Eighteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices from 11 – 13 March, hosted by Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain

2023

  • Invited to be the inaugural keynote/guest speaker and panel discussant for Moving towards Equality and Inclusive Growth: 200 years of People of Indian Origin (PIO) in Sri Lanka hosted by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies. Paper topic: Comparative Investigation of the history of Indians in South Africa and Sri Lanka – from Indenture to the Modern day Bandaranaike Center For International Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • Invited to present at the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre’s International Discussion on Maintaining Indian identity as an Ethnic Minority in your Country Paper titled “The ‘Feeling of Being’: Conceptualising & Representing South African Indian Identity” Virtual

2022

  • Presented paper titled “Stories of Healing: The Postcolonial Feminist Filmmaking Journey after Gender-Based Trauma” at the African Women in Media United in Action International Conference held in Fez (Morocco) Hybrid
  • Invited to serve as discussant for the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study’s Symposium on The Call for Decolonised Knowledge or Educational Uprising. Paper Response to Dilip Menon’s Changing Theory: Concepts from the Global South Hybrid

2022

  • Presented paper titled “Filmmaking as Therapy” at the African Documentary Colloquium hosted by the Central Peninsula University of Technology, University of Cape Town & University of Applied Science & Arts (Hanover, Germany). Virtual

2021

  • Invited to present as part of a Training Institution panel for the Durban FilmMart, Virtual
  • Invited to present as part of a Training Institution panel for the Makhanda Film Festival, Virtual

2020

  • Invited to present a masterclass on ‘Postcolonial Filmmaking in Practice’ at the Yanaya Gender Film and Dialogue Film Festival in collaboration with the Centre for Women and Gender Studies, th Department of Media & Communication and The National Film & Video Foundation at the Nelson Mandela University

2019

  • Attended the Higher Education Leadership & Management (HELM) Programme for Heads of Department and Directors of School as part of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) University and Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) at The Protea Hotel (Tyger Valley, Western Cape) and The Protea Hotel (Stellenbosch, Western Cape)

2018

  • Presented a paper titled “The Scholar as Activist: Postcolonial Feminist Film Practice as a Tool for Social Development, Empowerment and Resistance” at The 4th World Conference on Women’s Studies (hosted by The International Institute of Knowledge Management – Colombo, Sri Lanka)
2013
  • Presented a paper titled “Participating in the Visual: A Crisis of Creative Representation” at The International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) University of Dublin

 

Academic Achievements/ Awards

  • Teaching Advancement University (TAU) Fellowship (2024 – 2025)
  • Co-Finalist in the National Institute for the Humanities & Social Sciences (2024) – Digital Humanities Category for the Best Community Engagement Category (Project: E-Book Online Repository as an Engagement-Related Tool for Creative & Research Outputs)
  • Recipient of the Nelson Mandela University Vice-Chancellor Award for Excellence – Faculty of Humanities Researcher of the Year (2024)
  • Co-Recipient of the Nelson Mandela University Vice-Chancellor Awards for Excellence in both Engagement and Creative Output (Online Repository Team Project - 2023)
  • Promotion to Associate Professor (2020) Nelson Mandela University

 

Research Films

2025

  • (Producer, Director & Scriptwriter) Moodley, S. (2025). Postgraduate Alchemy. Department of Media & Communication (NMU) & The Teaching Advancement at Universities (TAU) Fellowship Programme.

2024

  • (Producer & Supervisor) Bilitane, V. (2024). Voices. Department of Media & Communication (NMU) & The National Research Foundation.
  • (Producer & Supervisor) Ngcofe, V & Mhlomo, S. (2024). Uhambo Lokuphila. Department of Media & Communication (NMU) & The National Research Foundation.

2014

  • (Director) Moodley, S. (2014). A Woman’s Promise. Discipline of Media & Cultural Studies (UKZN) & The National Research Foundation.
  • (Production Advisor & Assistant Director of Photography) Singaram, Y. (2014). The Story of My Life. Discipline of Media & Cultural Studies (UKZN) & The National Research Foundation.
  • (Editor & Production Advisor) Gounden, J. (2014). A Day in My Life. Discipline of Media & Cultural Studies (UKZN) & The National Research Foundation.
  • (Production Advisor) Mestry, M. (2014) A South African Sari. Discipline of Media & Cultural Studies (UKZN) & The National Research Foundation.

2007

  • (Director) Moodley, S. (2007). Unwritten. Department of Media & Cultural Studies (UKZN).