Staff profile

Anne Heffernan is a historian of modern South and Southern Africa. Her work has focused on the role of students and young people in influencing political trends and changes, particularly during apartheid. She is especially interested in protest politics and the development of new forms of political ideology and practice. Her book, Limpopo's Legacy: Students & Democracy in South Africa (Boydell & Brewer, 2019) explores many of these themes from a regional perspective.

Her new research explores the process of segregating university education in South Africa, and is particularly concerned with tracing networks within and between historically black universities in South Africa, and situating these within wider global networks. This work has been supported by a Visiting Research Fellowship with the University of Glasgow Library. Dr Heffernan is also part of the Histories of Universities in South Africa Research Project (based at the University of Free State, South Africa), and is a Research Associate with the History Workshop at the University of the Witwatersrand.  

Dr Heffernan welcomes applications and interest from postgraduate students interested in researching the history of South and Southern African politics, education, social and political movements, youth movements and other related topics.

• Black Consciousness
• Protest
• South African history
• Youth & Student politics

Authored book

• Limpopo's Legacy: Student Politics & Democracy in South Africa
  
  Heffernan, A. (2019). Limpopo’s Legacy: Student Politics & Democracy in South Africa. Boydell and Brewer.

Chapter in book

• Comparative Student Movements in South Africa: Social Movement Theory Perspectives
  
  Mangcu, X., & Heffernan, A. (2027). Comparative Student Movements in South Africa: Social Movement Theory Perspectives. In D. Magaziner (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of South African History (pp. 594-624). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190921767.013.15
• Ideas and Political Mobilization in Africa
  
  Heffernan, A. (2019). Ideas and Political Mobilization in Africa. In Oxford research encyclopedia of politics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1353
• The University of the North, a regional and national centre of activism
  
  Heffernan, A. (2016). The University of the North, a regional and national centre of activism. In A. Heffernan & N. Nieftagodien (Eds.), Students must rise : youth struggle in South Africa before and beyond Soweto ’76. (pp. 45-54). Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/22016069193.13

Edited book

• History, Knowledge and Power in Southern Africa: Essays in Honour of William Beinart
  
  Lee, R., & Heffernan, A. (Eds.). (2026). History, Knowledge and Power in Southern Africa: Essays in Honour of William Beinart. Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-24201-3
• Students Must Rise: Youth Struggle in South Africa Before and Beyond Soweto '76
  
  Heffernan, A., & Nieftagodien, N. (Eds.). (2016). Students Must Rise: Youth Struggle in South Africa Before and Beyond Soweto ’76. Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/22016069193

Journal Article

• ‘Decolonize What?’ Africanization, Decolonization, and Discourses of Change at South African Universities, c. 1972-2016
  
  Heffernan, A. (in press). ‘Decolonize What?’ Africanization, Decolonization, and Discourses of Change at South African Universities, c. 1972-2016. History Workshop Journal.
• Essay review: technopolitics, development and the residues of the South African state.
  
  Heffernan, A. (2024). Essay review: technopolitics, development and the residues of the South African state. British Journal for the History of Science, 57(4), 645-649. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087424001031
• Editorial
  
  Heffernan, A., & Lee, R. (2024). Editorial. Journal of Southern African Studies, 50(6), 849-851. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2025.2524269
• A Crooked Path to Apartheid Education: Segregating the University of Natal, 1936–1959
  
  Heffernan, A. (2024). A Crooked Path to Apartheid Education: Segregating the University of Natal, 1936–1959. Journal of Southern African Studies, 50(6), 859-876. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2024.2509415
• Student/teachers from Turfloop: the propagation of Black Consciousness in South African schools, 1972–76
  
  Heffernan, A. (2019). Student/teachers from Turfloop: the propagation of Black Consciousness in South African schools, 1972–76. Africa, 89(S1), S189-S209. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0001972018000979
• The University of the North and Building the Bantustans, 1959–1977
  
  Heffernan, A. (2017). The University of the North and Building the Bantustans, 1959–1977. South African Historical Journal, 69(2), 195-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2017.1293716
• Blurred lines and ideological divisions in South African youth politics
  
  Heffernan, A. (2016). Blurred lines and ideological divisions in South African youth politics. African Affairs, 115(461), 664-687. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adw052
• Black Consciousness's Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, the University of the North, and the Seeds of South Africa's Student Movement in the 1970s
  
  Heffernan, A. (2015). Black Consciousness’s Lost Leader: Abraham Tiro, the University of the North, and the Seeds of South Africa’s Student Movement in the 1970s. Journal of Southern African Studies, 41(1), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2015.991575