Prishani Naidoo

Prishani Naidoo (1 November 1973 – 23 December 2024) was a South African sociologist, writer and activist. She was director of the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP) and a lecturer, later senior lecturer, in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg. Her work focused on social movements, political subjectivity, labour, poverty and higher education in post-apartheid South Africa, and she had a long history of involvement in student, community and anti-privatisation struggles.

Naidoo co-edited several volumes of the New South African Review and co-authored essays on new social movements and the "movement landscapes" of popular protest.

Early life and education Naidoo was born in Durban on 1 November 1973, and shortly afterwards her family moved to Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, where she spent her early childhood.

She grew up in a politically engaged family: both parents were medical doctors, and her father, Dillie Naidoo, was involved in the revival of the Natal Indian Congress and had close ties to Black Consciousness activists. Naidoo later recalled that conversations about politics, apartheid and resistance were part of everyday life in the household.

Activism and civil society work Naidoo's political activism began in late apartheid, when she joined local African National Congress and ANC Youth League structures during her school years in Durban.

Naidoo’s activism extended to struggles around labour, land and access to higher education. She participated in and reflected on student and worker mobilisations, including the #FeesMustFall protests, and was involved in projects aimed at “re-membering” movement histories and practices.

Research and writing Naidoo's research centred on political subjectivity, social movements, labour and precarity, poverty, neoliberal restructuring and the politics of higher education in South Africa.

Naidoo also wrote on race, culture and political thought. With Ahmed Veriava she co-authored “Articulating difference: reading Biko-with-Hall”, which brings the work of Steve Biko into conversation with cultural theorist Stuart Hall in order to think about difference and solidarity in South African struggles.

Her reflections on student politics and leadership were included in Reflections of South African Student Leaders 1994 to 2017, where she discussed her experiences in SASCO and the Wits SRC and the changing terrain of university governance and protest.

Death and legacy Naidoo died on 23 December 2024, aged 51.