Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
Navan N. Govender (SFHEA) is a Lecturer in Applied Language and Literacy Studies at the School of Education, University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, United Kingdom).
I am fundamentally interested in the role of texts in mediating relationships of power in English language, literacy, and literary education. This includes how texts are produced, used, circulated, and redesigned in and beyond contexts of teaching and learning. This involves working within the multidisciplinary field of critical literacies which understands that language (and sign systems more broadly), literacy (and meaning-making more broadly), power, identity, and social justice are intrinsic to the wholistic cognitive, social, and ethical development of young people and adults. It also understands that language and literacy education is bound to ideology (value-systems), and is therefore also a site for social and political action toward socially just futures.
My scholar-activist work in qualitative research and pedagogy therefore draws explicitly on the fields of critical applied linguistics, literacy studies, multimodal critical discourse analysis, queer/trans/feminist praxis, decolonial and anti-racist praxis as they pertain to teaching and learning in English education. At the interface of critical, queer, and decolonial theory and practice, I seek to explore conditions for (re)imagining more socially just practice in curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment with (student) teachers and teacher educators. While I focus on (a)gender and (a)sexual diversity, anti-racism, and decoloniality in language and literacy education, I explore these as inherently entangled with a broad range of other social categories.
Currently, I work on two main projects that are located in and beyond Scotland:
- Queer Critical Literacies
- Critical Literacies & the Decolonial Turn: A Longitudinal Study in Higher/Teacher Education
Specific fields of study include: (queer) critical literacies; multimodality; critical applied linguistics; (a)gender & (a)sexual diversity; multimodal critical discourse analysis; social semiotics; and social justice education.
Further interests include: place-based pedagogies, creative methods, and intersectionality.
At Strathclyde, I teach on the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme, offering classes in critical literacies and multimodalities as well as a range of English methodology classes for secondary schooling educators. At Masters level, I also offer classes on research and teaching using multimodal critical discourse analysis, textual analysis, queer and decolonial methodologies, and (auto)ethnography. Within the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, I sit on the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Committee. I also work closely with Strathclyde’s Student Union to support the development of queer and trans-inclusive and decolonial and anti-racist spaces and practices.
Beyond Strathclyde, I am the elected Vice President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) a co-convener of the Critical Literacy Special Interest Group (SIG), UKLA Regional Representative for West Scotland, and co-convener of the UKLA’s Publicity & Communications Committee.
Recently, my colleagues (from a range of universities across the United States, New Zealand, and the UK) and I were appointed as co-editors of The Reading Teacher Journal (a Wiley publication for the International Literacy Association).
I hold a Bachelor of Education degree (specialising in English Education in secondary and further education & training contexts), a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Applied English Language Studies, and a PhD in Applied Language & Literacy Education. My PhD investigated how critical literacy could be used to engage student teachers with issues related to (a)gender & (a)sexual diversity in South Africa.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Negotiating the Gendered Representations of Sexualities through Critical Literacy, University of the Witwatersrand
Jan 2013 → 8 Dec 2015
Award Date: 8 Dec 2015
Bachelor of Arts, Critical Literacy: Do Textbooks Practise What They Preach?, University of the Witwatersrand
Jan 2010 → Jun 2011
Award Date: 22 Jun 2011
Bachelor of Education, Critical Literacy in the English Classroom, University of the Witwatersrand
Jan 2005 → Dec 2009
Award Date: 26 May 2010
External positions
Journal Co-Editor, The Reading Teacher journal
1 Aug 2023 → …
UKLA Regional Representative: West Scotland, United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA)
Jul 2020 → …
UKLA Critical Literacy Special Interest Group Co-convener, United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA)
2020 → …
Keywords
- critical literacy
- critical applied linguistics
- critical discourse analysis
- social justice
- discourse
- power
- multimodality
- queer critical literacies
- decoloniality
- praxis
- social semiotics
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Queer Critical Literacies
Govender, N. N. (Principal Investigator)
1/07/20 → …
Project: Non-funded project
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Finding a Place for Critical Literacies in Scotland
Govender, N. N. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/19 → 30/07/21
Project: Non-funded project
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An anti-racist English education
Cushing, I. & Govender, N., 2 Jul 2024, In: English in Education. 58, 3, p. 240-257 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)21 Downloads (Pure) -
Queer Critical Literacies: A Zine
Govender, N. N. (Photographer), 10 May 2024Research output: Digital or non-textual outputs › Digital or Visual Products
Open AccessFile17 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
Govender, N. (Recipient), 15 Dec 2021
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
File -
British Association for Applied Linguistics: Book Award (Joint Runner-up)
Govender, N. N. (Recipient) & Banegas, D. (Recipient), Aug 2023
Prize: Other distinction
Activities
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Learning about Race Equality in Education from Scotland
Govender, N. N. (Participant), Salehjee, S. (Organiser), Mohammed, K. (Participant), Riaz, N. (Participant), Warner, D. (Participant) & Callender, C. (Participant)
17 Jul 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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SGSSS Spring into Methods
Govender, N. N. (Participant) & Banegas, D. (Organiser)
14 May 2025 → 15 May 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Impacts
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UKLA position statement: Critical Literacy
Govender, N. N. (Participant)
Impact: Education, Public understanding, information and debate