A space for thinking and doing the world differently… 

Set high on the Westdene ridge in Johannesburg, JIAS is a whimsical, hybrid, micro-campus with a sweeping view of the city. We think of it as an intellectual home and community space in the Global South for writers, artists, curators, activists and students engaged in anti-racist, feminist, queer and radically imaginative research projects. In addition to hosting seminars, workshops, book launches and colloquia, 10 spacious en-suite rooms accommodate visiting fellows, scholars and artists-in-residence. 

For many Black, Brown, femme, queer, trans and otherwise-minoritised people, university spaces often elicit feelings of threat and un-belonging, rooted as they are in Euro-American cultural mythologies and traumatic histories of colonial imposition and exclusion. By contrast, our objective at JIAS is to cultivate a welcoming space, conducive to creative, collaborative thinking and doing.

The JIAS campus includes a fully equipped seminar room, common rooms (in Blocks A & C), a lounge (ideal for reading groups), dining area (longtable), pool area, and ten en-suite bedrooms with workspaces. Adjoining the main facility, our postgraduate house offers open-plan workspaces for Postdoc and PhD students, with a kitchen facility and lounge.