My doctoral research examined structural violence at the intersection of migration, race and gender and sexuality. Using narrative inquiry, I collaborated with displaced African sexual and gender-expansive co-researchers, as well as legal caseworkers, and NGO practitioners, revealing how anti-Black discrimination perpetuates racialised and gendered violence within UK migration systems. In addition to my doctoral research, I have been expanding my research profile through research on violence, migration, and trauma, examining their intersections. My research continues to explore interconnected issues of migration, human trafficking, sexual violence, modern slavery, and trauma.
At Tokyo College, I will develop a two-part decolonial project on trauma-informed litigation and trauma research practices. The first examines the coloniality of law, focusing on immigration law and legal advocacy in cases of asylum, trafficking, and gendered violence across Japan, Africa, and UK, assessing the potential for trauma-informed legal practices. The second adopts a meta-scientific perspective by critically examining how scientific trauma inquiry is conducted and the impact trauma research has on marginalised researchers of trauma. This decolonial collaboration between Africa and Asia will bring together migrants, lawyers, psychologists, and researchers across multiple regions to critically explore ethical, decolonial, and liberatory approaches to trauma and justice.
2025 Postdoctoral Fellow, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo (Japan)
2019- 2024 PhD in Psychology, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
2023-2024 Associate Dissertation Supervisor, Arden University (UK)
2019-2023 Research Assistant, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
2020-2022 Contracted Lecturer, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
2014-2018 Forensic Psychologist in Training, UK HM Prison & Probation Service/ British Psychological Society (UK)
2010- 2013 MSc in Forensic Psychology, University of Portsmouth (UK)
2011-2014 Psychological Assistant. HM Prison and Probation Service (UK)
2003-2006 BSc in Psychology, University of West London (UK)
Articles
1. Daya, J., Mhlangulana, A., Mosime, L., Thusi, K., Zimri, C., Behari-Leak, Y., Mpofu, T., Carr, K., Boonzaier, F. & Chirape. S. (Forthcoming). Researching Ourselves, Researching Others: Making Meaning of Research on Violence and Trauma. In Tshefer, T. & Rustin, C. (ed). New Imaginaries for intersectional gender and sexual justice scholarship (ed).
2. Mhlangulana, A., Thusi K., Mosime, L., Chirape S., Boonzaier, F., Zimri, C., Mpofu,T., Daya, J., Carr, K., & Behari-Leak, Y. (2024). Researching violence, researching ourselves: Unsettling knowledge production on gendered and sexual violence. Social and Health Sciences Journal Special Issue. UNISA Institute for Social and Health sciences.
3. Shabalala, S., Boonzaier, F & Chirape, S. (2023). Challenging Ciscentric Feminist Margins: A Study on Gender-Based Violence in the Lives of Black Trans Women in South Africa. Psychology in Society.
4. Chirape, S.R.T. (2022). Healing is liberation: Centralising decolonial and collective healing praxis in feminist organizing. Commissioned by Urgent Action Fund Africa: For womn’s human rights. https://www.uaf-africa.org. https://www.uaf-africa.org/healing-is-liberation-centralising-decolonial-and-collective-healing-praxis-in-feminist-organising/
5. Chirape, S. R. T. (2021). Centring healing: reflexivity, activism and the decolonial act of researching communities existing on the margin. Psychology in Society.
Commissioned Research
Nekura, R & Chirape, S.R.T (2020). ISLA Guide on Litigating Human Trafficking Cases in Africa. Commissioned research: Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA).
Book Chapters
1. Chirape, S.R.T. (2025). Visual activism and research in refugee-related-trauma. In Oso, L., Ribas-Mateos, N & Moralli, M. (ed). Elgar Encyclopedia of Global Migration: New Mobilities & Artivism. Edward Elgar.
2. Chirape, S. R. T. (2018; 2022). “He was treated like a criminal”: Evaluating the impact of detention related trauma on LGBTI refugees. In Linton, S. and Walcott, R. (Ed). The Colour of Madness: Exploring BAME mental health in the UK. An anthology. Skiddaw publishers.
3. Chirape, S. R.T. (2014). The freedom of others, In Earnshaw, H. & Penrhyn-Jones, A. (Ed). Here we stand: Women changing the world. Honno, UK.
Reviews
Chirape, S. R. T. (2015). Trauma: Not just for the victims, a review. Convenor: Lorraine Perry. The Forensic Update No 119, 2015.
2019: UCT Vice Chancellor’s Advancing Womxn scholarship Award via the Unsettling Knowledge Production on Gendered and Sexual Violence project
2014: Identified as one of 17 Key women campaigners changing the world
2008: Awarded a Community Achievement Award (UK)
