Curriculum vitae

Academic record

A complete record of education, academic appointments, honours, invited talks, service to the profession, and technical skills.

Brian Michael Müller

Independent Academic & PhD Candidate · School for African & Gender Studies, Anthropology & Linguistics, University of Cape Town

brian.michael.muller@gmail.com

2021– present
PhD in African & Gender Studies (in progress)
University of Cape Town · Cape Town, South Africa
Dissertation on queer subjectivity, state violence, and the visual archive of the Johannesburg Central Police Station.
2016–2018
MA (with Distinction), Gender Studies
University of Cape Town · Cape Town, South Africa
Thesis on performance art, queer visibility, and post-apartheid public space.
2013–2014
BA (Hons), History of Art & Gender Studies
University of the Witwatersrand · Johannesburg, South Africa

2021– present
PhD Candidate, School for African & Gender Studies, Anthropology & Linguistics
University of Cape Town · Cape Town, South Africa
Doctoral research on queer subjectivity, state violence, and visual culture in post-apartheid South Africa.
2019– present
Independent Academic
Cape Town · Cape Town, South Africa
Ongoing independent research, writing, and invited lecturing across queer studies and South African visual culture.

2022–2025
National Research Foundation Doctoral Scholarship
National Research Foundation of South Africa
Multi-year doctoral funding.
2019
Best Postgraduate Paper
South African Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH)
For work on Athi-Patra Ruga and the Johannesburg Central Police Station.

2023
Under Priscilla's Eyes: Reading Ruga at John Vorster Square
GALA Queer Archive Public Lecture Series · Johannesburg
Invited public lecture.
2022
Queer Bodies and Post-Apartheid Space
Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research (WISER) · Johannesburg
Seminar.
2021
Auto-ethnography and the Study of Queer South Africa
Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape · Cape Town

2019– present
Peer Reviewer
Image & Text; Agenda; Gender, Place & Culture; Critical Arts
Regular peer review across South African and international journals in visual culture and gender studies.
2020– present
Research Affiliate
GALA Queer Archive · Johannesburg
Ongoing engagement with the archive's holdings on queer life under apartheid and democracy.

Languages
English (native), Afrikaans (proficient), isiXhosa (conversational), French (reading)
Methods
Critical semiotics; close reading; visual and textual analysis; ethnography and auto-ethnography; archival research