Marchetti-Mercer inducted as full professor
- By Wits University
The presentation of an inaugural lecture represents a crowning moment in the career of an academic. Upon acquiring full professorship status at the University, incumbents are requested to present an inaugural lecture which is a scholarly presentation related to their research interests, discipline or teaching focus. Marchetti-Mercer will now join Senate – the University’s highest academic decision making body.
Marchetti-Mercer's lecture titled “Still looking for home”: A personal and professional journey into the experience of emigration provided a personal and professional experience on the losses and challenges linked to the emigration experience.
Linking emigration to a process of uprooting where the disruption of social networks can be seen as the most serious consequence of emigration, she recounted the findings of a recent study exploring the impact of South African emigration on family life.
As a psychologist, her study offers fresh insight on the impact of emigration, which is often understood in economic terms such as “the brain drain”, quantifying the skills lost cost to South Africa. Listen to her lecture by clicking.
Her lecture was poignant and drew on her personal experiences as a hybrid of different countries. Marchetti-Mercer arrived in South Africa from Italy and her husband is of Scottish descent.
More on Professor Maria Marchetti-Mercer.