Matthew Coetzee is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests broadly lie in cultural sociology and social theory. His work examines how communities navigate moral breakdown and reconstruct solidarity during crises, exploring how perception and memory shape collective action in moments of rupture. In this process, memory serves as both a mirror and a guide—reflecting past injustices while channeling collective energies toward repair. His dissertation analyzes divergent community responses to South Africa’s July 2021 unrest, using 120 in-depth interviews, digital media analysis, and GIS mapping to trace how civil repair unfolds on the ground. His research interrogates how communities move from moral fracture toward democratic resilience, illuminating the cultural foundations of solidarity in times of crisis. Matthew holds degrees from Yale, SOAS, and Notre Dame.
Was undergraduate student of Phil Smith at Yale before going to Notre Dame. His recent publication, “Recurating Robben Island: cultural objects, digital memory, and the entropic afterlives of national heritage,” in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology (2025). was based on a paper written for Phil Smith’s Visual Sociology class and his senior essay.