Muriel Kasanga

Muriel is a doctoral researcher in the Justice Visions group at the Human Rights Centre starting in September 2026. As part of the project ‘Reckoning with Belgium’s Colonial Past (and Present)’ at Justice Visions, her research examines the interconnected institutional and grassroots initiatives seeking redress for Belgium’s colonial past (and present), and how the interactions between these initiatives shape the contested meaning, legitimacy, and outcomes of colonial redress.

Muriel recently completed an LLM in International Law at the University of Cape Town, where she conducted research on refugee children’s right to education in South Africa, drawing on her previous experience as an early childhood and primary educator. She also holds an LLB Bachelor of Laws from the University of Cape Town, an MSc in Law and Society: Governance and Global Development from Leiden University, where she was an International Peace and Justice Master Fund scholar and participated in the Leiden Law School’s Pre-PhD Programme. Her MSc research was a qualitative legal ethnography exploring identity, belonging, and lived experiences of citizenship among Congolese-origin residents in Belgium through in-depth interviews.

Before her PhD, Muriel worked as a Student Legal Consultant at the UNHCR-funded Refugee Rights Unit in Cape Town, where she supported asylum seekers and refugees through legal research, drafting, legal appeals, and status determination interviews.

Muriel’s approach is qualitative and socio-legal, prioritising participatory and co-creative methodology, that centre epistemic justice and agency, and her broader research interests lie at the intersection of postcolonial studies and human rights law.