About us

The spirit of philosophy is embodied by the need to reflect on all aspects of life, even those that fall outside the scope of academic research. In keeping with this spirit, the aim of SideQuests: A Magazine of Philosophical Reflections is to open a creative space where philosophers from all walks of life can explore their cares and interests – philosophy for daily life, if you will – independent of the academic milieu, while at the same time bringing philosophy to a broader audience.

Get in touch

Email us at sidequestsmagazine@gmail.com or visit our Instagram page.

How to submit

  1. Download our Guidelines for Authors pack.
  2. Read submissions from previous issues to make sure your work is right for us.
  3. Send your completed piece to us at sidequestsmagazine@gmail.com.

Meet the team

Cate Otto – Editor-in-Chief

Cate Otto is a Johannesburg-based writer and philosopher, and a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg. Her research interests include architecture, urban planning, aesthetics, and literature. She is passionate about words and ideas, and the artifacts we have made of these. In her free time, she enjoys bookfolding and paper sculpture, portraiture, and art curation. For more details (dirty and otherwise), check out https://linktr.ee/CateOtto.

Kayleigh Timmer – Managing Editor

Kayleigh Timmer is completing a PhD at Stellenbosch University. Her areas of interest include Feminist Philosophy, broadly construed, Existentialism, Phenomenology, Critical Theory, and the Philosophy of Emotions. Her current areas of research include existential analyses of femininity, complicity, and bad faith; the affective experience of gender-based violence; and the relationship between social media and subversive socio-political praxis.

William Shaer – Associate Editor: Design

William Shaer is a South African philosopher pursuing a PhD at the University of Cape Town. His work explores the side quests of digital culture, where technology, aesthetics, story, and play shape meaning through sustained curiosity rather than fixed conclusions.

Asheel Singh – Associate Editor

Dr Asheel Singh is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Coordinator of Postgraduate Studies at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Johannesburg with over a dozen years of experience in the higher education sector. His research interests include ethics, the philosophy of religion, comparative philosophy (Western, African, and Eastern), and theories of life’s meaning.

Zama Mazibuko – Associate Editor: Marketing

Zama Mazibuko is a South African scholar whose work focuses on critical theory and the philosophy of history. She has recently completed her Honours degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), where her research explored the philosophical dynamics of historical understanding, critique, and socio-political transformation. Her ongoing research engages with questions of historical narrative, critique, and the philosophical conditions that make collective social change possible.