Engagement and leadership within academia and broader publics

My engagements take place within professional and wider circles.  I hold leadership positions and active membership in a number of professional organisations.  My community engagement activities focus on academic and broader communities.   

Beyond UWC, I am an active member of a number of professional associations and societies that focus on geography, mobilities, urban studies, and international education.  The roles that I play in a number of these organisations are high-profile and provide exposure for UWC at an international level.  Those associations and societies include:

• Society of South African Geographers (SSAG). I am a member of the Society and was involved in planning the 10th Biennial Conference as a member of the Scientific Committee.

• International Geographical Union (IGU). I am a member of the Commission on Global Change and Human Mobility. 

• Research Committee 21 (RC21). I served as co-convenor of a panel stream (Stream 22 Gender, sexualities and transgressive cities) at the 2016 conference in Mexico City, organised by Prof Alan Mabin (University of the Witwatersrand), myself and Prof Tamara Shefer from UWC.

• Southern African Cities Studies Network.  In 2020 I was selected to serve on the scientific committee for the 5th Annual Southern African Cities Studies Conference, held on-line using Zoom. 

• The Forum on Education Abroad.  I am an active member of the organisation and formerly (2016-2017) served as Chair of its Curriculum Committee in addition to serving as a senior member of their Trained Facilitator Team that performs outreach at member institutions for staff training.  In addition, I have served as a member of the Forum's International Working Group (2018-2019).  In 2018 I became a member of the Forum's Quality Assurance Program (QUIP) Peer Evaluation Team.  These roles allow me to have a significant impact on curriculum design and teaching with respect to international student mobility programmes. In my roles I am the sole representative on the African continent.

• International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA). I presented a paper entitled 'Understanding Internationalisation Inequalities through a new paradigm: Mobility, moorings, frictions and fixities' at the Global Conference on the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Skukuza, South Africa from 21-24 August 2016. My participation in the conference was funded by the Forum on Education Abroad in an effort to build a partnership and further cooperation between the Forum and IEASA.

In 2013, prior to my appointment at UWC, I was appointed as a team member of the South African delegation tasked with developing joint implementation plan for bi-lateral research and development projects under the Social Sciences and Humanities Bi-Lateral Cooperation project (Argentina/South Africa) at the Department of Science and Technology.  The appointment is still relevant to my role at UWC as the call which is the result of our efforts has recently been released. 

On a more local level, I have been involved with my neighbourhood association (Liesbeek Neighbourhood Watch) as they have negotiated the impacts of the establishment of a Special Ratings Area (SRA) and launch of a city improvement district (CID) in an adjacent suburb.  Having recently published work on the functioning of CIDs, I advised the Executive Committee on the workings of such structures and their impacts on mobility.  The engagement has provided an opportunity to apply my scholarship to my immediate residential area.

In addition, I have served as external examiner for individual student research outputs as well as postgraduate courses as described below. 

Media perspectives

I have been interviewed and quoted in various articles in the media with respect to issues related to space, place and identity.  These include recent articles in the Mail & Guardian and New Frame by Zaza Hlalethwa and Carl Collison, as below:

New Frame 6 October 2020 ‘So where is our land? Where is the space for us?’

New Frame 19 August 2019 The Joburg ballroom culture creating ‘queer utopia’

Mail & Guardian 21 June 2019 Drag queens push against gangs

Mail & Guardian 17 May 2019 One's move is anothers muse

Mail & Guardian 10 May 2019 Explosively queer in biased areas

International Links and Outreach

University of Cologne, Global South Studies Center

The most notable of these is the formal establishment of links with the University of Cologne’s Global South Studies Center (GSSC).  Shortly after my arrival at UWC, I was asked to serve as Coordinator of GSSC activities at UWC along with Kira Schmidt from the Department of Foreign Languages. In my role I have been charged with coordinating the selection and placement of incoming and outgoing students in the GSSC network, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).  

Amongst the activites achieved thus far are: 

• Presentation of UWC’s research profile at the launch of the GSSC in June 2015 at the workshop ReMapping the Global South (see photo); 

• Placement of four Cologne students in Cape Town during the second semester of 2015; 

• Coordination (including selection and preparation) of two UWC postgraduate students to Cologne for an Academic Training Workshop in November 2015; and 

• Coordination (including selection and preparation) of five UWC postgraduates who will be taking part in a DAAD-funded Field School in Cologne and Berlin, Germany in July-August 2016.  Looking forward, there are many more opportunities for the Arts Faculty, its staff and students to take part in GSSC activities.  

One activity that I will be planning in 2017 with the GSSC will be DAAD-funded Field School that will take place in Cape Town during June/July 2017 that will offer an opportunity for students from GSSC network partners (including Masters students from UWC) to take part in a two-week field-based workshop.

University of Ghent, Ghent Africa Platform (GAP)

In December 2016 I was invited to give a lecture at Ghent University (Belgium) in advance of GAPSYM10, the 10th Ghent Africa Platform Symposium. The lecture, entitled Architectures of mobility and enclosure: City improvement districts and cultural quarters in the South African city, was the second event in a lecture series on the theme “Architectural and Urban Sustainability in Africa. Current discourses and practices. A critical evaluation”, which is initiated by Johan Lagae & Michiel Dehaene, with the support of VLIR-UOS, the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning (UGent) and the Ghent Africa Platform (GAP).  The lecture interrogated architectures of enclosure in the contemporary African city, investigating the role of city improvement districts (CIDs) and cultural quarters in the intervention and management of mobility as evidenced by the Groote Schuur City Improvement District (GSCID) in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, and the urban quarter of De Waterkant in the central business district.

UWC Senate

In 2019 I was elected to serve as one of two non-professorial rank academic appointments on UWC Senate (1 January 2020 – 31 December 2021).   During my first Senate meeting in February 2020, I was further nominated to serve on the UWC Senate Executive Committee, an appointment that is concurrent with my Senate term.  In addition I was appointed to serve a two-year term on UWC's Procurement (formerly Tender) Committee from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022.

Faculty Administration

Since the start of my appointment in 2015 I have been an active member of various Arts Faculty Committees: 

1. Arts Assessment Committee (2015-2017) 

2. Arts Teaching & Learning Committee (2015 - present)

3. Arts General Appointments Committee (2016-2019)

4. Non-permanent member of the Accelerated Promotions and Equity Appointments Sub-Committee of the Joint Appointments and Promotions Committee of Senate and Council (SA/APC) (2019)

Departmental Administration

Within my Department, I currently serve or have served in the following administrative capacities:

• Department Chairperson: appointed for a three-year term (2022-2024) to lead the department.

• Tutor Coordinator, administering and overseeing a cohort of approximately 45 tutors annually

• First year modules coordinator for GES111 and GES121

• Second year module coordinator for GES225

• Member of the Postgraduate Students Selection Committee

• UWC Open Day Departmental Committee

• Departmental Seminar Series Coordinator (more details below)

• International Links Coordinator

Departmental Seminar Series Coordinator

Since early 2016 I have coordinated the Department of Geography, Environmental Studies & Tourism (DiGEST) Seminar Series. Our seminars take place on Thursdays in our Departmental Seminar room and draw attendees from our postgraduate cohort, staff and—depending on the topic—from other departments and faculties.  I see our seminar series as a vital contribution to the intellectual environment of my Department, and a critical outlet for postgraduate students to broaden perspectives on research.  As such we have deliberately scheduled our seminars to follow our weekly postgraduate meetings.  Our seminar series offers speakers on a range of topics as they relate to geography, environmental studies and/or tourism.  The seminar format consists of a 30-40 minute presentation followed by an opportunity to engage with questions from those in attendance. 

External Examination

I have served as external examiner for individual student research outputs as well as postgraduate courses as described below: