SeaM

The SeaM project is a three-year collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Witwatersrand, jointly funded by the ESRC and the NRF. Together, we are forging a cutting-edge interdisciplinary research agenda to understand security at the margins in urban South Africa.

Recent News

Work and Wellbeing on the Urban Periphery

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SeaM’s first pilot project drew together Zaheera Jinnah, Jo Vearey, Thea de Gruchy and Goitse Manthata from the University of Witwatersrand with Sam Spiegel and Jessica Yu from the University of Edinburgh. In this blog, the team give us a flavour of their research.

60+: queer, old Joburg

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Our SeaM pilot project focuses on ten, queer Joburgers who are 60+. We are primarily using oral histories to explore how participants understood and engaged with space both during and after apartheid. These oral histories explicitly acknowledge their nested connection with the archival material of Mark Gevisser held at GALA (Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action) and the potential for extending that body of work.

About

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The SeaM project is a three-year collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Witwatersrand, jointly funded by the ESRC and the NRF. Together, we are forging a cutting-edge interdisciplinary research agenda to understand security at the margins in urban South Africa.

In the spotlight

“It has been fantastic to work with such a thoughtful, innovative and engaged research team. We used photographs in this project as visual cues to start a diverse but focused discussion of spaces in Orange Farm. It worked really well and I’m excited to get started on the analysis.”

SJ Cooper-Knock is a Lecturer in International Development at the University of Edinburgh.

We caught up with SJ in Johannesburg, where she is working on the ‘Constructing Difference’ pilot project, alongside Emma Monama, Mercy Mupavayenda, and Loren Landau from ACMS. Their work has taken them to Orange Farm, where they have be using in-depth interviews and visual methods to explore what people think about the area, the connections they make with other residents, and the ways they move around Orange Farm in their everyday lives. The research has uncovered some interesting and important insights, and the team are now in the midst of transcribing and analysing their findings.