CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS (Completed projects are available on the Research Outputs Page)


Cherryl Walker
Critical cosmopolitanism as a conceptual framework for rethinking relationships to land and identity in the Karoo
Land and agrarian change in the Northern Cape
Karoo futures? Trajectories of change
Global science, astronomy and the Square Kilometre Array (with Davide Chinigò and other research associates)
Davide Chinigò
Frontiers of anticipation: Envisioning the future through large development initiatives in the Karoo
Reflecting on the past, imagining the future: Exploratory research on perceptions of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project among different stakeholder groups (with Cherryl Walker)
Land and agrarian transformation in Carnarvon, Northern Cape
Global science, astronomy and the Square Kilometre Array (with Cherryl Walker and other research associates).
Jan Vorster and Ilse Eigelaar-Meets
Household socio-economic survey, Loeriesfontein, Northern Cape.
Michela Marcatelli
Surplus populations in the Northern Cape Karoo
Asbestos mining in Prieska and its aftermath.
Mzi Xaba
Land reform, developmental projects and environmental justice
Mining, contested land uses, environmental justice and sustainable development in Beaufort West in the Karoo.
PhD dissertations
Tumi Malope
Sustainable Economic Development through Wind Energy Farms: The Case of Loeriesfontein, Northern Cape
Charmaine R.S Manyani
From livestock to game farming: An exploration of farmers’ understandings of land use changes, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation in the Ubuntu Local Municipality, Northern Cape Province (with funding from a SU Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Graduate School Scholarship)
Monene Mogashoa
Understandings of land and its ‘multiple meanings’ in South Africa’s land restitution programme: A case study of the Sydney-on-Vaal land claim in Northern Cape Province (with funding from the Academic Qualification Improvement Programme (AQIP) of UNISA and DHET)
Renelle Terblanche
Ongediertes: A critical qualitative study of the political ecology of black-backed jackal and its management around the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) core site




MA theses
Stephanie Borchardt
What’s Watt in De Aar? An exploration of local energy needs and challenges in a renewable-energy hub in the Karoo region of South Africa.
Melissa Coetzee
The role of employment and state support in livelihoods in Sutherland.
Shu-aat Davids
A Case of Restitution: Land Reform in Progress within Loeriesfontein, Northern Cape.
Adara Nicholls
A Social History of Hoodia Gordonii in and Around the Tankwa Karoo National Park.
Caroline Poole
An exploratory study of socio-economic conditions and social resilience in the community of Vanwyksvlei in the Northern Cape, in the light of the town’s proximity to the Square Kilometre Array Project.
Sharron Marco-Thyse
Farm workers in the Central Karoo: Meaning(s) of land and expectations of land and agrarian reform
Zuki Zantsi
Women scientists, gender and astronomy in South Africa, with a focus on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and South African Large Telescope (SALT).
Honours research projects
Basheer Arries
The Impact of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) on employment and the local economy of Williston, Northern Cape.
Nishai Moodley
The Impact of the Square Kilometre Array’s (SKA) Social Responsibility Programmes in Vanwyksvlei in the Northern Cape.

