Tholithemba Ndaba MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: African History, Environmental History

Cohort/Start PhD: 2022-2023

“Space, Time & Everyday Life”: A multi-faceted, in-depth analysis of the curbed histories of the “others” about their environment on or by the mine dump sites, in Johannesburg

University of Groningen
Overarching project: AFREXTRACT: Environmental histories of Gold mining in the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Supervisor(s): Dr. Iva Pesa, Prof. Margriet van der Waal
Start date: 1 November 2022

I am part of the AFREXTRACT project. The project is comparative study on Environmental Histories of Extraction in Africa. I will be focusing on the gold mining in the WItwatersrand, South Africa. This study aims to analyse and explain the diversity of cultural and political responses to environmental change, in the Witwatersrand, South Africa, between the periods (1950 to 2020). The study builds on in-depth and historically pivotal case studies of the Witwatersrand to understand how various actors (mothers, families, communities, farmers, traders, mineworkers) have lived with and responded to environmental transformation. In order to get a richer understanding of the experiences of those that reside next to gold mines in the Witwatersrand, historical exploration of archives, oral histories, literature and popular music, media discourses and ethnography are imperative is important and will be used the research.