Work work

My doctoral research looks at the politics and poetics of climate change in South Africa and Nigeria.

I am a PhD Research Trainee in the Inclusive and Economic Development (IED) department at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) working on:

• Producing a virtual museum that investigates structural barriers to livelihood generation for young people in Africa;
• Investigating skills and education for youth in the informal sector; and
• Climate change and youth well-being in the Global South. 

Creative projects:

2022: Ways of Reading After the Fire: Creative Knowledge Production in African Studies, collaboratively conceived with colleagues at the University of Cape Town and the University of Basel, the project is a creative response to 'Of Smoke and Ash: Jagger Library Memorial Exhibition' which commemorated the tragic loss of the African Studies Special Collections at the UCT. A group of artists and academics were invited to visit the burnt library and exhibition and participate in a workshop on the topic of commemorative practices and collective loss, the archive and decolonization, and curatorship as a creative site of knowledge. Participants have since contributed artworks, poems, essays and short stories that, together with Julia Rensing, I am co-editing as creative publication expected in early 2023. The project is funded by the Aesthetics from the Margins project at the Centre for African Studies. 

Teaching

2022: Understanding Injustice in Knowledge
MA seminar, African Studies, University of Basel (in lieu of syllabus, a course 'trailer' )

2021: Ways of Reading: Contemporary Art and African Studies
MA seminar, African Studies, University of Basel (syllabus)

 

Fellowships

2020: Deschooling: climate and art

Mediator Fellowship at Research Ecologies & Archival Development (READ) lab at School of Commons (SOC), Zurich University of Arts

Publications
 

Peer-reviewed articles 

McBride, S. (2022) Land as material and metaphor for climate change in contemporary South African art”, Journal of Southern African Studies (PDF)

McBride, S. (2022) Lower Orange River views, Social Dynamics, (PDF)

McBride, S. (2022) Rethinking river resilience: the lower Orange/Gariep river, Social Dynamics, (PDF)

McBride, S. (2017) “Exploring the Dynamics of Collaborative Accountability in South Africa's Municipalities”. State of Local Governance Publication. Good Governance Learning Network (PDF)


Book chapters

(forthcoming)
“Afterlives of imperialism: climate change and South African energy companies in the hinterland” in Global Hinterlands: Extraction, Abandonment and Care edited by Pamila Gupta, Sarah Nuttall, Esther Peeren and Hanneke Stuit 


Dissertations 

McBride, S. (2015) “Exploring the political communication dynamics in South Africa’s platinum industry: the case of Marikana.” MA Dissertation. University of Cape Town (PDF)

McBride, S. (2011) “HIV/AIDS and The Forgotten Majority: A Gendered Perspective of States’ Fulfilment of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS amongst Refugee Populations.” MA Dissertation. University of the Witwatersrand (PDF)
 

Full CV available on request