Browsing by Author "Meyer, Gwendolyn Mary"

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    Methods of engagement; a transdisciplinary learning approach to the problem of the Eerste River
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Meyer, Gwendolyn Mary; Kaden, Marthie; Annecke, Eve; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The concern of this study is with the persistent crisis of the Eerste River in Stellenbosch and its relevance in the Anthropocene. In this study, the river is both a lens onto uneven urban development and an instrument for sustainability as a social movement. The thesis makes two proposals. The first activates the river as part of the larger knowledge environment of a watershed and proposes that a watershed is a way to imagine the interrelationships of place. In this way, a watershed as a common Thing can activate collective identity and engender care. However, a watershed as a knowledge environment is complex and diverse. The second proposal of this study is to examine how participatory photography can connect social networks to co-create knowledge about identity in this complex environment. The location for this case study was at the ecologically designed Research Centre in the informal settlement of Enkanini. However, the participatory photography workshop encountered difficulties, and this led to multi-layered methods of engagement in Enkanini that included walking and conversation. The images from the participatory photography workshop describe an intimate story about a place. When publically exhibited in Enkanini, unexpected audience participation emerged, and the photographs elicited further knowledge. The result is a public visual ethnography of place that could be used in a conversation about the identity of the Stellenbosch watershed. Underpinning the research is the flexible and iterative approach of Transdisciplinary Research Methodology (TDR).