The latest edition of the DSI/NRF/CSIR Chair in Waste and Society Webinar Series is titled 'On the frontlines of failure: waste, inequality, and the state in Makhanda, Eastern Cape'.
Time: 12h00
Presenter: Dr Marc Kalina
Host: Dr Takunda Chitaka
Platform: Zoom
JOIN THE WEBINAR HERE
Dr Marc Kalina joined the Mechanical and Process Engineering Department (MAVT) in 2021 as a Research Associate within the Chair of Global Health Engineering. As a critical human geographer, he specialises in participatory qualitative methodologies, as well as theoretically-grounded analysis around the ways in which waste and wasting are part of wider sociocultural-economic systems.
Dr Kalina‘s contemporary body of work has centered on human-waste relationships, particularly within South and Southern African contexts.
Marc holds a B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University (USA) and a M.A. in Development Studies from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). He completed his Ph.D. in Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) (South Africa) in 2017. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) from 2017-21-2019 and was a Senior Research Scientist under the SARChI Chair in Waste and Climate Change at UKZN from 2019 to 2021. He remains an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Engineering at UKZN. He splits his time between Zurich and Durban, South Africa
Drawing on fieldwork in Makhanda (former Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape, Dr Kalina (ETH Zürich) presents an initial analysis of the ways in which Makhanda’s citizens have felt and coped with recent disruptions to waste management services in their communities and to understand, in the absence of state-provided services, what specific gaps and behaviours have arisen. In an increasingly unequal Makhanda, what does solid waste management look like? If the state fails to deliver, what solutions remain?
Event details
Date: Thursday, 23 June 2022Time: 12h00
Presenter: Dr Marc Kalina
Host: Dr Takunda Chitaka
Platform: Zoom
JOIN THE WEBINAR HERE
About the presenter
Dr Marc Kalina joined the Mechanical and Process Engineering Department (MAVT) in 2021 as a Research Associate within the Chair of Global Health Engineering. As a critical human geographer, he specialises in participatory qualitative methodologies, as well as theoretically-grounded analysis around the ways in which waste and wasting are part of wider sociocultural-economic systems.Dr Kalina‘s contemporary body of work has centered on human-waste relationships, particularly within South and Southern African contexts.
Marc holds a B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University (USA) and a M.A. in Development Studies from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). He completed his Ph.D. in Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) (South Africa) in 2017. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) from 2017-21-2019 and was a Senior Research Scientist under the SARChI Chair in Waste and Climate Change at UKZN from 2019 to 2021. He remains an Honorary Research Fellow within the School of Engineering at UKZN. He splits his time between Zurich and Durban, South Africa
Background
Inequality underpins waste management systems globally, particularly in South Africa, structuring who can or cannot access or provide sustainable services. Although since the end of apartheid South Africa has made great strides in extending solid waste management services to previously neglected communities, progress has stalled, and a number of factors, including climate change, debt, and governance failures, threaten to roll back previous gains. In an unequal South Africa, what does the future of waste management look like? And on the frontlines of failure, South Africa’s ailing rural municipalities, how has the deterioration of public waste management services impacted communities and exacerbated existing inequalities?Drawing on fieldwork in Makhanda (former Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape, Dr Kalina (ETH Zürich) presents an initial analysis of the ways in which Makhanda’s citizens have felt and coped with recent disruptions to waste management services in their communities and to understand, in the absence of state-provided services, what specific gaps and behaviours have arisen. In an increasingly unequal Makhanda, what does solid waste management look like? If the state fails to deliver, what solutions remain?
