the project
Funding
Ecological Community Engagements
Imagining sustainability and the water-energy-food nexus in Urban South African environments
Through community engagement, citizen science and arts-based methods, we study systems thinking in practice. Water, energy, and food (WEF) insecurity and precarity in South Africa highlight the need for creative imagining. Using the WEF Nexus as a frame to understand how these key resources are intertwined in everyday practices from the household the global level, Eco-Imagining researchers conduct studies in Johannesburg, East London, Mankweng and Durban, South Africa. Using a range of participatory methodologies, they examine WEF challenges in practice.
We aim to discover and understand the imaginations and innovations that could steer us to a sustainable future. We work in very local, urban contexts, where WEF challenges reflect the legacy of apartheid and colonialism to document how communities are responding to the pressures of climate change, including floods and droughts, and deteriorating water and electricity infrastructures.
Our goal is to advance socio-political knowledge about complex interconnected environmental problems that are spatially and temporarily dispersed. Our project aspires to contribute to a critical examination of discourses related to resilience, resourcefulness, and sustainability.
Eco-Imagining has been generously funded by the Dutch Scientific Council (NWO) and the National Science Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
Main
Manderson, L., Moyer, E., Bezuidenhout, A., Marais, M. and Vogel, C. 2022-2026. Ecological Community Engagements: Imagining sustainability and the water- energy-food nexus in urban South African environments. Dutch Research Council (NWO) and SA National Research Foundation. FWO210219587192 (PI Moyer and Manderson)
Others
1. Ragus, E. and Musariri, L. 2024. Rubbish Deaths: Violence and the environment in Durban, South Africa. Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies seed grant.
2. Pillay, N. 2024-2029. Future-making: Youth, hope and aspirations in urban South Africa. School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand. Wellcome Trust Early Career Award.
3. Kaunda-Khangamwa, B.N. 2024-2025. Exploring Resilience and Youth Engagement in the WEF Nexus and Health in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Development Studies, University of Fort Hare and School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand. Postdoctoral Fellowship from Consortium for Advanced Research and Training in Africa (CARTA).
4. Ragus, E., Musariri. L., and Moyer. E. 2024-2025. Emancipatory Potential of the Right to a Healthy Environment: Examining the Boegoebaai Port Project's Impact on Indigenous Fishing Communities. Decolonial Futures Research Priority Area Seed Grant, University of Amsterdam.
5. Ragus, E., Musariri. L., and Moyer. E. 2024-2025. Exploring energy justice and multi-species rights in Southern Africa: a comparative study drawing on indigenous perspectives. ENLens Seed Grant, University of Amsterdam.
6. Ragus, E., Musariri. L., and Moyer. E. 2025. Dreaming Green: Energy Transitions in Zimbabwe. Amsterdam Centre for Conflict Studies Seed Grant, University of Amsterdam.
7. Ragus, E. 2025. Brocher Foundation Health Ethics Residency, Geneva, Switzerland, July-August 2025.
