In South Africa research is produced in multiple conversations that include conventional academic disciplinary communities, but it also extends beyond the university, engaging with a range of social and political institutions and actors. As a result, the relationship between research, theory and politics frames research in explicit and implicit ways. The author, a researcher, teacher, and activist, examines the ways in which her engagement with community organizations articulates with her research and teaching. Just as importantly, she discusses the ways in which her research and teaching are shaped by community-based agendas that not only inform the research, but also sustain the relationships critical to carrying it out. The overlapping nature of research, teaching and activism is more than a political and contextual imperative. Potentially it is a theoretical strength that adds depth, reflexivity, and, in the relationships built, the construction of robust urban knowledge.

Oldfield, S. (2007). Making sense of multiple conversations: Research, teaching, and activism in and with communities in South African cities. South African Geographical Journal, 89 (2) 104-110.