When Community Complaints Go Nowhere One participant described how communities may report environmental harm or…
On 25 September 2025, the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) joined the University of Johannesburg’s Department of Anthropology and Development Studies to engage with Honours students under their Week 3 theme, “Contemporary Development Actors and Agendas.”
The guest lecture, delivered by Ms. Manape Precious Shogole, SARW’s researcher and advocate for energy justice, was titled “Mapping a Way in Development: Anthropology, Energy Justice & Advocacy.” It explored how anthropology and development studies intersect with real-world struggles for justice in Southern Africa’s mining and energy sectors, turning theory into lived action.
Drawing from SARW’s fieldwork across the region, Ms. Shogole illustrated how anthropology’s commitment to listening, mapping and reflecting grounds development in people’s realities. When paired with development studies’ interrogation of power and inequality, the disciplines become tools for justice. Students were urged to look beyond data and policy frameworks, to understand the cultural, social and emotional dimensions of “development.” As Ms. Shogole reminded them, “Progress means nothing if it erases the people it claims to uplift.”
GIS as Compass: Mapping Power and Possibility
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were presented not merely as technical instruments but as lenses to see how landscapes are contested and reshaped by mining and energy projects. Maps, she said, tell stories of extraction and resistance, displacement and resilience. In SARW’s advocacy, GIS helps connect politics, livelihoods and the environment, revealing who gains and who loses when resources are exploited. It also informs campaigns that hold corporations and governments accountable to the communities they affect.
Energy Justice in Focus
Energy justice is more than transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables; it is about ensuring that transition is fair. Through examples from SARW’s research on biogas and cleaner energy alternatives, students were challenged to ask critical questions:
- Who benefits and who is excluded from energy transitions?
- How can rural women access clean, affordable and safe cooking energy?
- How can industries use waste productively while creating green jobs?
The discussion revealed that a gender lens is essential because women bear the brunt of energy poverty yet remain central to creating equitable solutions.
Why this Conversation Matters
Africa’s extractive industries continue to drain land, water and air. Wealth from natural resources enriches a few while deepening inequality for the many. Climate change intensifies these injustices, making it clear that neutrality in research is no longer an option. As Ms. Shogole emphasized, “We need justice-driven research, research that does not observe from a distance but intervenes for transformation.”
The Danger of a Single Story
Drawing from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s idea of “the danger of a single story,” Ms. Shogole reminded students that no single discipline or narrative can capture the complexity of development. Policy without community understanding misses lived struggles; technology without culture misses meaning; economics without justice misses humanity. True development demands multiple stories, told together.
Inspiring the Next Generation
Sharing her own journey, from studying anthropology and geography at Wits University to leading advocacy and research initiatives at SARW, Ms. Shogole inspired students to view themselves as future actors, not passive observers. This collaboration marks more than an academic exchange. It reflects SARW’s commitment to bridging the gap between research, policy and community action, nurturing a new generation of scholars who see justice as the foundation of sustainable development.