Staff and advisory board


Sean FieldDirector - Dr Sean Field
Sean is the Director of the Centre for Popular Memory and Senior Lecturer in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town. He has published widely on apartheid community forced removals, oral history methodology and trauma, memory and memorialization in South Africa and Rwanda. He is also currently conducting oral history research with Rwandan refugees in Cape Town.

Renate MeyerDeputy Director - Renate Meyer
Originally qualifying as a fine artist, Renate was particularly interested in how cultural product is curated within the South African landscape and how access is created or can be created for different audiences. She moved to Cape Town to study Museology and Curatorship, and worked within that field for a number of years managing and engaging with projects across the country and continent. There was a logical progression toward technology and digital access and archiving, and after working as a sound and visual archivist for a period of time she joined the CPM.

Sibongile MtiniXhosa translator/Assistant Schools Liaison - Sibongile Mtini
Sibongile's work at the CPM is in a number of different capacities. She works as a research officer, does office administration tasks, archival work, transcribes interviews, and assists high school students in conducting the interviews and using equipment. She is currently working with interviewees from Gugulethu and Langa who were forcibly removed from Kensington in the 1950s to the 1970s. Research is done with Xhosa, English, Afrikaans and French.

Nuraan AllieSchools Liaison Officer/Administrator - Nuraan Allie
Nuraan is a former teacher and training and development officer who was appointed to work on the Digital Divide Project as a Schools Liaison Officer and also anchors the CPM administration.

Niklas ZimmerDigitisation Manager - Niklas Zimmer
Niklas is a German-South African artist and musician. He holds a Masters degree in Fine Art from University of Cape Town and a BA in education from University of Cologne. He lectures part-time in theory and discourse of art, critical studies, video, sound and photography at tertiary institutions in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, as well as working as an independent photographer and drummer. At the CPM he is responsible for migrating several thousands of hours of interview audio from Tapes and MiniDiscs to hard drive, as well as managing the website.

Debra PryorArchival data manager - Debra Pryor
Debra works at the Centre as a core part of the audio archival team. She manages and accessions new and existing audio collections and is involved with digitisation and digital delivery of CPM collections, through the online archive and the Digital Divide schools project.

 

Advisory Board
The Advisory Board meets twice per year and consists of the Director and Deputy Director (ex-officio) and the following individuals:

Prof. Carolyn Hamilton - Archival Platform, UCT

Prof. Deborah Posel - Institute for the Humanities in Africa (HUMA), UCT

Sandra Proselendis - (independent heritage consultant)

Lydia Abel - (education specialist)

Prof. Jay Pather - (resident practicioner) - Drama Department, UCT

Associate Prof. Lance Van Sittert - Department of Historical Studies, UCT

Dr. Maanda Mulaudzi - Department of Historical Studies, UCT

Prof. Ari Sitas - Department of Sociology, UCT

Prof. Sipokazi Sambumbu - Department of History, UWC