Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Overview
I am a postgraduate researcher exploring the intersections of visibility, urban governance, and placemaking in post-apartheid Cape Town.
My doctoral research considers how unhoused persons navigate the shifting landscape of governance, security and social interventions geared to address homelessness in the city centre and along the Voortrekker Road Central Improvement District. I examine surveillance regimes, infrastructures of shelter, and informal placemaking practices with a focus on how visibility is mobilised as both a tool of governance, and a strategy of resistance among the city’s unhoused population.
Supervisors: Penny Harvey, Constance Smith
Research interests
- urban governance & visibility
- infrastructures of shelter, care and control
- surveillance & biometrics
- ethnographies of homelessness and placemaking practices
- post-apartheid spatial politics
Social responsibility
The Haven Night Shelter: Committee Member & Secretary, Cape Town (2021–present)
Return to Origin (NPO): Outreach Coordinator & Facilitator of Community Development Projects, Cape Town (2016–present)
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Master of Arts, Society and Change, University of Helsinki
2020 → 2021
Master of Arts, Social Anthropology, University of Stellenbosch
2019 → 2021
Honours Social Anthropology, University of Stellenbosch
2018
Bachelor of Arts, Humanities: Majoring in Psychology and English Literature, University of Stellenbosch
2016 → 2017
Keywords
- Anthropology of Infrastructure
- Urban Ethnography
- Visibility
- Governance
- Care
- Homelessness
- Spatial Politics
- Cape Town
Research output
- 1 Article
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"We’re Making the Town Dirty”: The disruptive potential of ‘matter out of place’ in a post-apartheid politics of visibility
Michaels, A. O., 5 Dec 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Prizes
-
Erasmus Mundus + Scholarship
Michaels, A. O. (Recipient), 2020
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Indexing Transformation Mellon Foundation Scholarship
Michaels, A. O. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
-
Indexing Transformation Scholarship
Michaels, A. O. (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
-
President's Doctoral Scholar Award
Michaels, A. O. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
- 2 Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc
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Architecture Sans Frontières (ASF-UK): Change by Design Workshop
Michaels, A. O. (Participant)
19 Jan 2025Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research
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Indexing Transformation Closing Conference
Michaels, A. O. (Participant)
24 Aug 2023Activity: Participating in or organising event(s) › Participating in a conference, workshop, exhibition, performance, inquiry, course etc › Research