Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production (2017)
Book Chapter
McEwan, C., Hughes, A., Bek, D., & Rosenberg, Z. (2017). Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production. In V. Nelson (Ed.), Fairtrade impacts : lessons from around the world (29-44). Practical Action Publishing. https://doi.org/10.3362/9781780449067.003

This chapter examines the importance of place for the cultural and environmental dynamics shaping Fairtrade cooperatives. It draws on a case study of the Eksteenskuil Agricultural Cooperative (EAC) in South Africa’s Northern Cape, which supplies Fair... Read More about Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production.

Using Art to Fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda (2016)
Book Chapter
Nabulime, L., & McEwan, C. (2016). Using Art to Fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda. In P. Stupples, & K. Teaiwa (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives in art and international development (151-164). Routledge

Spatial processes and politics of renewable energy transition: land, zones and frictions in South Africa (2016)
Journal Article
McEwan, C. (2016). Spatial processes and politics of renewable energy transition: land, zones and frictions in South Africa. Political Geography, 56, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2016.10.001

This paper seeks to make a contribution to on-going debates about how to conceptualise the spatial processes of renewable energy transition. It makes a case for understanding renewable energy transitions as simultaneously spatial and political proces... Read More about Spatial processes and politics of renewable energy transition: land, zones and frictions in South Africa.

Geography, Culture and Global Change (2016)
Book Chapter
McEwan, C., & Daya, S. (2016). Geography, Culture and Global Change. In P. Daniels, M. Bradshaw, D. Shaw, J. Sidaway, & T. Hall (Eds.), An introduction to human geography (273-289). (5th ed.). Pearson

A High Road to Sustainability? Wildflower Harvesting, Ethical Trade and Social Upgrading in South Africa’s Western Cape (2016)
Journal Article
Bek, D., Binns, T., Blokker, T., McEwan, C., & Hughes, A. (2016). A High Road to Sustainability? Wildflower Harvesting, Ethical Trade and Social Upgrading in South Africa’s Western Cape. Journal of Agrarian Change, 17(3), 459-479. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12149

This paper evaluates the outcomes from an ambitious wildflower harvesting programme in South Africa's Western Cape, which has sought to achieve positive outcomes in terms of socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation. Indigenous wildflo... Read More about A High Road to Sustainability? Wildflower Harvesting, Ethical Trade and Social Upgrading in South Africa’s Western Cape.

Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer in South Africa (2015)
Journal Article
Hughes, A., McEwan, C., & Bek, D. (2015). Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer in South Africa. Geoforum, 67, 148-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.07.011

This paper presents a critical engagement with current initiatives for ethically-labeled goods in South Africa, thus offering an intervention in a literature on ethical consumption that has previously prioritized the global North. Through an intervie... Read More about Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer in South Africa.

Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa’s Western Cape (2015)
Journal Article
McEwan, C., Hughes, A., & Bek, D. (2015). Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa’s Western Cape. Geoforum, 67, 233-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.02.011

Emerging research on the increasing significance of consumption in the global South is concerned with its links to the globalizing middle classes. Against the backdrop of optimism invested in the new global middle classes to fuel consumption-led grow... Read More about Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa’s Western Cape.

Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Production Networks: Insights from Flower Valley in South Africa (2015)
Journal Article
Hughes, A., McEwan, C., & Bek, D. (2015). Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Production Networks: Insights from Flower Valley in South Africa. Environment and Planning A, 47(2), 249-266. https://doi.org/10.1068/a130083p

This paper proposes dialogue between postcolonial theory and the analytical frameworks of global value chains (GVCs) and global production networks (GPNs). It does so in order to open up more culturally sensitive accounts of global supply networks an... Read More about Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Production Networks: Insights from Flower Valley in South Africa.

Embedding Fairtrade in South Africa: Global Production Networks, National Initiatives and Localized Challenges in the Northern Cape (2014)
Journal Article
Hughes, A., McEwan, C., Bek, D., & Rosenberg, Z. (2014). Embedding Fairtrade in South Africa: Global Production Networks, National Initiatives and Localized Challenges in the Northern Cape. Competition & Change, 18(4), 291-308. https://doi.org/10.1179/1024529414z.00000000062

This article contributes to debate on the evolving expressions of business responsibility in emerging market economies and developing economies by exploring and theorizing the ways in which the Fairtrade standard for supply chains is being re-worked... Read More about Embedding Fairtrade in South Africa: Global Production Networks, National Initiatives and Localized Challenges in the Northern Cape.

Using Art and Everyday Objects to Fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda (2014)
Journal Article
Nabulime, L., & McEwan, C. (2014). Using Art and Everyday Objects to Fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Development in Practice, 24(2), 272-285. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2014.884539

This paper argues for the importance of enabling dialogue between women and men about taboo subjects of sex and sexuality in HIV/AIDS prevention. It reports the findings of a project that sought to use art (specifically sculpture) for creating dialog... Read More about Using Art and Everyday Objects to Fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Futures, ethics and the politics of expectation in biodiversity conservation: A case study of South African sustainable wildflower harvesting (2014)
Journal Article
McEwan, C., Hughes, A., & Bek, D. (2014). Futures, ethics and the politics of expectation in biodiversity conservation: A case study of South African sustainable wildflower harvesting. Geoforum, 52, 206-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.09.010

Corporate efforts to demonstrate ‘sustainability’ within production networks are driving a continued demand for new metrics. This raises questions concerning which experts will be enlisted in their creation, what data and calculative methods they wil... Read More about Futures, ethics and the politics of expectation in biodiversity conservation: A case study of South African sustainable wildflower harvesting.

Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production (2014)
Journal Article
McEwan, C., Hughes, A., Bek, D., & Rosenberg, Z. (2014). Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production. Food Chain, 4(1), 78-92. https://doi.org/10.3362/2046-1887.2014.007

This paper examines the importance of place for the cultural and environmental dynamics shaping Fairtrade cooperatives. It draws on a case study of the Eksteenskuil Agricultural Cooperative (EAC) in South Africa's Northern Cape, which supplies Fairtr... Read More about Why ‘place’ matters in the development and impacts of Fairtrade production.

Left in the waiting room of history? Provincializing the European child. (2013)
Journal Article
Finn, M., & McEwan, C. (2013). Left in the waiting room of history? Provincializing the European child. Interventions, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801x.2013.858984

This paper highlights an important lacuna within critiques of infantilizing (neo-)colonial European discourses: the failure to question whom or what was the ‘child’ against which non-Europeans were gauged. The premise is that the unacknowledged figur... Read More about Left in the waiting room of history? Provincializing the European child..

Climate change, urban vulnerability and development in Saint-Louis and Bobo-Dioulasso: learning from across two West African cities (2013)
Journal Article
Silver, J., McEwan, C., Petrella, L., & Baguian, H. (2013). Climate change, urban vulnerability and development in Saint-Louis and Bobo-Dioulasso: learning from across two West African cities. Local Environment, 18(6), 663-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2013.807787

Climate change processes pose significant challenges to development in cities across West Africa. These processes shape and mediate urban vulnerability across urban areas and hinder wider development efforts across these cities. This paper reviews th... Read More about Climate change, urban vulnerability and development in Saint-Louis and Bobo-Dioulasso: learning from across two West African cities.

Retailers, Supply Networks and Changing Articulations of Ethicality: Lessons from Flower Valley in South Africa (2013)
Journal Article
Hughes, A., McEwan, C., & Bek, D. (2013). Retailers, Supply Networks and Changing Articulations of Ethicality: Lessons from Flower Valley in South Africa. Journal of Economic Geography, 13(2), 211-230. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbs049

This article advances debate on retailers’ supply networks and ethical trade using the case of sustainably harvested wildflower bouquets supplied from South Africa to domestic and UK retailers. It illustrates three developments concerning: an evolvin... Read More about Retailers, Supply Networks and Changing Articulations of Ethicality: Lessons from Flower Valley in South Africa.

Mary Kingsley. (2012)
Book Chapter
McEwan, C. (2012). Mary Kingsley. In H. Gates, & E. Akyeampong (Eds.), Dictionary of African Biography. OUP

Trilateral development cooperation: power and politics in emerging aid relationships (2012)
Journal Article
McEwan, C., & Mawdsley, E. (2012). Trilateral development cooperation: power and politics in emerging aid relationships. Development and Change, 43(6), 1185-1209. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01805.x

Changes are reverberating through the international development system. This article focuses on (re)emerging development actors in the South and their role in setting agendas, challenging current aid orthodoxies, and re-articulating development coope... Read More about Trilateral development cooperation: power and politics in emerging aid relationships.

Art as social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda. (2011)
Journal Article
McEwan, C., & Nabulime, L. (2011). Art as social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda. cultural geographies, 18(3), 275-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474010377548

This paper explores the possibilities of art as social practice in the context of the fight against HIV/AIDS. It is inspired by notions of art as having the capacity to move beyond the spaces of galleries into an expanded field, and thus beyond the v... Read More about Art as social practice: transforming lives using sculpture in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in Uganda..