Mikateko Mathebula is Senior Researcher at the SARCHI Chair’s Higher Education and Human Development Research Programme. She has an MSc in Industrial Psychology, obtained in 2012 from the University of Bremen in Germany on a DAAD scholarship, and a PhD in Development Studies, obtained in 2016 from the University of the Free State on an NRF Prestige Scholarship. Her research interests lie in the relationship between processes of higher education, ‘development’ and human flourishing. She has a growing interest in research approaches and pedagogic practices that are underpinned by decolonial thought. She is also interested in exploring the role of storytelling in advancing inclusive knowledge-making and knowledge-sharing processes developed in the global South. Dr Mathebula is currently working on Miratho - a longitudinal (2016-2020) ESRC/DFID-funded project with South African and UK-based collaborators. The project examines the factors and dynamics that influence the achievement of higher education learning outcomes for low-income youth from rural and township areas across South Africa. She has extensive experience in postgraduate teaching, supervision, and thesis examination, and she has facilitated various participatory research workshops. She is also a guest lecturer at the Centre for Development support at the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
PUBLICATIONS
Book(s)
Mathebula, M. (2018) Engineering Education for Sustainable Development: a capabilities approach. Oxon and New York: Routledge.
Chapters and journal articles
Mathebula, M. and Martinez-Vargas, C. (2021) Broadening the normative and evaluative space for assessing the impact of photo diary research in higher education: A capabilities approach in Cao, X. & Henderson, E. (eds) Exploring Diary Method in Higher Education Research: Opportunities, Choices and Challenges. London: Routledge SRHE Series. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429326318
Walker M., Mathebula M. (2020) A Participatory Photovoice Project: Towards Capability Expansion of ‘Invisible’ Students in South Africa. In: Walker M., Boni A. (eds) Participatory Research, Capabilities and Epistemic Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56197-0_8
Mathebula, M. (2019) Recognising poor black youth from rural communities in South Africa as epistemic contributors, Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, 7, 1: 64-85.
Walker, M. and Mathebula, M. (2020) Low-income rural youth migrating to urban universities in South Africa: opportunities and inequalities, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 50:8, 1193-1209, DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2019.1587705
Mathebula, M. and Calitz, T. (2018) #Feesmustfall: A media analysis of students’ voices on access to universities in South Africa, In P. Ashwin and J.M. Case (eds). Pathways to the Public Good: Access, Experiences and Outcomes of South African Undergraduate Education. Cape Town: African Minds.
Höppener, M. (2016) ‘We think we’re helping, but are we really?’- Critical reflections on engineering for sustainable development. In G. Nhamo and V. Mjimba (eds). Sustainability, Climate Change and the Green Economy. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa/HSRC Press.