Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past
- Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past
- News
- 2022
- New appointment
New appointment of Dr Joseph Mujere
Posted on 30 May 2022
Dr Mujere previously worked at the University of Zimbabwe and the National University of Lesotho, having completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He has a keen interest in collaborative documentary film-making, which he uses as a methodology in his research on land, migration and the politics of belonging in Africa.
His recent film 'Waiting in the Platinum City' explores the everyday struggles of residents of informal settlements on the margins of platinum mines in Rustenburg town in South Africa. It demonstrates how waiting is a key feature of residents’ encounters with mining companies, the local municipality as well as grassroots structures in their struggles over jobs and basic amenities. Using narratives of residents, the film vividly captures how waiting in informal settlements is not characterized by passive acquiesce but is often an engaged activity that is informed by residents’ reflexive responses to the different structures and regimes of waiting.