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Research Fellow at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Dr Carla Lever is a cultural anthropologist interested in spectacle, place and embodied practice in a South African context.

Her interdisciplinary PhD examined the performative nature of national identities under former president Jacob Zuma, focussing particularly on embodied socio-political phenomena such as sport, public art interventions and political protest.

She is currently lecturing on South African protest and performativity, while undertaking research on the tactical use of spectacle in contemporary South African protest movements. She is the co-recipient of an American Society of Theatre Research grant to investigate statue-based protest in the US and South Africa and a 2021 Visiting Scholar at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Experience

  • 2018–present
    Research Fellow, The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Education

  • 2017 
    University of Sydney, PhD / Performance Studies
  • 2006 
    University of Cape Town, MA / English Literary Studies

Publications

  • 2017
    Word on the Street: Performing Language's Multiple Belongings in the New South Africa, About Performance, No. 14/15. University of Sydney Press.
  • 2016
    “Performativity, Identities and Rugby From Field to Stage in the New South Africa”, The Rugby World in the Professional Era. Edited by John Nauright and Tony Collins, published by Routledge.
  • 2015
    “Six Corporeal Curiosities: Re/Presenting Contemporary South African Embodiment” , TEXT Journal of Writing. Special Issue 34: Writing and Illustrating Interdisciplinary Research. Published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programmes
  • 2015
    • ‘Present Tense: Re/Presenting Time and Body in South Africa’ , The Cosmic and the Corporeal: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Time, Space and Body. Edited by Danielle Black and Iswarya V. Published by Independent Institute of Interdisciplinary Enquiry, Wellington.
  • 2011
    “Body Play: Small Thoughts on a Growing South African Physical Theatre Tradition”, Seasons, the Journal of the International Centre for Women Playwrights
  • 2009
    “Paving the Way: Academic Excellence and the ACN101 Tutorial Programme at Varsity College Rondebosch” , The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning. Volume 4.
  • 2008
    “Re-embodying the (W)hole: The Vagina Monologues and the Conception of Universal Womanhood” , The Journal of American, British and Canadian Studies (ABC). Published by the Academic Anglophone Society of Romania and Lucian Blaga University

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Collaborative Research Award
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    American Society for Theatre Research
  • 2013
    International Postgraduate Research Scholarship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    Australian Government
  • 2013
    Australian Postgraduate Award
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    Australian Government
  • 2004
    Master's Degree scholarship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    National Research Federation
  • 2003
    K.W. Johnston scholarship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    University of Cape Town