Research
I am a qualified and experienced researcher and I would be glad to consider research in any field.
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My own training and history is largely in
• history (mostly South African, political and sporting)
• urban development
• publishing
• business and investment in South Africa
• business and investment in Africa
• education
• the green economy, including renewable energy
• cricket and cricket history
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My credentials in research
My training as a historian and as a journalist has prepared me to do research. I also love it.
I have a BJourn from Rhodes University and a History Honours (first class) from the University of Cape Town.
When the late Kadar Asmal was Minister of Water Affairs, he hired me to sort out his papers in preparation for the writing of his autobiography. I enjoyed the task of categorising this most eclectic collection of papers, from the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, through the battles about whether or not to build dams, to the struggle for freedom of the Kurds.
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I have at various times assisted other authors with information or searched for items at the archives or in the National Library.
Research for my own books has obviously given me good practice in research skills. Topics include black cricket history, a Cape Town suburb, one of South Africa’s oldest schools, South Africa’s oldest publishing house and a range of business books. See Publications.
I have since 2008 researched the economies of South Africa’s nine provinces and South Africa in the course of writing (and more recently) editing, business and investment journals. The scope was widened at one point to include three Nigerian states and Nigeria. I am now involved in writing and researching for The Journal of African Business.
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Interested in my research services?