University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Prof. Alex Schoeman is a South African archaeologist whose current core research focuses on developing a more nuanced understanding of the archaeology of farming in northeastern South Africa through exploring the recursive relationship between the environmental, economic, and social contexts in which these farming systems developed over the last 2000 years, and the agency of the farmers that shaped them. This research interest stems from her Bokoni farmscapes research, which combined multiple research methodologies to challenge earlier generalised assumptions about pre-colonial farming in South Africa.
Her primary methodological training was in critically interweaving archaeology, oral history, ethnography, and written historical evidence; however, her research into farming has necessitated the development of new skill sets required to understand factors that impacted crop cultivation and to reconstruct past vegetation and climatic histories. Combining these diverse methods and working in interdisciplinary teams has allowed her to develop temporally and contextually specific insights into the development of specific South African farmscapes. While her core research focus is on grappling with past farmscapes, Prof. Schoeman recognises that the landscape in which she works was fundamentally transformed by colonial and Apartheid policies and that this still shapes the challenges facing contemporary small-scale farmers in South Africa.
AGRI-DRY 