School of Social and Political Science

Background

I have quite a diverse academic and professional background in South Africa, and now find myself putting down roots in UK academia, both through teaching and research. In my PhD thesis, I am exploring different methodologies in environmental political theory, identifying more and less helpful tools for responding to the joint biodiversity-and-climate crisis described by the IPBES-IPCC. I worry that disciplinary silos, and a widespread assumption of human-centeredness, are stymying social theory's ability to respond appropriately to what is a fundamentally hybrid, more-than-human, problem. The thesis suggests that a key aspect of modernity is the alienation experienced by the majority of humankind, an alienation that can be ameliorated by more solidary relations with ourselves and the rest of the living world. Or so I argue. The final chapter looks at how to bring this ecological solidarity into the classroom, understanding that pedagogy is always a world-making act with significant emancipatory potential. My thinking owes much to several scholarly elders, notably the ecological feminist philosophy of Valerie Plumwood and the decolonial ecology of Malcolm Ferdinand. 

Supervisors

Dr Elizabeth Cripps (Politics), Prof Mathias Thaler (Politics), and Dr Matthew Chrisman (Philosophy)

Publications

Garland, G. (2017) 'Economic growth and progress: A paradigmatic conflation', African Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 11 No. 2, February 2018, 77‑95.

Education

Master of applied ethics (MA): Environmental ethics (University of the Witwatersrand)

Master of business administration (MBA) (University of Stellenbosch Business School)

Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE): History and English literature (University of Cape Town)

BA (Hons): History documentary film-making (University of Cape Town)

BA: History, Film studies (University of Cape Town)

Teaching

Politics and International Relations: Debates and Concepts tutor (University of Edinburgh 2021-22)

Political Thinkers tutor (University of Edinburgh 2020-22)

History of Western Philosophy tutor (University of the Witwatersrand 2019)

Introduction to Ethics tutor (University of the Witwatersrand 2018)

Memberships

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Founding member of CRITIQUE Environmental Working Group

Member of Edinburgh University Political Theory Research Group

Awards

Alice Brown Part-Time PhD Scholarship 2020-2026

Mark Leon Award for Best Philosophy Tutor 2019

Director's Award for Best MBA Student 2017

A.W. Mellon Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities 2009-2011