Dr Daniel Hammett
Lecturer in Human Geography
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Room number: | E14 |
| Telephone (internal): | 27956 | |
| Telephone (UK): | 0114 222 7956 | |
| Telephone (International): | +44 114 222 7956 | |
| Email: | D.Hammett@Sheffield.ac.uk |
Daniel Hammett read for a BA in Geography at the University of Oxford (2002) before moving to the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh where he gained his MSc by research (2003) and PhD (2007). He then held an ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship and an ESRC Research Fellowship at the Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh.
Prior to his appointment in Sheffield in 2010, Daniel was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He remains a Research Associate at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh and has recently been appointed a Research Associate at the Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Research Interests
My research concerns the political and social geographies of Southern Africa. My work falls into two main themes: geographies of citizenship and belonging; and the geopolitics of Southern Africa.
Current Research
Current research projects include:
Geographies of citizenship and democratisation in South Africa
This work builds from an earlier ESRC research award to explore questions of citizenship, democratisation and education in South Africa. In collaboration with Lynn Staeheli (Durham University), this work considered the ways in which the post-apartheid state conceives the ideals of South African citizenship and how these ideals were translated into citizenship education policy and practice and negotiated and experienced in a range of schools.Political satire, iconography and contested constructions of the state and nation
Drawing from a range of sources including political cartoons, postage stamps, and political ephemera I explore the ways in which dynamic ideas of nation-hood and state-hood are projected, contested, interpreted and challenged in Southern Africa. - Post-colonialism, the academy and theory. The intention of this work is to develop a more post-colonially sensitive human geography that develops theory written by and from beyond the Anglo-American disciplinary core. Born of conversations with a range of colleagues in South Africa and the UK this project is leading to the development of outputs considering the state of human geography in South Africa, the role of theory in policy and practice, and the need to challenge 'core' assumptions regarding the Global South.
Teaching
Dan's teaching interests cover a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses which allow him to ensure that his lectures and seminars are informed by the latest research in his areas of interest. At the undergraduate level his work on courses in political and development geography explore key geographic issues and their relationship to everyday life. In particular, his teaching explores questions of uneven development, geopolitics and power relations. Through the use of various devices, including board games, music, videos and the media, he engages students in exploring the ways in which our understandings of the world around us are continually reshaped. Throughout these courses he utilises ongoing research interests in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate and unpack the theoretical and empirical material presented to make geographic debates interesting and accessible.
This concern with exploring power, development and (in)equality inform his postgraduate teaching in development geography through which he encourages students to consider and contest developmental assumptions and the power relations behind these.
Dan was awarded the Innovation in Teaching award at the 2011 Sheffield Students' Union Academic Awards. These are awards run, nominated and given by students in recognition that good teaching has an enormous positive impact on student's learning experience. His citation for the award reads:
"As well as constantly bringing examples forward using you tube clips and satire, his enthusiasm and obvious love for what he was teaching me was incredible and incredibly contagious."
Dan teaches on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses including:
GEO103 Region, Nation, World
GEO243 Political Geographies
GEO367 Development Geographies Field ClassGEO6801 Ideas and Practice in International Development
GEO6802 Research Design and Methods in International Development
GEO6803 Professional Skills for Development
GEO6804 International Development Fieldclass
GEO6806 Key Issues in DevelopmentAll staff also engage in personal supervision and tutoring of individual students at all three undergraduate levels in the following modules:
GEO163 (Information & Communication Skills for Geographers)
GEO263 or GEO264 (Research Design in Human or Physical Geography)
GEO356 (Geographical Research Project)
Key publications
- Hammett, D. and Staeheli, L. (2011). Respect and Responsibility: Teaching Citizenship in South African High Schools. International Journal of Educational Development, 31(3), 269-276.
doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2010.06.01 - Hammett, D. (2010). Political Cartoons, Post-Colonialism and Critical African Studies. Critical African Studies, 4, 1-26.
http://www.criticalafricanstudies.ed.ac.uk/index.php/cas/article/view/42/18 - Staeheli, L. and Hammett, D. (2010). Educating the New National Citizen: Education, Political Subjectivity, and Divided Societies. Citizenship Studies, 14(6), 667-680.
doi: 10.1080/13621025.2010.522353 - Hammett, D. (2010). Zapiro and Zuma: A Symptom of an Emerging Constitutional Crisis in South Africa? Political Geography, 29(2), 88-96.
doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2010.01.009 - Hammett, D. (2008). The Challenge of a Perception of a Culture of 'Un-Entitlement' to Citizenship in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Political Geography, 27(6), 652-668.
doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2008.07.001 - Hammett, D. (2008). Disrespecting Teacher: The Decline in Social Standing of Teachers in Cape Town, South Africa. International Journal of Educational Development, 28(3), 340-347.
doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2007.05.007
Professional Affiliations
Dan is the current treasurer of the RGS-IBG Political Geography Research Group and is a member of the ESRC Peer Review College. He is an editorial board member of Critical African Studies and Urban Forum and regularly reviews for Political Geography, Environment and Planning, International Journal of Educational Development and South African Geographical Journal.