I joined the EGS department in 2008 and my research and teaching lie in the field of cultural geography. My research is focused on two main areas: (i) food and ethics, and (ii) cultural representations of cities in the global South. I am currently involved in two collaborative projects looking at how the emerging middle-classes think about sustainable food, both in South Africa and further afield. A third, ongoing research project explores literary representations of cities in contemporary India and Africa. I convene a postgraduate course, EGS 4056F/S, Imagining Southern Cities, which is linked to this research interest and explores both literary texts and films. At the undergraduate level I teach EGS 3022S, Geographic Thought, and EGS 2014S, Contemporary Urban Challenges. With regard to postgraduate supervision, I welcome expressions of interest from students interested in any aspect of consumption, identity, and everyday urban lives in the global South, explored through qualitative methods or literary/cultural analysis. 

My recent publications include:

Journal articles

Daya, Shari (2016) Ordinary ethics and craft consumption: a Southern perspective. Geoforum 74. 128-135.

Daya, Shari (2014) Saving the Other: exploring the social in social enterprise. Geoforum 57. 120-128.

Daya, Shari (2014) Beyond exploitation/empowerment: re-imagining the third-world producer in commodity stories. Social and Cultural Geography. 15 (7). 812-833.

Lawhon, Mary; Herrick, Clare and Daya, Shari (2014) Researching sensitive topics in African cities: reflections on alcohol research in Cape Town. South African Geographical Journal 96 (1). 15-30.

Curtis, Sarah; Pain, Rachel; Fuller, Sara K; Khatib, Yasmin; Rothon, Catherine; Stansfeld, Stephen A and Daya, Shari (2013) Neighbourhood risk factors for Common Mental Disorders among young people aged 10-20 years: a structured review of quantitative research. Health and Place 20. 81-90.

Daya, Shari and Wilkins, Nicola (2013) The body, the shelter and the shebeen: affective geographies of homelessness in South Africa. Cultural Geographies 20 (3). 357-378.

Book chapters

Daya, Shari (2018) ‘Modernity as ambiguity in Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games’ in Charley, Jonathan (ed.) The Routledge Companion on Architecture, Literature and the City. London: Routledge. 25-36.

McEwan, Cheryl and Daya, Shari (2016) ‘Geography, culture and global change’ in Daniels, Peter, Bradshaw, Michael, Shaw, Denis and Sidaway, James (eds.) An Introduction to Human Geography, Issues for the 21st Century. 5th ed. London: Pearson.

Daya, Shari (2015) ‘Producing people: the socio-materialities of African beadwork’ in Warren, Saskia and Jones, Phil (eds.) Creative economies, creative communities: Rethinking Place, Policy and Practice. Ashgate. 23-42.