The Deep Duck Dive Podcast

Podcast by Karen Graaff and Glen Thompson

The Deep Duck Dive Podcast

A podcast engaging with the oceanic turn in the global South by focusing on issues that matter within surfing as a lifestyle sport. As co-hosts of the podcast, we have approached podcasting as public pedagogy and public scholarship. Contact us at email: hello@thedeepduckdivepodcast.org.za

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Latest episodes

12 June 2025

Every Cape Town surfer has feels about Muizenberg

Love it, hate it, ambivalent, only when desperate, all-time favourite - every Cape Town surfer has an opinion on Muizenberg!

In a bit of a break from our planned episodes, we're starting what will (hopefully) be a mini-series chatting to local surfers about Muizenberg - their history and experiences at the beach, and their thoughts, feels and opinions about it, personally or in the context of surfing more broadly - in South Africa or globally.

To kick things off, in this episode, Karen and Glen chat about their own histories and experiences of surfing at Muizenberg, what they like and don't like (spoiler alert: Karen likes it more than Glen), some history of the beach and area, representation of Muizenberg in films, TV shows and academic writing, and its use as a site for contests and as a drawcard for Cape Town tourism. So join us as we take a deep duck dive (wahey!) into the place you're most likely to be forced to catch a party wave.

Links to sources mentioned in the episode:

Benninger, Elizabeth and Shazly Savahl. 2016. "The use of visual methods to explore how children construct and assign meaning to the “self” within two urban communities in the Western Cape, South Africa." International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being 11(1): https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.31251

Davis, Roxy Davis. 2024. "A world of possibilities: an exploration of experiences of children with disabilities participation in a surf therapy programme in South Africa." PhD Thesis, University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Division of Disability Studies: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40740

Martín-González, Roberto, Kamilla Swart and Ana-María Luque-Gil. 2021. “Tourism Competitiveness and Sustainability Indicators in the Context of Surf Tourism: The Case of Cape Town." Sustainability 13, 7238: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137238

Mahler-Coetzee, Jacques. 2017. “From Fringe To Core: Contemplating Surfing's Potential Contribution To Sustainable Tourism Development In South Africa.” Tourism in Marine Environments 12 (3-4): https://doi.org/10.3727/154427317X15062902755932

Rolfe, Elana. 2015. "A formative evaluation of the development and implementation of the waves for change coach training programme.” MA Thesis, University of Cape Town, Faculty of Commerce, Department Organisational Psychology: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33142

Stroehlein, Leonie. 2021. "The increased feminization of the surfing economy: An exploration of the lived experiences of female surfers in Muizenberg, South Africa.". MA Thesis, University of Cape Town, Faculty of Commerce, School of Management Studies: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36171

Thompson, Glen. 2023. "Dreaming of 'Level Free': Lockdown and the cultural politics of surfing during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa." In David Andrews, Holly Thorpe and Joshua Newman (eds), Sport and Physical Culture in Global Pandemic Times: COVID Assemblages, (Palgrave Macmillan).

Twidle, Hedley. 2021. "Barbarian Phase." Wasafiri, 36 (2): https://doi.org/10.1080/02690055.2021.1879478

Worm Sandy. 2014. “Black People Don’t Surf.” Photography series exhibited at the Beyond the Beach Exhibition curated by Paul Weinberg, Casa Labia Gallery, Muizenberg, 21 September - 21. Artist statement at: https://monthofphotography.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/sandy-worm-pdf.pdf

Film and TV Series referenced in this episode

Black People Don’t Swim, dir. Lucilla Blankenberg, (Community Media Trust, 2008). For the full documentary about longboarder Kwezi Qika, see https://www.cmt.org.za/list-of-documentaries/ (scroll down to the film).

Amaza, dir. Lucilla Blankenberg, Laddie Bosch and Tim Spring, (Community Media Trust, 2014). This 13 episode TV series was aired on SABC1.

https://www.tvsa.co.za/shows/viewshowseasons.aspx?showId=2228&season=1

https://www.cmt.org.za/our-work/#primetimetv

For a behind the scenes of making Amaza video, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzA-eWrFj00

We received funding for podcast recording equipment from the Department of Women's and Gender Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, at the University of the Western Cape, as part of the New Imaginaries for an Intersectional Critical Humanities Project on Gender and Sexual Justice, a project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Thanks to Christine King for our logo design. Check out her book, Stormcaller - you can buy it via her website: https://www.christineking.co.za/.

Karen Graaff is a Research Fellow, Women's and Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape.

Glen Thompson is a Research Fellow, History Department, Stellenbosch University.

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25 November 2024

Queering surf spaces

In this episode, we discuss the development of the current heteronormative culture in mainstream surfing, tracking its historical connection to colonialism, Christianity, and capitalism, and how that's resulted in a space that's often very unwelcoming for anyone who isn't cisgendered and heterosexual. We then look at how queer surf groups have developed their own safe spaces, as well as how most mainstream surf organisations have failed dismally to do this. Case in point: we end with a short note on the WSL's controversial decision to include Abu Dhabi as a stop on the Championship Tour in 2025, and what it says about their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Links below:

Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest - Anne Mcclintock:

https://www.routledge.com/Imperial-Leather-Race-Gender-and-Sexuality-in-the-Colonial-Contest/Mcclintock/p/book/9780415908900?srsltid=AfmBOorpef6Z_EQqHCbDEz3LpAMzbW6xLqad3yTHWoyCd79Ev8W1vda-

Ways of Being: A Thematic Analysis of Queer Identities in the Heteronormative Surf Space - Rachel Rouquet:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365361511_Ways_of_Being_A_Thematic_Analysis_of_Queer_Identities_in_the_Heteronormative_Surf_Space#fullTextFileContent

Women in Wetsuits: Revolting Bodies in Lesbian Surf Culture - Georgina Roy:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10894160.2013.731873

WSL's call to take surfing to UAE forces gay athletes like Tyler Wright to pay too high a price - Lucy Small:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/oct/31/world-surfing-league-2025-uae-abu-dhabi-move-gay-athletes-tyler-wright

F*ck you, Billabong. Seriously, f*ck you - Sarah Banting:

https://you.women2.com/f-ck-you-billabong-seriously-f-ck-you-84995f3d7946

Petition to remove Abu Dhabi from WSL calendar:

https://www.change.org/p/remove-abu-dhabi-from-world-surf-league-tour-calendar-support-your-lgbtqia-community

Thanks to Christine King for our logo design. Check out her book, Stormcaller - you can buy it via her website: https://www.christineking.co.za/.

Karen Graaff is a Research Fellow, Women's and Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape.

Glen Thompson is a Research Fellow, History Department, Stellenbosch University.

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55:23

11 November 2024

History of Surfing in Africa Part 2: The Modern Era

In this episode we continue our deep duck dive into the history of surfing in Africa as part of wider scholarly work within critical surf studies and the blue humanities. This episode is Part 2 of a two part series on the topic. Part 2 focuses on surfing in Africa during the modern era, from c. early 1900s to the present. We travel from South Africa to Morocco and provide a case study of the diffusion of the sport of surfing in the West African country of Liberia.

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28 October 2024

History of Surfing in Africa Part 1: The Colonial Archive

In this episode we dive into the history of surfing in Africa as part of wider scholarly work within critical surf studies and the blue humanities. This episode is Part 1 of a two part series on the topic. We focus primarily on the history of surfing in West Africa, which has colonial records of African aquatic activities. This history draws on the historical work of Kevin Dawson which explores, and reclaims, West African aquatic practices. We also speculate on what other historical sources scholars could look to when opening up the archives to find evidence for surfing in the past elsewhere along the extensive African coastline.

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14 October 2024

The Waves Don't Discriminate

In this episode, we discuss the issue of fairness in sport, and how a term that sounds neutral is in fact heavily politicised. We start with the definition of fairness in sport generally, and how many factors it does not include, particularly in terms of access. We then turn to discussing fairness in surfing in particular, and how loaded the term is, given that surfing is a subjectively judged sport, and that the playing field is anything but controlled (a key feature of fairness in other sports). The episode ends with Karen going on a rant about the ridiculousness of bans on trans women in sport, and how it really isn't the big issue everyone seems to think it is.

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30 September 2024

Surfing history - Why History Matters

In this episode we discuss why history matters, who makes surfing history, in what forms surf history is produced (from the surf media and surf films to surf museums), and the uses of surfing history. We focus on Kevin Dawson's Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) as an important contribution of historical knowledge about Atlantic Africans' aquatic practices in West Africa, including swimming and surfing. We close of the episode by providing our take on why unsettling surf history is important for the production of knowledge about surfing’s pasts in the Global South.

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