Heather Wares is from Cape Town, South Africa and graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B.A. degree, majoring in Politics, History, and English in 2007. After teaching English in Korea, she continued her studies in 2010, completing a postgraduate diploma with the African Programme for Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Directly following this, she completed a master's under the history department at UWC focusing on the representation of Maritime Archaeology in a Post Apartheid South Africa.
In addition, Heather has worked in the field of maritime and underwater cultural heritage since 2010. She has gathered her experience through various projects both in South Africa and abroad, having worked for Iziko Museums, SAHRA, the African Centre for Heritage Activities, and the African Slave Wrecks Project. She leaves a position as a Heritage Officer for SAHRA in the Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit to enter into the Ph.D. program with the African History Department. Her research interests address questions about Southern African peoples’ historical relationship to and understanding of (bodies) of water, including oceans, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. This interest lies in conjunction with questions of community, knowledge production and the creation of publics.