This paper uses an analytical framework developed from the work of philosopher Roy Bhaskar and sociologist Margaret Archer to explore the emergence of a body of research on teaching and learning in South African higher education. This research, generated in a field known as "Academic Development" in South Africa and as "Educational Development" in other countries, was produced during 30 years of political, social, cultural and economic upheaval in the country. The analytical framework allows for an exploration of the way structural and cultural conditions and the exercise of individual and corporate agency led to three main shifts in the practice of Academic Development and the emergence of characteristic bodies of research associated with those shifts, often closely reflecting the broader societal changes. The paper, thus, allows for an identification of the sets of conditions that enabled and constrained research production at particular periods and in some locations. In spite of the specificity of its geo-historical context, the paper describes and applies a theoretical frame that could be useful in similar analyses elsewhere. It contributes generally to our understanding of conditions that promote research production in this field and, by implication, in others. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)