READ MOREAn Archive and Forms of Sight: Gestures of Madness
My history of madness in the Belgian Congo will rely on tracking transactional, micro, and urgent documents as gestures. These promise to open “spheres of ethos,” with human riddles, forms of upheaval, and violence (Agamben 1992). READ MOREIn Black Women’s Hands: A History of Gestures in Photography and Textile
Contemporary Black female artists have reclaimed the everyday labor and domestic motions women have historically performed, as artistic gestures in their own right. For example, the ceramic and bronze sculptures of the African-American artist Simone Leigh have referenced vernacular processes like washing chores and needlework. READ MORETogether Apart The Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement
In April 1964, the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) was launched in Dublin by Kader Asmal, a South-African professor of law in Trinity College. Lobbying for improved human rights and liberation in South Africa, the Movement raised awareness of the racism experienced by communities and campaigned for the release of political prisoners.
We are delighted to announce that the Centre for Humanities Research and the University of the Western Cape have signed two historic memoranda of understanding with Compagnie Sogolon, Bamako, Mali, and Iziko Museums of South Africa.
The African Critical Inquiry Programme has named Maja Jakarasi as recipient of the 2025 Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Award. Jakarasi, a Zimbabwean student in the Anthropology Department, is working on his PhD at the University of the Western Cape. Support from ACIP’s Ivan Karp Award will allow Jakarasi to pursue significant research for his dissertation.
And I, a newly evolved fish, an exhibition by the RE-WIRING project, the Women's and Gender Studies Department, UWC, and the CHRs Iyatsiba Lab will be opening on Friday, 8 August 2025. The exhibition opening will be preceded by a seminar focusing on watery engagements.
We are delighted to announce the publication of the latest edition of Kronos, titled ‘Archiving Environmental Change: Mapping a Network.’ This issue has been split into two sections, the second, Imagining the Environment, was co-edited by Patricia Hayes, Emma Minkley, and Caio Simoes de Araujo.
The 2025 International Workshop on Visual History & Theory will take place between October 14-15. It takes as its starting point the notion of gesture, which operates across a range of literal and conceptual levels.
The Artists Forum connects scholarly exploration with the CHR’s Artist in Residency programme, so as to bring artists’ and humanistic study into a more intimate adjacency
‘Holding a Thought - the puppetry of Ukwanda’ will launch at Micealis Gallery on 23 July 2025. Curated by Premesh Lalu and Kurt Campbell, this exhibition engages the work of CHR Artists in Residence, Siphokazi Mpofu, Luyanda Nogodlwana and Sipho Ngxolo who make up the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Arts Collective.
The CHR’s annual Winter School takes place between 7-11 July at the Iyatsiba Lab. Its theme for 2025 is the question of Freedom. Alongside its academic programme will be two public keynote lectures. The second will take place at the Iyatsiba Lab on Thursday 10 July and will be given by Monika Mehta.
The CHR’s annual Winter School takes place between 7-11 July at the Iyatsiba Lab. Its theme for 2025 is the question of Freedom. Alongside its academic programme will be two public keynote lectures. The first will take place at the Iyatsiba Lab on Tuesday 8 July and will be given by Federico Cuatlacuatl.