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Power: remaking selves, archives, environments
Visual History & Theory Workshop 27-28 July 2023 Call for Papers
Patricia Parker visit
In April, the CHR had the pleasure of hosting Prof Patricia Parker (University of North Carolina) for a series of seminars and discussions in Cape Town.
Masterclass with Neils Pagh Anderson
On 3 April, 2023, Neils Pagh Anderson joined editors, filmmakers, and CHR fellows for a masterclass in editing at Bertha House, Mowbray. Facilitated by CHR PhD fellow and independent editor and filmmaker, Khalid Shamis, this one-day workshop is now available,
Scattering Histories: Queerness, Migrancy, and the Question of the Archive
The Allen Isaacman Collection Annual African History Lecture
“Repair in ‘the After’: A Conversation”.
A Conversation in the Humanities in Session Series at the Centre for Humanities Research, as part of the Advanced Research Seminar.
RECORDING: Undoing Apartheid, book launch and panel discussion.
The Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI), University of Toronto, held an online book launch and panel discussion of Premesh Lalu’s Undoing Apartheid, on Tuesday, 14 March.
Call for Contributions: The South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) 2023 Conference
The South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) invites contributions for its 2023 conference, hosted by the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape.
A subaltern study of Xhosa-speakers’ epistemic views in postcolonial South Africa: Is menstruation elided in rural Eastern Cape secondary schools?
A Lecture in the Humanities in Session Series at the Centre for Humanities Research
CHR Winter School, 2022: On the question of the minor A reading by Emma Minkley and Kiasha Naidoo
The CHR hosted its annual Winter School from 17 to 20 October 2022 at the District Six Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.
Publication announcements: Fernanda Pinto de Almeida and Ross Truscott
The CHR is delighted to highlight recent publications by Fernanda Pinto de Almeida and Ross Truscott.
Race and Caste
The Other Universals Consortium and the Center for Race, Gender and Class (University of Johannesburg) are organizing a colloquium on Race and Caste; Hierarchy and Universality at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study on Feb 21-23, 2023.
Revisiting Sophiatown Writers: Bloke Modisane and Can Themba
A Lecture in the Humanities in Session Series at the Centre for Humanities Research
MAXEKE: “This work is not for yourselves”
This production premieres at the Star Theatre at the District Six Homecoming Centre (formerly the Fugard Theatre) on the 7th February until the 11th February 2023.
Planetary Humanities for Planetary Knowledge: Toward a New Research Agenda
The Planetary Humanities Workshop takes place on 2 and 3 December, 2022 in Cape Town
Mandela and Tragedy, Tutu and the Political Transfiguration of South Africa: New Approaches to Biography
A Lecture in the Humanities in Session Series at the Centre for Humanities Research
Change Everything: Racial Capitalism, Abolition, and the Necessity for Militant Scholarship
The Faculty of the Arts and Humanities, the Centre for Humanities Research and the Department of Anthropology are pleased to invite you to The Annual Distinguished Dean’s Lecture by Professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Ireland, England, and the paradox of ‘minor literature’
The CHR will be hosting a public lecture by Professor Eve Patten on Wednesday, 26 October at the District Six Homecoming Centre.
No Partial Public Sympathies: A Categorial Imperative Unlike Any Other
The CHR will be hosting a public lecture by Professor Grovogui on Monday, 24 October at the District Six Homecoming Centre.
Reconsidering Reparations
The Other Universals consortium will be hosting a webinar with Dr Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò on 28 October 2022.
Charlotte Maxeke at the CHR: Boschendal puppetry workshops and exhibition
In September 2022, the CHR’s artists in residence Siphokazi Mpofu and Sipho Ngxola and LoKO convenor Aja Marneweck, ran a puppetry workshop based on stories of Charlotte Maxeke, with young scholars from the Pniel area, culminating in an exhibition held in Boschendal on 17th September.
Imaginary Futures Live Performance at the Global Peripheries Conference Paris
On the 23rd and 24th September, CHR’s Aja Marneweck will be collaborating in the Imaginary Futures project on live performances at the Global Periphery Contemporary Imaginaries of Space, Multiple Voices Hybrid Conference at the Leonardo/Olats Observatory of Arts and Techno-Sciences in Paris.
Isingqala Samanzi/The Call of Water
The CHR’s Ukwanda Puppetry Collectivein collaboration with the Staatstheater Augsburg bring “Isingqala Samanzi/The Call of Water” to the Baxter Flipside Theatre from 22 to 24 September 2022 at 20:00 nightly with a Saturday matinee.
The Hottest August
The CHR is co-hosting with DocFilmSA’s docLOVE free screenings program a film screening and discussion of The Hottest August, Wednesday 31 August 2022 at 18:00pm screening at the Bertha House in Cape Town.
Legacies of Enslavement in the Cape: Black Life in the Archive
Join us for Seminar 559 of the South African Contemporary History and Humanities seminar with Efuah Prah.
Decolonisation, Africa, and International Law: Two Frames of Epistemic Violence
The Other Universals consortium will be hosting a webinar with Dr Mohsen al Attar is an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick and a Visiting Lecturer at UCL and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
“Don’t speak of letters when you mean sounds”: Phonemes, diacritics, and the transcriptive acoustemology of Sol Plaatje
Dr Aidan Erasmus of the Department of History at the University of the Western Cape will deliver a paper titled “Don’t speak of letters when you mean sounds”: Phonemes, diacritics, and the transcriptive acoustemology of Sol Plaatje as part of the South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar.
Dutch Affinities
The CHR is excited to announce Professor of International Relations Theory and African Political Thought, Siba Grovogui, gave a lecture at the Centre for Humanities Research.
From Ivory Towers to Ebony Towers: Transforming Humanities Curricula in South Africa, Africa and African-American Studies
The Political Studies Department and the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) invite you to a launch of the edited volume entitled “From Ivory Towers to Ebony Towers: Transforming Humanities Curricula in South Africa, Africa and African-American Studies”.
Transience and the image: Call for Papers: Workshop in Visual History & Theory
The CHR encourages the call for papers for the Transience and the image workshop to be convened from th1 19-20 August 2022 at the Centre for Humanities Research.
Beyond Nostalgia: Reimagining Post-Apartheid Freedom
Founding CHR director and filmmaker Premesh Lalu will be in conversation with Rashid Lombard, Jayson King, Sylvia Mndunyelwa and Dinga Sikwebu about his new film The Double Futures of Athlone at the Encounters South African Documentary International Film Festival. The panel will be moderated by Valmont Layne.
Eduardo Mondlane: social scientist, cosmopolitan and nationalist
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a presentation by professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Livio Sansone.
Re-Imagining Race through Daai za Lady & Butoh
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a presentation by dancer and choreographer, theatre-maker and director, producer, and academic researcher, jackï job.
Keynote Address: Unpayable Debt
Professor Denise Ferreira da Silva (The University of British Columbia) will be delivering a keynote address “Unpayable Debt” as part of the Other Universals Consortium’s 2022 public engagements on Theorizing Aesthetics and Politics from Postcolonial Locations. Date: Friday, May 20th. Time: 7 pm SAST
Keynote Address: A Prolegomenon towards ukuNqakula as an Aesthetic and Political Location
Professor Thembinkosi Goniwe will be delivering a keynote address “A prolegomenon towards ukuNqakula as an Aesthetic and Political Location” as part of the Other Universals Virtual Institute 2021 inquiry into Aesthetics and Politics on Tuesday, 23 November.
CHCI Humanities Administration Network Session
The CHR is co-sponsoring a two-part series of conversations on the critical work of humanities centers and humanities administration: “Forming the Humanities: On Care” and “Traversing the Humanities: On Space.” These sessions are open to anyone engaged with the work of directing and administering humanities centers and other spaces.
Who is the ‘community’ in Community Archaeology and what is at stake?
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a presentation by doctoral candidate Robyn Humphreys.
Revolutionary Papers Exhibition Launch
The Center for Humanities Research and Department of History at UWC, together with the Department of English at the University of Cambridge and the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics, invite you to a night of art, music, and conversations on anticolonial, anti-apartheid, left & liberation struggles.
Call for Workshop Proposals: Transformative Constitutionalism
The CHR Transformative Constitutionalism project invites you to submit a one-page proposal for the upcoming virtual workshop “What human is imagined in the ‘Human Rights’ contained in the South African Constitution.”
Historic Rashid Lombard Archive Finds New Home at UWC
Acclaimed South African photojournalist and activist Rashid Lombard formally handed over his vast personal collection of images, videos, and other material to the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
Muslim Identity in the Colonial South Africa
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar series presents “Muslim Identity in the Colonial South Africa” by Halim Gençoğlu.
Visualizing Pleasure and Practices of Freedom: A South/North Dialogue
The Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts will be hosting the symposium “Visualizing Pleasure and Practices of Freedom: A South/North Dialogue” in collaboration with the Centre for Humanities Research.
2022 Fellows Welcome
Following on from the first public lecture of 2022 by Jane Ohlmeyer, the CHR welcomed Fellows to the new academic year.
Land Bonds
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a presentation by doctoral candidate Tara Weinberg (University of Michigan).
Our Ghosts Were Once People
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a conversation with Bongani Kona on his new edited volume Our Ghosts Were Once People: Stories on Death and Dying (Jonathan Ball, 2021).
Public Lecture: Brian Friel’s Making History and Colonial Ireland
The CHR in partnership with Zeitz MOCAA invites you to a public lecture by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer.
Puppet Walk and Performance at Boschendal’s Plum Harvest Festival
After the great success of the elephant puppet walk at the Boschendal Plum Harvest Festival in 2021, we will be celebrating this year’s festival with giant puppets to raise awareness of the living waters and aquatic life of our planet.
In the Press: Buhle Ngaba on CHR Charlotte Maxeke Production
CHR Artist in Residence Buhle Ngaba is writing a screenplay for a groundbreaking puppetry production on the life of Charlotte Maxeke.
Peter Takelo and Derek Joubert Awarded Gold Medals by UWC
The CHR warmly congratulates Peter Takelo and Derek Joubert of our partners Net vir Pret for being awarded Gold Medals by UWC.
Restitution, Technics and Disciplinary Objects in the Preservation of African Music Institution Making
Next Generation Scholar Valmont Layne examines the challenges and possibilities of music archives in Southern Africa.
What A Wonderful World
The 2021 Barrydale Puppet Parade and Performance centres on a family living in Barrydale and the connection a young woman has with an ancient indigenous tree, Old Gwarrie, as well as with the wonderful world she calls home.
Winter School 2021: Fragment and Form
CHR Winter School 2021 on the theme of Fragment and Form was a hybrid event, hosted online and in-person at the Retreat at the Boschendal Estate in Franschhoek.
Curating in the Dark
CHR Doctoral Fellow Phokeng Setai was among nine speakers invited to participate in the colloquium BLACK SELF/ a conversation, convened by Ashraf Jamal in partnership with the NIROX Foundation.
Kinetic Objects: Humans and Things and Puppets
Kinetic Objects is a teaching collaboration emerging from the Centre for Humanities Research and the Jackman Humanities Institute in the framework of the partnership on Aesthetic Education: A South North Dialogue, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Keynote Address: The Conjuncture of 1956
Professor David Scott will be delivering a keynote address titled “The Conjecture of 1956” as part of the Other Universals Virtual Institute 2021 inquiry into The Question of the Political: Thinking Difference in the Aftermaths of the Colonial Political Economy.
Twice Heard and Newly Told
Join the South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar on 12 October 2021 for “Twice heard and newly told,” a paper by Phindi Mnyaka.
Stealing Time
Join Prof. Patricia Hayes for “Photographs and the Long Inception of Colonialism in Southern Angola,” a lecture hosted by the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures (IHGC) at the University of Virginia.
Archival Futures and Research: Preservation, Access and UWC’s Digital Infrastructure
Prof. Patricia Hayes and Dr Valmont Layne investigate how UWC can revitalise its archival holdings for preservation, teaching, research access, and public programmes.
Everything that was made was not destroyed…
CHR Artist in Residence Juan Orrantia will present his ongoing artistic work “Everything that was made was not destroyed, but also does not exist” at the South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar on 14 September 2021.
The Long Emancipation
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar invites you to a discussion of Rinaldo Walcott’s The Long Emancipation on 17 August 2021.
Walking with Amal: When Nights are Dark
“When Nights are Dark” is part of The Walk – a travelling festival of art and hope in support of refugees, with Artistic Direction from Amir Nizar Zuabi and presented by the Jungle, Good Chance, in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company.
My House is a Spaceship
CHR Early Career Doctoral Fellow Reza Khota debuted his new improvisation on guitar and pedals as part of NewMusicSA’21 Digital Indaba.
Worldings: A Virtual Conference
Join CHR Artist in Residence Tony Bonani Miyambo at Wordings: A Virtual Conference for “The Collapse: Creative Liberation of Collective Making” on 10 July 2021.
2022 African Critical Inquiry Workshops
The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) is pleased to announce that there will be two ACIP Workshops in 2022.
Performing Charlotte Maxeke
With 2021 being declared “The Year of Charlotte Maxeke,” the DSI-NRF Flagship on Critical thought in the African Humanities at the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, has embarked on a special production based on the life of Maxeke.
ASAA2022: Call for Panels
The African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) is inviting panel proposals for their 4th Biennial Conference on the theme of “Africa and the Human: Old questions, new imaginaries.”
Commission Continua
CHR Artist in Residence Tony Bonani Miyambo performs Commission Continua for the 2021 National Arts Festival Experience.
Flipside: The Inadvertent Archive
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar is pleased to announce that Kim Gurney will be presenting “Flipside: The Inadvertent Archive” on 22 June 2021 at 14:00.
Of Moving and Being Moved: The Subject and the Object in Puppetry and AI
Who am I in relation to what is going on? How can I mobilize questions that matter to me?
Hamlet, Live and In Progress
CHR Artists in Residence Buhle Ngaba and Tony Bonani Miyambo are set to perform a live reading of Neil Coppen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet as part of KKNK 2021.
Ambivalent at Jacana’s Virtual Book Theatre
Ambivalent will be featured at Jacana Media’s Don’t Shut Up virtual book theatre on Sunday, 23 May 2021.
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar with Carolyn Laubender
Join us for Carolyn Laubender’s paper “Travelling Analysis: Black Hamlet, Ethnopsychology, and the (De)Colonial Clinic in South Africa” at the South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar on Tuesday, 18 May 2021.
Remembering Tony Morphet
The CHR turns to its archive to recall the life of Anthony Richard Morphet, who passed away on 2 May 2021.
May Graduation 2021
The CHR is proud to announce the graduation of fellows Dr Emma Minkley, Dr Shingirai Nyakabawu, Leslé Ann Arendse, and Kiasha Naidoo.
Friends of Little Amal
The CHR is delighted to celebrate and support the journey of young refugee and 3.5-meter puppet Little Amal as she walks 8000 km from Turkey to Manchester, UK.
The CHR’s Lee Walters Presents at ICGC Brown Bag Series
Join CHR Doctoral Fellow Lee Walters for the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) Brown Bag Series on 30 April 2021.
Kafka’s Ape in A KAFKA MOMENT
CHR Artist in Residence Tony Bonani Miyambo will be performing the award-winning Kafka’s Ape on 22 and 23 April 2021.
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Presents: Materiality, Museums, and the Production of History
Lebogang Mokwena (New School for Social Research) will be presenting “Materiality, Museums, and the Production of History” on Tuesday 20 April 2021 at the South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar.
The CHR’s Phokeng Setai Presents at ICGC Brown Bag Series
CHR Doctoral Fellow in Anthropology Phokeng Setai will be presenting at the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) Brown Bag Series.
PAN: An Intellectual History of AI
The CHR’s Professor Jane Taylor will be giving a talk as part of the HUMA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series on 8 April 2021.
Ian Baucom: History 4° Celsius: Search for a Method in the Age of the Anthropocene
Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Western Cape, Prof. Tyrone Pretorius, has the pleasure of inviting you to a conversation with Prof. Ian Baucom on 12 April 2021.
Aesthetics and Politics: A Dialogue Across Continents
Join the CHR’s Heidi Grunebaum and members of the Other Universals Consortium Aaron Kamugisha (University of the West Indies), Victoria J. Collis-Buthelezi (University of Johannesburg), and Chika Mba (University of Ghana) for an online conversation with colleagues at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.
The Possibilities and Intimacies of Queer African Screen Cultures
Join CHR Next Generation Scholar Dr Lwando Scott in conversation about The Possibilities and Intimacies of Queer African Screen Cultures, a special issue of the Journal of African Cultural Studies, on 5 April 2021.
The CHR’s Samuel Longford Presents at ICGC Brown Bag Series
Join the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) Brown Bag Series this Friday for a talk presented by CHR Doctoral Fellow in History Samuel Longford
A Celebration of Puppetry at the Boschendal Plum Festival
Life-sized elephant puppet Mnumzane strolled across the Boschendal Estate on Sunday 14 March 2021, accompanied by little elephant Alfie, their path criss-crossed by the boisterous Dassie puppet.
Animations and Activations: A Workshop Toward Embodying Memory Through Puppets and Plants
On 9 March 2021, the CHR’s Jane Taylor and Aja Marneweck will be participating in the puppetry workshop Animations and Activations with William Ellis (Dept. of Anthropology, UWC) and Marcus Neustetter as part of the Tri-Continental Partnership between the University of Missouri, the University of the Western Cape, and Ghent University.
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Presents:Other Lives of the Image
The South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar will be hosting a launch of Other Lives of the Image, a special issue of the journal Kronos: Southern African Histories, on 9 March 2021.
A Conversation with Dr Mongane Wally Serote on the launch of his epic poem Sikhahlel’ u-OR
The Centre for Humanities Research is proud to host a conversation with Mongane Wally Serote on the launch of his new epic poem Sikhahlel’ u-OR.
A Walk with Elephants: Puppets Come to Boschendal!
The CHR’s Ukwanda Puppet and Design Company and NIHSS special artist in residence fellow Aja Marneweck will be presenting a line-up of puppetry workshops, an exhibition of puppets, and a walking public performance with partners Net vir Pret at the Boschendal Plum Harvest Festival on the weekend of 13 and 14 March.
Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities
The Other Universals Consortium and CODESRIA invite you to a webinar with Professor Mahmood Mamdani about his new book Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities.
It’s a Feminist Thing
CHR Acting-Director Professor Heidi Grunebaum was a guest on Soul City’s ‘It’s A Feminist Thing’.
A Conversation with Patricia Hayes
Professor Patricia Hayes of the CHR will be in conversation with Professor Tamar Garb of UCL about Ambivalent: Photography and Visibility in African History
AVA podcast interview with, CHR Artist in Residence, Chumisa Fihle and Bruce Bowale
Artist in Residence, Chumisa Fihle and Bruce Bowale, recently featured on Episode One of AVA’s podcast series titled ‘Lounge+’.
Music and the Remaking of the World: An Interview with Valmont Layne
Dr Valmont Layne, Next-Generation Scholar at the Centre for Humanities Research NRF Flagship, recently participated in a podcast for National Public Radio in the USA.
Re-Centring Afro Asia Conference
The CHR presented a panel with the Centres’ Patricia Hayes, Luis Gimenez and Kiasha Naidoo, chaired by Ross Truscott discussing the possibilities and approaches to the invocation of the precolonial at the recently convened Afro-Asia Conference.
Reboot Eden: Celebrating Ten Years of Puppetry in Barrydale
The Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (CHR), in partnership with Net vir Pret are celebrating 10 years of puppetry in Barrydale. Reboot Eden will be an online program of four new puppet performances that will be available online from the 16th -19th December 2020.
Reboot Eden: The Art of Recovery
For the past ten years the Centre for Humanities Research’s Laboratory of Kinetic Objects has been engaged in a mutual education and arts initiative (along with partners Net Vir Pret, Handspring Puppet Company, uKwanda Puppetry and Design Collective, and Magpie Collective) in the village of Barrydale some three hours outside of Cape Town. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, this years Barrydale parade is set to convene remotely.
Global Narratives of Artificial Intelligence: Sub-Saharan Africa – African Histories and Philosophies of Artificial Intelligence
The CHR’s Professor Jane Taylor will be participating in this weeks Global Narratives of Artificial Intelligence: Sub-Saharan Africa – African Histories and Philosophies of Artificial Intelligence conference hosted by the HSRC and the University of Cambridge.
Chumisa Fihla’s inaugural exhibition at the AVA gallery
The Centre for Humanities Research is pleased to announce the opening of artist in residence in visual arts, Chumisa Fihla’s inaugural exhibition “Legae/Kayalethu” at the AVA Gallery opening on the 26 November 2020.
Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution after the Enlightenment
A CHR Webinar held by the Other Universals Consortium with Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi
Decolonizing Theory: Thinking Across Traditions
A CHR Webinar held by the Other Universals Consortium with Aditya Nigam
Radical Disenchantment
A CHR Webinar held jointly between Winter School and the Other Universals Consortium with Fadi Bardawil
Publics and Policing: Spies, Surveillance, and Colonial Subjects in Anti-Colonial French Politics
A Winter School webinar with Associate Professor Nancy Luxon
Encounters Film Festival: The Letter
As part of the Communicating the Humanities project at the Centre for Humanities Research, Next Generation Scholar, Valmont Layne, will be in conversation with Steve Akoth, Christine van Zyl and The Letter’s co-directors Maia Lekow and Christopher King.
The Museum Today with Jane Taylor
Professor Jane Taylor will be giving a zoom talk on the new exhibition of the South African sculptor, Jackson Hlungwani, on ,Thursday 20th August at 6 pm.
The Black Aquatic: On Water, Art and Black Movement
A Winter School webinar with Professor Rinaldo Walcott
Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination
The Other Universals consortium will be hosting a webinar with Adom Getachew.
In Search of Africa(s): Postcolonialism and the Universal
The Other Universals consortium will be hosting an online seminar with Souleymane Bachir Diagne
LoKO: Seminar One
These online seminars will pursue many of the questions which we would pursue in the normal course of things; although things are anything but normal.
The Humanities in Session with Kitso Lelliott
The CHR’s A.W.Mellon Artist in Residence in Image and postdoctoral fellow, Kitso Lelliott was invited by the Kunstverein Braunschweig , Germany to create a work of video installations for the exhibition, THE FACULTY OF SENSING – Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo.
Literary Pedagogy: Confronting Colonisation
The CHR invites you to a colloquium on “Literary Pedagogies: Confronting Colonization” to be held at the Centre for Humanities Research on the 20th and 21st February 2020.
Seminar: Meleesha Bardolia
The Politics of ‘Rightful Belonging’ in Post-Apartheid South African and Post-Mabo Australian Non-White ‘Settler’ Literatures
Domeitta Torlasco visits the CHR
Critical theorist, filmmaker, and associate professor of Italian and comparative literature at Northwestern University Domietta Torlasco will be hosted by the CHR from 24 February to 23 March 2020.
Global Apartheid: A Genealogy of Biopolitical Sovereignty
A seminar course on Global Apartheid co-taught by Professor Cesare Casarino and Dr. Ross Truscott will take place in the first semester of 2020.
Democracy: Genealogies, Concepts, and Practices
A conference hosted by the CHR from 17 – 18 December 2019 will explore the relationship between the genealogy, the concept and the practice of democracy.
The Final Spring (Barrydale 2019)
The Centre for Humanities Research and partners Net vir Pret present the ninth annual Barrydale Giant Puppet Parade and Performance.
Call for Proposal to Organise a Workshop
The African Critical Inquiry Programme invites proposals from scholars and/or practitioners in public cultural institutions in South Africa to organise a workshop to take place in 2021.
Seminar: Sam Longford
Governing the ungovernable: contested legacies at the Chris Hani Memorial
A Public Conversation with Mamela Nyamza
Mamela Nyamza is an award-winning artist, choreographer, dancer and performer.
Seminar: Fernanda Pinto de Almeida
Cinema desegregation and the fall of a drive-in’s ‘Berlin Wall’
Seminar: Mahvish Ahmed
Afro-Asian World-Making from the Underground in Balochistan’s Jabbal
Other Lives of the Image: International Workshop in Visual History and Theory
From 4 – 6 October, the International Workshop in Visual History and Theory will convene around the theme Other Lives of the Image.
Seminar: Mwayi Lusaka
Heritage of Diplomacy Or ‘Scottish Exceptionalism?’:The Memory of David Livingstone and Malawi – Scotland Relations
The South African Students’ Organisation and the Black Consciousness Legacy
Dr. Saleem Badat
Seminar: Elizabeth Harney
We the North? Caravan and the Crafting of a Multicultural Toronto
Seminar: Annelize Kotze and Bongani Ndhlovu
Subjugation, exposure and healing: Human remains, museums and indigenous communities
Built Form, Design, and the Politics of the City
Visiting Scholars at the CHR Steve Akoth and Tom Asher will run a seminar on spatial formations as an object of analysis.
Seminar: Okechukwu Nwafor
Funeral Poster and Pre-Funeral Visual Economy in southeastern Nigeria
KINESIS: Of Moving and Being Moved
Between July 6th and July 10th 2019, the Laboratory of Kinetic Objects (LoKO) at the CHR hosted a colloquium on Subject/Object relations, in an ongoing exploration of Animation, Animism, Thing Theory, the Subject and the Object, Puppetry Arts and performance.
CHR’s Khalid Shamis at the CHAM Conference 2019
PRODUCING IN THE PRESENT, PRESSURING THE PAST, FOR AN IMMEDIATE FUTURE. The key to the future lies in the past. The archive of the past is our immediate future. The question is not that we merely take and place the archive. We are not merely inheritors of a culture but its inherent makers.
Other lives of the image
Call for papers: International Workshop in Visual History & Theory
Lion’s Share: Remaking South African Copyright
A Humanities in Session Lecture by Prof. Veit Erlmann
Sex and the Profane: FAKA, Abject Erotics, and the Politics of Deviance in post-apartheid South Africa
A Humanities in Session Lecture by Assistant Professor Jordache A. Ellapen
Seminar: Claudia Gastrow
The Discomforts of Home: Infrastructure, Aesthesis and Political Belonging
The Curricular and the Global, the Tropic and the Taxonomic
The Global Humanities Curriculum Workshop held in December of 2018 enabled a rich set of connections and convergences around questions of the curriculum.
Seminar: Raquel Schefer
The Representation of Ritual and Cinema as a Ritual in Revolutionary Mozambique: Ruy Guerra’s “Mueda, Memória e Massacre”
Seminar: Kass Banning
John Akomfrah’s Purple: Notes Towards Deciphering Habitus Beyond A Planetary Sublime
Africa as Concept and Method: Emancipation, Decolonization, Freedom
The Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes (CHCI) Africa Workshop 2019 was hosted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with scholars from the CHR attending.
Reza Khota Quartet to play at Cape Town International Jazz Festival
CHR Artist in Residence to perform at 20th annual festival
RIVER AND REDFIN
The CHR and Net Vir Pret Annual Giant Puppet Parade and Performance, Barrydale, 16 December 2018
Seminar: Philipp Schorch
Two Germanies: ethnographic museums, (post) colonial exhibitions, and the ‘cold odyssey’ of Pacific objects between East and West.
The Subject Races: Populations, Classifications, Justice
The workshop is therefore interested in how we might think, conceptually, historically, politically, about the figure of the subject races across these African experiences.
Decolonization and the Aesthetic Cold War: Towards an Intellectual History
Seminar by Professor Peter Kalliney
Seminar: Clémentine Deliss
Manifesto for the rights of access to colonial collections sequestered in Western Europe
The Photography of History: Sally Mann at Antietam
Keynote Lecture at International Workshop
Seminar: Stephanie Vos
Exile and Migration: Performing Connections through the Metaphor of the Train
Seminar: Swati Arora
Left to ‘biyaasi number’: Janam, Street Theatre and Urban Space in Delhi
Public Lecture: Elizabeth Giorgis
Professor Giorgis teaches Art Theory and Criticism in the Graduate School of the College of Performing and Visual Art at the Modern Art Museum: Gebre Kristos Desta Center at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Winter School 2018
The 2018 Winter School and Retreat held from 3 – 6 July 2018 will bring together questions of desire, technology, and practice under the title After Technology.
Louis Moholo in conversation
CHR will be hosting a public conversation with jazz drumming great Louis Moholo at the Guga S’thebe Community Centre in Langa at 6.30 pm on June 8th 2018
Seminar: Sarah Godsell
“What is the point?” Potentials of Decolonising History: in teacher education spaces, and school classrooms
Public Lecture: South Africa’s Hosting of the 2018 BRICS Summit
Public Lecture hosted by The Centre for Humanities Research and the Department of Political Studies
Political Theory Reading Workshops
The Wiredu-Ezu Debate and Philosophy and “Real” Politics
CHCI Africa Workshop Addis 2019
Africa as Concept and Method: Emancipation, Decolonization, Freedom
Seminar: Jacob Cloete
The pre-circulated paper for this seminar is accompanied by a short documentary by Jacob Cloete.
Workshop: Migrants, Markets and the Modalities of Rule
The Migrating Violence Research Platform of the Centre for Humanities Research presents a workshop on Migrants, Markets and the Modalities of Rule.
Collaborative Voices Part 1. Two musicians in Johannesburg in the 1980s:
Please join us for a presentation by Biddy Partridge.
Seminar: Armelle Gaulier
The Moppie Songs of the Colored Populations of Cape Town: Music and the Process of Creolization (South Africa)
Seminar: Valmont Layne
Tem Hawker, Yakhal Inkomo and the sentimental ‘avant-garde: Revisiting Cape jazz’s sonic archive’
Seminar: Redi Koobak
Seminar: Gender, Nation and War Art: Rethinking Artistic Responses to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan
Two Workshops on Missingness
A workshop hosted by: African Critical Inquiry Program (ACIP), NRF Forensic History Project and Centre for Humanities Research, UWC.
Missing Subjects and the Subjects of Missingness
in collaboration with the Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto
Seminar: Julie MacArthur
Dissident Citizens: Genealogies of Sovereignty, Violence, and Belonging along the Kenya-Somali Frontier
Ne’er So Much The Ape
The CHR invites you to a performance of Ne’er So Much The Ape, a work produced, directed and written by Professor Jane Taylor, and performed by Jane Taylor, Tony Miyambo and Terry Norton .
New Jerusalem
The CHR is pleased to invite you to the opening of ‘New Jerusalem’, an exhibition of photographic work by the Visual History class of 2017.
Seminar: G. Arunima
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar G. Arunima (Centre for Women’s […]
CHCI Meeting Documentary
A short documentary on the Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, held at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
Workshop: the (visual) subject
International Workshop on Visual History and Theory, Cape Town, 22-23 September 2017
Seminar: Fernando Rosa
Travelling Spirits and the Civilisation de l’universel: Apotropaic Writing and the Myth of Disenchantment
Seminar: Ross Truscott
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Ross Truscott (Centre for Humanities […]
Athlone in Mind
Athlone in Mind is a digital platform, book (edited by Heidi Grunebaum), and exhibition of commissioned contemporary art – a group show curated by Kurt Campbell.
The CHR is happy to announce artist Jane Alexander as festival artist for the CHCI
The CHR is happy to announce artist Jane Alexander as festival artist for the CHCI Humanities Improvised Annual Meeting. Jane Alexander was born in Johannesburg, […]
2018 African Critical Inquiry Workshop
Organizers of Missing and Missed, the 2018 ACIP Workshop: Nicky Rousseau and Ciraj Rassool
Justice After Genocide: Namibia, Germany and Colonial Amnesia
Reinhart Kössler, a German scholar who studies the consequences of German colonial rule, its impact on the descendants of victims of the genocide
Seminar: Natasha Vally
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Natasha Vally (Next Generation Fellow, […]
Seminar: Roger Levine
Lived Racism in Segregation-era South Africa: a research agenda and a case study
Conversations: Hilton Schilder
Conversations is a new series of public dialogues with jazz musicians and their legacies convened by the Factory of the Arts of the Centre for Humanities […]
Seminar: Todd Cleveland
Centre for Humanities Research and the Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Todd Cleveland (Department of […]
Documentary Film Workshop
From 18 - 20 April 2017, the CHR in collaboration with the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto hosted the ‘Theory and Practice […]
Seminar: Women Miners and Mining Spaces
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Asanda Benya (Department of Sociology, […]
Reading Group and Seminar with Prof. Carlos Forment
Citizenship and Justice: Rethinking Political Theory and Political Philosophy.
Seminar: Cleaning the Slate of Distrust
The Vance Mission and the (Dis-)appearance of the ‘Amnesty Question’ on/from the Agenda of the Transitional Negotiations and in internal ANC
Seminar: Gramsci’s Bergson
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Cesare Casarino (University of Minnesota, […]
Voortrekker Gateways Exhibition Opening
Please join us for the opening of ‘Voortrekker Gateways’, an exhibition of work by Visual History students. Date: 28 March, 2017 Time: 3:45pm Venue: Centre […]
Nigel Gibson Seminar on Fanon
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Nigel Gibson (Institute for Liberal […]
Workshop: Violent Pasts, Violent Futures?
The Migrating Violence research platform of the CHR presents a day workshop titled: Violent Pasts, Violent Futures? Genocide, Migration and Belonging in the Great Lakes […]
“Freedom Within the Walls:” Thomas Mott Osborne’s Participatory Panopticon
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Shai Gortler (PhD Candidate, University […]
Seminar: The African Resistance Fighter Jacon Marengo
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Ulrike Lindner (History Department, University […]
Seminar: Hostile Visual Encounters
Seminar in Contemporary History & Humanities Special Seminar Hostile visual encounters: fighting to control photographic meaning in the DRC’s digital age. Aubrey P. Graham, 2016 […]
Seminar: State-Building and Techno-politics in Somaliland
South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar
In Equity: Experiences in the Arts
The Factory of the Arts presents a workshop and conversation on, “In Equity: Experiences in the Arts”.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Workshop
As part of a three-year collaborative venture with the CHR and the Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) at the University of Toronto, centred on the theme […]
From Mozambique to the Cape: Performance Encounters in Music, Masks, Movement, Poetry and Painting
Venue: at the Factory of the Arts Time: 7pm Date: Tuesday 29 November. The Factory of the Arts presents From Mozambique to the Cape: Performance […]
Olifantland – Barrydale Parade 2016
The 2016 Barrydale Puppet Parade and Performance brings you Olifantland, a multilingual visual theatre show featuring five majestic life size elephant puppets by Adrian Kohler from Handspring Puppet Company in collaboration with UKWANDA Puppet and Design Collective.
Visual Gateways Exhibition
Between February and May 2016 postgraduate students in Visual History from UWC took their cameras into Voortrekker Road. For most students it was their first […]
Global Apartheid Course at the CHR
A Genealogy of Biopolitical Sovereignty February – May 2017 Centre for Humanities Research Professor Cesare Casarino University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of […]
Video: State Capture?
Earlier this year we had an important Local Government Election. Now, as we debate how to fund public higher education equitably, this seminar explores the […]
Igniting Conversations about Science
CHR Director Professor Premesh Lalu delivered an address at the media launch of Science Forum South Africa 2016 on 1 November at the Cape Town […]
TRC workshop programme
The TRC workshop is the inaugural activity of the CHR's collaborative partnership with the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto. Titled, "Aesthetic Education: […]
Seminar: Education or State Politics? – Elizabeth Giorgis
Education in the Social Sciences and Humanities at Addis Ababa University Dullah Omar Centre for Critical Thought in African Humanities of the Centre for Humanities […]
Discussion with Mira Nair
A discussion was held with the film director, Mira Nair, about her work and new film, “The Queen of Katwe” at the CHR on 20 […]
Seminar: State Capture?
The Dullah Omar Centre for Critical Thought in African Humanities of the Centre for Humanities Research (DST-NRF UWC Flagship) invites you to a public seminar […]
Joint Seminar: Jennifer Tucker and George Agbo
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Invites you to a double […]
Seminar by George Agbo: The Technology of Visual Digital Activism
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar George Emeka Agbo (History Department/Centre […]
The Reza Khota Quartet with live art by Dathini Mzayiya
A very special audio- visual collaboration comes together on 28 September with The Reza Khota Quartet and artist Dathini Mzayiya at The Factory of the […]
Seminar by Shari Eppel: Bones In The Forest
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Shari Eppel (Director, Solidarity Peace Trust, […]
Mothers’ pensions and the ‘civilised’ black poor: the racialised provision of child maintenance grants, 1921-1940
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Marijke du Toit (UWC) Date: […]
Images from Factory of the Arts
Arts Education Workshops in Puppetry, Performance and Visual Arts Arts Education workshops were conducted with 20 Grade 10 learners from Chris Hani and Luhlaza Secondary […]
Seminar by Rachel Hatcher: The Omnipresent Chameleon
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Rachel Hatcher (Institute for Reconciliation […]
People You May Know: A Performance at the Factory of the Arts
People You May Know was a collaborative performance and exhibition featuring Dathini Mzayiya, Brydon Bolton, Reza Khota, Thokozani Mthiyane, and Daniel Grey, held at the Factory of the Arts.
Seminar by Bongani Ndhlovu: ‘Apartheid’s Golden Age’
Reconnoitring alternative forms of resistance to apartheid South Africa, c1966-1979
Seminar: The Making of MK: Whose Violence & to What End? The Debates of 1960–1 – Paul S. Landau
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Paul S. Landau (Department of […]
Seminar: Empty photographs: Ethnography and the lacunae of African history: Patricia Hayes
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Patricia Hayes (DST/NRF SARChI Chair […]
Global Apartheid – A Genealogy of Biopolitical Sovereignty
DST NRF Flagship Next Generation Researcher Dr. Maurits Van Bever Donker will be co-teaching a graduate seminar alongside Professor Cesare Casarino in the Comparative Literature […]
A Tale of Two Cities: Finding Storyville in the Archives: A Seminar by Emily Landau
The CHR DST/NRF Flagship in Critical Thought in African Humanities and the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at UWC invite you to a seminar by […]
Exhibition Launch: USAKOS: Photographs beyond Ruins
The Centre for Humanities Research and the Library invite you to the launch of an exhibition that vividly evokes questions related to Sociology, Economics, History, […]
Seminar: Portugal’s Photographic Play: Drew Thompson
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Drew Thompson (Department of History, […]
On the Subject of Citizenship: A colloquium marking 20 years since the publication of Mahmood Mamdani’s Citizen and Subject
A colloquium marking 20 years since the publication of Mahmood Mamda-ni’s Citizen and Subject
Seminar: The Performance of Race: Passing-Out Parades, Street Soccer, the ‘Civilized Body’, and the Creation of the ‘Perfect Other’ (c. 1940s-1960s)
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar
Virgil Slade (Department of History
2017 African Critical Inquiry Workshop: Secret Affinities
The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) is pleased to announce that the 2017 ACIP workshop will be Secret Affinities: A workshop in critical reading andan […]
Seminar: The Practice of Post-Apartheid Freedom
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Premesh Lalu (Centre for Humanities […]
Seminar: The Postman and the Tramp: Commitment in an Age of Cynicism
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar By Toral Jatin Gajarawala (English […]
Other Universals Public Lecture: “Sylvia Wynter’s Black Metamorphosis and the World We Live In”
Other Universals presents a public lecture by Dr. Aaron Kamugisha (Cultural Studies, University of the West Indies) on "Sylvia Wynter's Black Metamorphosis and the World […]
The University and its Worlds: A Panel Discussion with Achille Mbembe, Judith Butler, Wendy Brown, and David Theo Goldberg
The Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities invites you to a panel discussion on The University and its Worlds with Achille Mbembe Judith Butler […]
Seminar: Stasis Anxiety: Contemporary Fictions of South African ‘Waithood’
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Andrew Van der Vlies (Department […]
Seminar: Traversing the Social
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Ross Truscott, Maurits van Bever Donker, […]
Seminar: Mueda Massacre: The Musical Archive
Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape South African Contemporary History and Humanities Seminar Mueda Massacre: The Musical Archive […]
Usakos – Photographs Beyond Ruins: The Old Location Albums
Namibian exhibition on photography and forced removal now opens at the District Six Museum Usakos – Photographs Beyond Ruins: The Old Location Albums, 1920s […]
Artist in Residence Mongi Mthombeni premieres ‘I See You’ at Royal Court
Mongi Mthombeni, an artist in residence at the Centre for Humanities Research, premieres his play, I See You (previously titled, Brave) in February at the […]
Art Week Cape Town 2016
The Factory of the Arts, a satellite of the CHR at UWC will be participating in Art Week Cape Town 2016, an initiative of the […]
The Insurrections Ensemble returns
The Insurrections Ensemble returns to the Homecoming Centre at District Six for two performances on the 25th and 26th of September. For those of you who managed […]
Lecture in African Humanities and Letters Hassan El Geretly Neo Muyanga
On 20 February 2015, the Centre for Humanities Research hosted the first Distinguished Lecture in its African Humanities and Letters Lecture Series for 2015 at […]
Love & Revolution
A workshop series & publication project A series of four international workshops on ‘love’ and ‘revolution’ took place in Cape Town (October 2010), Minneapolis (March-April […]
Durban and Cape Town as Indian Ocean Port Cities: Reconsidering Southern African Studies from the Indian Ocean
Sponsored by the Journal of Southern African Studies and the CHR, UWC, 11-14 September 2014 Convenors: Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Isabel Hofmeyr & Preben Kaarsholm What does […]
Interruptions: Posters from the Community Arts Project Archive
Open Design Festival, Cape Town City Hall, 13 – 23 August 2014
Quarter Gallery, Regis Centre for Art, University of Minnesota, 18 November – 10 December 2014
Uncontained: Opening the Community Arts Project Archive
Art.b Gallery, Bellville, 8 May – 18 June 2012
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 18 August 2012 – 12 April 2013
Richa Nagar
Richa Nagar is currently Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota. Working at the nexus of transnational and postcolonial feminisms, […]
Dag Henrichsen
Dag Henrichsen is a Namibian historian and archivist based at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in Switzerland, and a part-time lecturer in African history at […]
Marissa Moorman
Marissa Moorman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the African Studies Program at Indiana University. An historian of southern Africa, she […]
Naomi Scheman
Naomi Scheman is Professor of Philosophy and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota in the USA. She is also a guest […]
Partha Chatterjee
Partha Chatterjee is a political theorist and historian at Columbia University, New York City. He studied at Presidency College in Calcutta, and received his Ph.D. […]
Sanil V
Dr Sanil Viswanathan Nair (preferred: Sanil V.) is Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, […]
Alejandro Castillejo-Cuéllar
Alejandro Castillejo-Cuéllar is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the Universidad de los Andes (University of the Andes) in Bogotá, […]
Timothy Campbell
Timothy Campbell is Professor of Italian in the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University, New York. In addition to authoring Wireless Writing in the […]
Mu-chou Poo
Professor Poo has worked and taught at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan University, University of California, Columbia University, Grinnell College, and is now Chair Professor of […]
Adam Sitze
A MacArthur Scholar from 1996 to 2003 at the University of Minnesota, Adam Sitze is currently Associate Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at […]
Nivedita Menon
Nivedita Menon is Professor in the Centre for Comparative Politics & Political Theory, School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, […]
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Souleymane Bachir Diagne is Professor in the Department of French and Romance Philology and the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York. His field […]
Jon Soske
Jon Soske is Professor of Modern African History at the University of Toronto, Canada. He received a MA in Comparative Literature from the University of […]
Hidden voices in the arts after apartheid
Iziko South African National Gallery (Iziko SANG), 16 February 2013
