Natasha Vally

Next Generation Scholar

South African Social Assistance and the 2012 Privatised National Payment System: An examination of insecurities and technopolitics in social grant administration and payment. She has undergraduate and honours degrees in mathematics and genetics and holds a Masters degree in history. She works, across disciplines, on the technopolitical in post-apartheid South Africa. Her favourite movie is Blade Runner, she awaits the sequel with anticipation.

Open Call: The Cape Town Workshop

We are delighted to announce that applications are now open for a fully funded 12-day research and practice-led programme of workshops, discussions, and encounters with historical archives and contemporary practice in July 2027.

Wanga Kambushe, Sisanda Nkola, Alette Schoon, and Pamela Maseko (L to R) during a collective reading session at Revisiting and Reimagining “Imvo Zabantsundu”, the 2026 African Critical Inquiry Workshop. Photo by Corinne A. Kratz.

ACIP: 2026 call for workshop proposals and for Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Award Applications

The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) invites proposals from scholars and/or practitioners in South Africa to organise a workshop to take place in 2028, as well as for Ivan Karp doctoral research awards for African students enrolled in South African Ph.D. programmes in 2027. The deadline for both proposals is 3 May 2027.

Humanities in Sesssion: Twelve Theses on Thinking and Overcoming the Neocolonial in Africa

This session, titled ‘Twelve Theses on Thinking and Overcoming the Neocolonial in Africa’, will be led by Michael Neocosmos. It is concerned to rethink a politics of emancipation from neocolonialism.

Technics & Urban workshop takes off

“They conduct their lives with a wry resilience. They have a front row seat to the apocalyptic – birds falling out the sky – but they go on, with a cruel optimism towards the everyday within the age of extreme climate change. To translate that into formal strategies is the work of documentary.”

Publication Announcement: New Contrast, Issue 212, In Memory of Diana Ferrus and Zoë Wicomb

We are pleased to announce the publication of New Contrast’s 212th Issue, In Memory of Diana Ferrus and Zoë Wicomb, which includes contributions from Premesh Lalu who holds the UK-SA Bilateral Chair in Culture and Technics at the CHR, and Bongani Kona (Department of Historical Studies, UWC).

Humanities in Sesssion, Artists’ Forum: Underwater Cables & Global Digital Infrastructure

This session, titled ‘Underwater Cables & Global Digital Infrastructure’, will be led by Ian Purnell, and Southbound Studio members, Kamil Adam Hassim, and Benji Anstey, who will be in conversation with the CHR’s Premesh Lalu.

International Workshop in Visual History and Theory, 2026 Book and Exhibition Launch: Makuapis

The CHR will be hosting its annual International Workshop in Visual History & Theory at Iyatsiba Lab on 16-17 October 2026, in partnership with Université-Paris-8, on the theme of ‘Looking Together.’ Migration, solidarity and mobility across time and space are key themes. This workshop includes a series of panels and lectures, and coincides with the launch of an exhibition, Makuapis, on Thursday 15 October at Iyatsiba Lab.

International Workshop in Visual History and Theory, 2026, Keynote lecture by Zeynep Devrim Gürsel

The CHR will be hosting its annual International Workshop in Visual History & Theory at Iyatsiba Lab on 16-17 October 2026, in partnership with Université-Paris-8, on the theme of ‘Looking Together.’ Migration, solidarity and mobility across time and space are key themes. The workshop includes a public keynote lecture by Zeynep Gürsel which will address border surveillance photography.