Humanities in Session: Indenture Aesthetics in South Africa with Jordache Ellapen

In Indenture Aesthetics, Jordache A. Ellapen examines the visual and performance art practices of feminist, queer, femme, and gender-nonconforming Afro-Indian and South African black artists to understand the paradoxes of freedom in contemporary South Africa. Tracing the afterlife of apartheid-era racial categories and revisiting Bantu Stephen Biko’s Black Consciousness, Ellapen theorizes South African blackness through the Indian Ocean World, showing how the development of an Afro-Indian identity after generations of indentured labor and segregation troubles persistent racial hierarchies.

Bio:

Jordache A. Ellapen is Associate Professor of Feminist Studies in Culture and Media at the University of Toronto. He has spent the last two years (2024-2026) as an Associate Professor of Black Studies at the University of Rochester. With graduate training in South Africa and the USA, Ellapen works at the intersections of Global Black Studies, Feminist and Queer Studies, and Visual Culture and Performance Studies. He is the author of Indenture Aesthetics: Afro-Indian Femininities and the Queer Limits of South African Blackness (Duke University Press, 2025).

Respondent:

Pralini Naidoo is a poet, storyteller, writing facilitator, and editor. She has recently submitted her PhD through the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, UWC. Her research focuses on erased/ hidden narratives of women who have descended from indenture in South Africa, and their relationships to earth, seed, food, and the other-than-human. She is the author of Wild has Roots, a collection of poems, reflections and short stories. Her written scholarly and creative work have been published in esteemed journals and anthologies. As a Black woman, and mother, Pralini is passionate about social justice. When she is not writing, Pralini offers yoga and grounding practices for community, communes with the ocean, and attempts to grow her own food.