On the Subject of Citizenship: A colloquium marking 20 years since the publication of Mahmood Mamdani’s Citizen and Subject
subject of citizenship poster
The Migrating Violence platform of the DST-NRF Flagship in Critical Thought in African Humanities of the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape will be hosting ‘On the Subject of Citizenship’, a colloquium marking 20 years since the publication of Mahmood Mamdani’s Citizen and Subject.
When the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani posed the question of the problem of postcolonial Africa as not only the question of how Europe underdeveloped Africa, but how ‘Europe ruled Africa’ it broke new ground in contemporary scholarship on violence in post-independence Africa. It turned our attention to the political question of citizenship and belonging as central to making sense of seemingly intractable conflicts. The centrality of historicizing citizenship, difference, secularism, majority and minority distinctions remains even more germane to making sense of the contemporary postcolonial world. We are reminded that promises of liberal freedom remain hegemonic but also intensely chimerical and inadequate both to think with and to construct political community out of. This colloquium honors this seminal book by inviting you to join a group of scholars from across the world to critically reflect on the limits and possibilities of the questions that Citizen and Subject raised.
The colloquium will feature the following presenters:
- Mahmood Mamdani
- Abdelwahab al-Effendi Osman
- Nivedita Menon
- Kuang-Hsing Chen
- Karuna Mantena
- Karuna Mantena
- Partha Chatterjee
- Juan Obarrio
- Siba N’Zatioula Grovogui
- Lyn Ossome
- Steven Friedman
- Lungisile Ntsebeza
- Namla Matshanda
- Ari Sitas
- Mbongiseni Buthelezi
- Brian Raftopolous
- Suren Pillay
A public lecture by Professor Mamdani titled “South Sudan: The Road to Civil War” will open the colloquium on the 18th of August 2016. Please see poster below for further details, or contact the CHR at centreforhumanitiesresearch@gmail.com
For more information on the colloquium and related events, please visit http://
