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Contested Spaces: Epistemic (A)Symmetries, Mobilities, Identities
Key information
- Date
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- Time
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9:00 am to 5:00 pm
- Venue
- Virtual Event
About this event
SOAS University of London and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, present their first joint Symposium on the theme of 'Decolonising Knowledge'.
Welcome speeches by Professor Adam Habib (SOAS Director) & Professor Nana Poku (UKZN Vice Chancellor)
Keynotes by Prof Achille Mbembe, Prof Francis Nyamnjoh, Prof Desiree Lewis, Prof Carolyn Hamilton, Prof Ciraj Rassool
Zoom Links
Thursday 25th February
Zoom link 1 - 9am start
Contested Spaces Symposium 1: Welcome and Keynote Conversation on Decolonising Knowledge Production
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__OrfNeBLR36mxoUAIQMDOQ
Zoom link 2 - 10.30am start
Contested Spaces Symposium 2: Panel on Decolonising Knowledge Production/Africanising Knowledge
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3WaC2HTLSL6dWgP2uCgGKg
Zoom link 3 - 12.15pm start
Contested Spaces Symposium 3: Panel on Mobility, Migration, Diaspora
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6XON7c3NQgCMHIEQZljvkw
Zoom link 4 - 2pm start
Contested Spaces Symposium 4: Keynote Conversation: Archives, Museums and Heritage as Contested Spaces of Identity and Panel Discussion
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jYPq5y_hSduX1qlhKU9Taw
Friday 26th February
Zoom link 5 - 9am start
Contested Spaces Symposium 5: Welcome & Keynote Conversation with Professor Vivian Ojong (University of KwaZulu-Natal) and Professor Francis Nyamnjoh (University of Cape Town)
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SfX2efskQ-y3jy6rLdcolQ
Zoom link 6 - 10.15 start
Contested Spaces Symposium 6: Panel on Decolonisation and Feminist Voice/s & Keynote Conversation on Decolonisation and Feminist Voice/s
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Aqjhl7k2TVi1d1-TUFgNKw
Zoom link 7 - 12.45 start
Contested Spaces Symposium 7: Panel on Covid-19 - Issues of Human Rights and Social Justice
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hV88CteyTN-wUkACj9c8ww
Zoom link 8 - 2.15 pm start
Contested Spaces Symposium 8: Keynote Conversation with Professor Carolyn Hamilton & Professor Ciraj Rassool and Closing Remarks
https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J_TidfchQESHmKJbtr-BaA
Symposium Questions:
What are the possibilities for south-north collaborations in terms of knowledge production, embedded notions of power relations, interdisciplinarity, the exchange of ideas? How do the urban spaces that house our libraries, museums, and universities impact on our sense of the ‘global’ and the ‘local’, and our understandings of Africa and African in the world, and how do we navigate this research with fieldwork ‘on the ground’? How can rural spaces be recognised as potential repositories of (indigenous) memory and heritage? How do the vast distances that are so often required to bring collections – artefacts, archives, artworks – and curators together help us think of new archival itineraries and exhibition practices? How do the archives and texts marginalize/silence the voices of women? How is the history of slavery[U1] [U2] or neo colonial forms of slavery and enslavement being contested, re-remembered in culture and the curriculum? How is the issue of decolonization, Africanization and transformation being remembered and embedded in the curriculum?
The main themes of the Symposium are:
- Decolonizing knowledge production/Africanizing Knowledge Production
- Mobility, Migration, Diaspora
- Archives, museums & heritage as Contested Spaces of Identity
- Decolonization and Feminist Voice/s
- Human Rights, Social Justice and COVID-19
Programme
Day 1: 25 February 2021
| 9.00-9.15am (GMT) |
Welcome
Professor Adam Habib, Director, SOAS University of London Professor Nana Poku, Vice Chancellor, University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| 9.20-10.20am (GMT) |
Keynote Conversation: Decolonising Knowledge Production
Professor Achille Mbembe, University of the Witwatersrand Dr Amina Yaqin, SOAS University of London |
| 10.30-11.45am (GMT) |
Panel 1: Decolonising Knowledge Production/Africanising Knowledge
Chair: Dr Wayne Dooling, SOAS University of London Dr Awino Okech, SOAS University of London Africanising Knowledge at SOAS: Reflections on the Africa Review Dr Monica Otu, University of KwaZulu-Natal ‘What is Good for the World is Good for Africa’: Africanisation of Knowledge Production in the Context of Globalisation Dr Meera Sabaratnam, SOAS University of London The Structure-Agency Problem in the Context of Decolonising Knowledge Professor Paulus Zulu, University of KwaZulu-Natal “Decolonisation” and “Africanisation” of Knowledge: Political or Ideological Concepts? |
| 11.45am-12.00pm (GMT) |
Musical Interlude
Chats Devroop and Jamy-Lee Simons 1. What a wonderful world (instrumental) 2. Versace on the floor (instrumental) 3. Killing me softly (vocal) 4. Saving all my love for you (vocal) |
| 12.15-1.45pm (GMT) |
Panel 2: Mobility, Migration, Diaspora
Chair: Professor Laura Hammond, SOAS University of London Professor Kalpana Hirala, University of KwaZulu-Natal Gendered Migrations in the Political Economy of Natal Dr Biniam Misgun, University of KwaZulu-Natal Playing with Sameness and Difference: Ethnography of Transnational Practices of Ethiopian Migrants in Durban Mr Onyekachi Wambu, AFFORD Remembrance, Restitution and the 10 ‘R’s: Processing the past and increasing cultural understanding of legacies of enslavement and colonialism in the African World |
| 2.00-3.00pm (GMT) |
Keynote Conversation: Archives, Museums and Heritage as Contested Spaces of Identity
Professor Paul Basu, SOAS University of London Ms Elsie Owusu OBE RIBA, Architect, Director of JustGhana Ltd |
| 3.15-4.30pm (GMT) |
Panel 3: Archives, Museums and Heritage as Contested Spaces of Identity
Chair: Dr Wayne Dooling, SOAS University of London Dr Kai Easton, SOAS University of London Curating South-North-South Itineraries: Scenes from the South | an international travelling exhibition on the archives of J. M. Coetzee Dr Ettore Morelli, SOAS University of London ‘Surrounded with Blue Books, photostats of manuscripts and many-volumed histories of South Africa’: Collecting the pieces of the scattered archive of Ronald Stretton Webb, 1892-1976 Professor Goolam Vahed, University of KwaZulu-Natal ‘Where’s Our Monument?’ Commemorating Indian Indentured Labour in South Africa |
Day 2: 26 February 2021
| 9.00-9.15am (GMT) |
Welcome
Professor Andrea Cornwall, SOAS University of London Professor Vivian Ojong, University of KwaZulu-Natal |
| 9.15-10.00am (GMT) |
Keynote Conversation
Chair: Professor Vivian Ojong, University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Francis Nyamnjoh, University of Cape Town |
| 10.15-11.30am (GMT) |
Panel 4: Decolonisation and Feminist Voice/s
Chair: Professor Maheshvari Naidu, University of KwaZulu-Natal Dr Roselyn Kanyemba, University of KwaZulu-Natal/HEARD Higher education spaces as radical sites for female resistance and refutation: A case of Great Zimbabwe University Dr Lubna Nadvi, University of KwaZulu-Natal Evaluating Replications of Orientalist forms of Knowledge as Patriarchy: A focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Professor Vivian Ojong, University of KwaZulu-Natal Decolonizing the church: what should constitute the agenda for African Christian Feminist? Dr Sharmla Rama, University of KwaZulu-Natal Reflecting on the Gender Curriculum Content and Pedagogic Practice in Undergraduate Sociology Courses in the Context of Calls for Decolonization, Africanization and Transformation in South Africa Dr Amina Yaqin, SOAS University of London Contesting Islamophobia Through Islamic Feminism |
| 11.30am-12.30pm (GMT) |
Keynote Conversation: Decolonisation and Feminist Voice/s
Professor Desiree Lewis, University of the Western Cape Dr Awino Okech, SOAS University of London |
| 12.30-12.45pm (GMT) |
Musical Interlude
Chats Devroop and Jamy-Lee Simons 1. What a wonderful world (instrumental) 2. Versace on the floor (instrumental) 3. Killing me softly (vocal) 4. Saving all my love for you (vocal) |
| 12.45-2.00pm (GMT) |
Panel 5: Covid-19 - Issues of Human Rights and Social Justice
Chair: Professor Wayne Dooling, SOAS University of London Professor Mashood Baderin, SOAS University of London The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Right to the Best Attainable State of Health in Africa: Back to the Roots? Professor Fareda Banda, SOAS University of London Who Benefits from the Right to Scientific Progress? Dr Christina Kgari-Masondo, University of KwaZulu-Natal Covid-19 and the implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution principles in Higher Education on the African child in South Africa: Umuntu Akalahlwa Pedagogy. Dr Lukhona Mnguni, University of KwaZulu-Natal Observing social distancing in the time of COVID-19 and foretelling prospects for social justice Dr Janet Muthuki, University of KwaZulu-Natal COVID-19 Issues of Marginalization/Social Justice Dr Balungile Zondi, University of KwaZulu-Natal Unpacking marginalization and social justice in the advent of Covid-19 in South Africa: Myth and Reality |
| 2.15-3.15pm (GMT) |
Keynote Conversation
Professor Carolyn Hamilton, University of Cape Town Professor Ciraj Rassool, University of the Western Cape |
| 3.30-4.00pm (GMT) |
Closing Remarks
Professor Andrea Cornwall, SOAS University of London Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize, University of KwaZulu-Natal |
The book of abstracts and speaker biographies can be found in the Symposium Brochure .
Registration
This event is open to the public, however registration is required. Online Registration
Organiser: SOAS Centre of African Studies and the University of KwaZulu-Natal
Contact email: cas@soas.ac.uk