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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Institute for Humanities in Africa
Food for thought and room for lively, intellectual debate
A full and lively events programme in the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) – some 60 events in 2012 – was critical
to realising the mission to create and champion a space for inter-disciplinary research and debate for graduate students
and their peers. Events included two regular weekly seminars: a series structured by the dual research themes
On Being
Human
and
Circuits of Consumption,
and a series of 'book lunches' intended to open discussion with authors of books
published in the humanities.
Research Profile
Perhaps the liveliest 'book lunch' – in a room filled with
people and strong views – was that of
The Second
Sexism
by David Benatar, in which he maintains that men
are the victims of new and pernicious modes of gender
discrimination.
The year saw the launch of Continental Connections –
seminars, lectures and workshops presented by invited
visitors from Mali, Ghana, Uganda, and Nigeria. The first
event dealt with discourse analysis: a combination of two
lectures grappling with the genealogy of the concept
of discourse, and a workshop focused on conducting
discourse analysis.
A one-day symposium to mark the 50th anniversary of
the publication of Rachel Carson’s
Silent Spring
proved
an especially successful event, convened around the
visit to HUMA of keynote speaker Professor Rob Nixon
(University of Wisconsin, Madison). The symposium
planted the seed for an inter-disciplinary master’s in
Environmental Humanities – a first in South Africa.
Certain events are conventionally academic; others are
intended for the wider public. Cape Town Commons is a
HUMA public platform for debate on matters of citizenship
in this city. The focus event for 2012 was the scandalous
waste of public funds by the National Lotteries Board
directly affecting the lifelines of a surprising number of
Cape Town NGOs. The event was attended by hundreds
from Cape Town and its wider environs.
Other notable events held in 2012 included a series
of seminars held under Shamil Jeppie’s research
programme on African Arabic writing cultures in which
local western-style calligraphers and scholars of Arabic
writing spoke about the theory that informs their practice.
Renowned Moroccan calligrapher Hamidi Belaid also ran
a calligraphy course at the Michaelis School of Fine Art.
Research highlights included Deborah Posel’s work on the
politics of consumption in South Africa, which produced
an analysis of the ANC Youth League under Julius
Malema, and Ilana van Wyk's twin research emphases on
prosperity gospel churches and the South African lottery,
which resulted in a series of publications and lectures.
Zethu Matebeni’s research, delving into questions of
sexuality, and sexual and identity politics, culminated
in a well-attended public debate in Langa township. A
short film about the politics of gay and lesbian pride in
South Africa was produced from this event. Matebeni
concluded a four-year research project concerning HIV
risk and the vulnerability of women in Southern Africa.
A journal article published in
Agenda
addressed issues
around pornography and feminism in South Africa,
and Matebeni also published the book
Black Lesbian
Sexualities and Identity in South Africa
, based on her
PhD thesis.