Seminar 2020
Dear Colleagues and Members of the Public
You are cordially invited to attend the UJ Sociology, Anthropology & Development Studies Wednesday Seminar. The weekly seminar has been hosted by the Department of Sociology since 2000. It is supported by the UJ Faculty of Humanities and the UJ Department of Anthropology & Development Studies. Meetings are held on UJ’s Auckland Park Kingsway campus, at 15h00 on every Wednesday afternoon during term time, unless otherwise indicated.
Prospective presenters are encouraged to contact Dr David du Toit at daviddt@uj.ac.za.
Please find the current programme below. Those who wish to be added to the mailing list are welcome to send a request to daviddt@uj.ac.za.
Guests are asked to arrive at the venue by 14:50. Those coming from outside the UJ are advised to enter the campus through Gate 2 on the corner of Ditton and Ripley Streets and to park in Car Park B (scroll down for map). It may be helpful to show an invitation to the guard on duty.
The venue for the seminars is usually D-Ring 506, in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, unless differently indicated.
Best wishes
The Convenors: Wednesday Seminar
Term 4: The pandemic is a portal: Race, class and gender
9 September Prof Grace Khunou (Department of Sociology, UJ). Intersections: Theorising the Experiences of Black Women in the South African Academy. Discussant: Dr Simphiwe Nojiyeza (Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Zululand)
16 September Ms Mosilo Mothepu (Former CEO of Trillian Financial Advisory, state capture whistleblower). Active Citizenry in Times of Crisis: Costs, Implications and Rewards. Discussant: Mr Paddington Mutekwe, UJ.
30 September Dr Asanda Benya (Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town). Gender and Mining (TBC). Discussant: TBC
7 October Dr Mosa Phadi (Chair in Studies of Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University). The Economic Freedom Fighters: Rethinking Du Bois in a Tale of Reconstruction. Discussant: TBC
14 October Dr Nontsasa Nako (Department of Media, Language and Communication, Durban University of Technology). Face Value: What Helps Us See Victims of Violence? Discussant: Dr Chaymaa Hassabo (Research associate, Department of Sociology UJ).
21 October Dr Chinwe Obuaku (Department of Sociology, University of the Western Cape) Covid-19 in Africa (TBC) Discussant: TBC
Term 3: Social Anthropology and Development Studies in South Africa (Part II)
22 July Prof Gillian Hart (Department of Geography, University of California-Berkeley; Humanities Graduate Centre, University of Witwatersrand). Confronting the Covid Crisis in a Global Conjunctural Frame. Discussant: Prof Patrick Bond, UJ.
29 July Dr Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation). Extractivism, Activism and Climate Justice in Africa. Discussant: Dr Hali Healy (UJ Development Studies).
5 August Dr Victor Munnik (Research Associate, Society Work and Politics Institute at Wits; Research Associate at the NGO groundWork). Real, actual, empirical: Knowing what is happening in coal affected communities under lockdown, why, and what it implies for the Just Transition in South Africa. Discussant: Dalitso Materechera, UJ Development Studies.
12 August. Prof Steven Robbins (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University); Prof Peter Redfield (University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, Galvin at UJ); and Prof Mary Gelvin (UJ Develeopment Studies). The Pressure of Waste: Infrastructural anxieties in urban South Africa. Discussant: Anthony Kaziboni, UJ Sociology.
19 August. Prof Larry Swatuk (Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo; Extraordinary Professor, Institute for Water Studies, University of Western Cape). On Elephants – White and Otherwise: Critiquing dominant discourses about natural resources. Discussant: Masego Madzwamuse (TBC).
29 Augus. Dr Femke Brandt (Beneficial Technologies, Research Director). Agency, Resistance and the State around land in South Africa. Discussant: Dr Trevor Ngwane (UJ Sociology).
2 Sept. Dr. Cecilia Nedziwe (TBC, UJ, Development Studies). Rethinking SADC: A mixed actor approach to collective policymaking on external relations. Discussant: Dr. Westen K Shilaho, (SARChl – African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy).
Term 2: Social Anthropology and Development Studies in South Africa (Part I)
April 29 Catherine Burns (Adler Museum, Witwatersrand University). Faith, Hope and Science in the time of AIDS: The Sinikethemba Centre, Durban.
May 6 Keketso Peete (Anthropology, Witwatersrand University). The one without a home?: The close relations between using nyaope and homelessness.
May 13 Renée van der Wiel (Anthropology and Development Studies, UJ). Ethnography of knowledge producers in South African clinical medicine.
May 27 Suzal Timm (Anthropology and Development Studies, UJ). Surveillance in the Urban Informal Economy: A study of informal salvagers in Cape Town, South Africa.
Term 1: Contesting employment and unemployment issues in South Africa
05 Feb: Prof R. Indira (Department of Sociology, University of Mysore, India). Civil Society Activism and State Policy: Universities and Citizenship as Sites of Struggle.
12 Feb: Dr David du Toit (Department of Sociology, UJ). Beyond the Outsourcing of Domestic Work: A Discussion on Housecleaning Services in South Africa. Discussant: Prof Ingrid Palmary (UJ)
19 Feb: Dr Hannah Dawson (Society, Work and Politics Institute, Wits). Is Any Job Better Than No Job? A View from ‘Unemployed’ Youth in Urban South Africa. Discussant: Dr Trevor Ngwane (UJ)
26 Feb: Prof Lindy Heinecken (Department of Sociology, Stellenbosch University). Book launch: South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Military: Lost in Transition and Transformation. Discussant: Helmoed-Römer Heitman (Journalist, historian, military analyst and citizen soldier).
04 March: Dr Thabang Sefalafala (Department of Sociology, Wits). Unemployed Ex-Mineworkers, Inequality and the Problem of Wage Work. Discussant: Prof. Carin Runciman (UJ)
11 March: Dr Bernard Dubbeld (Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University). Granting the future? The temporality of cash transfers in the South African countryside. Discussant Prof Tapiwa Chagonda (UJ)
16 March: Prof Omari Jackson (Morgan State University). A Generation Out of Apartheid: Intergenerational Educational Experiences among the South African Black Middle Class. Discussant: Mr Lerato Kgosiemang (UJ)
18 March: Dr Mondli Hlatshwayo (Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, UJ); Prof. Rasignan Maharajh (Department of Science and Technology, TUT). Round Table discussion: Debating the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Issues and Challenges for South Africa