African Centre for Cities presents its annual seminar series by the Notations of Theories of Radical Urban Change (NOTRUC) project. The 2017 series is entitled 'Thinking Emancipatory Change from Cape Town, Nairobi to New Orleans'.
African Centre for Cities presents its annual seminar series by the Notations of Theories of Radical Urban Change (NOTRUC) project. The 2017 series is entitled 'Thinking Emancipatory Change from Cape Town, Nairobi to New Orleans'.
The third seminar in the annual ACC NOTRUC Seminar Series is presented by Koni Benson on Reflection is Part of Rehabilitation: Interventions in the History of a Land Occupation at 15:00 in Studio 3, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town. ABSTRACT In The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin writes: “To accept one’s past- one’s history- is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is, learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought.” This paper looks at the dynamics of invention and uses of history in the politics of a land occupation in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, where, in May 2011, over 5000 backyard shack dwellers occupied land to set up shacks on an empty field adjacent to the Kaptiensklip train station. From an initial 5,000 people the group dwindled to about 30 families who continued to defend their right to erect structures under which to sleep. The city offered them temporary relocation to Blikkiesdorp, a dumping ground, miles away from their families and support networks. What ensued was a round of court cases and appeals and, eventual eviction. What started as a document to record the brutality of the Anti-Land Invasion Unit became a co-authored book, Writing Out Loud: Interventions in the History of a Land Occupation written by Faeza Meyer and Koni Benson. The quote in the title of this paper comes from this book which creatively tracked 545 days of occupation, and raises questions about housing struggles, activism, situated solidarity, racism, writing, and feminist collaborative methodologies of approaching African history. The paper today will present a draft of a new introduction to the book, with the aim of sparking a conversation about Baldwin’s proposition of not inventing but of reflecting and using hard ‘truths’ about the past in the present, in this case, building and engaging struggles against ongoing segregation and criminalization of landlessness in Cape Town. More on the full seminar series here. More on the NOTRUC programme here.
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the establishment of the African Centre for Cities, we are hosting the ACC International Urban Conference from 1 to 3 February 2018, at the University of Cape Town.
Join African Centre for Cities for the second seminar the second seminar in our Urban Humanities series, Zayd Minty will be responding to Avril Joffe talking about Inclusive Cultural Governance: Integrating artistic and cultural practices into national urban frameworks WHEN: 16 August 2018 TIME: 15:00 to 16:30 VENUE: Studio 3, Environmental and Geographical Science Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town. SPEAKER Avril Joffe is an economic sociologist with experience in the field of cultural policy, culture and development and the cultural economy. She is the head of the Cultural Policy and Management Department at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Avril is an active member of UNESCO’s Panel of Experts for Cultural Policy and Governance undertaking missions to support African governments in developing cultural policies, cultural industry strategies, reporting on their implementation of the UNESCO Convention, writing and editing training manuals and recently contributed to the Global Monitoring Report 2018 on the ‘Integration of Culture in Sustainable Development’. Avril is a member of the South African Ministerial Review Panel to draft a revised cultural policy for South Africa. She is on the board of the National Arts Council and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee for the NAC. RESPONDENT Zayd Minty is a professional cultural development manager and curator. He has previously, since 1993, worked in and with the cultural sector, civil society, academia and government, in various leadership roles. In addition to cultural policy and strategy work, he has curated various arts projects and festivals. He is currently registered at the African Centre for Cities doing a doctorate looking at Cultural Clusters and Urban Development in the Johannesburg Inner City.
We are excited to host Valmont Layne from the University of the Western Cape's Humanities Research Centre who will be reflecting on 'Auditing’ vernacular Cape Town as a sonic city' ABSTRACT: Cape Town offers a generative example of the postcolonial port city as an affective space – especially reading its vernacular musicking lifeworld as sonic expressions of oceanic and terrestrial worlds. In this talk, Valmont Layne share some of the opportunities and challenges of doing this work, and will reflect on the possible implications for new epistemic engagements with the postcolonial city drawing on literatures on affect and on sound studies. WHEN: Thursday, 23 August 2018 TIME: 13:00-14:00 VENUE: Studio 3, Environmental and Geographical Science Buildings, Upper Campus, UCT
Dr Sabina Favaro will be sharing a paper entitled 'in search of thick mapping: listening to Cape Town’s cities'
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