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Apartheid's Legacy – ghosts, psyche, and trauma

29 September 2023 | Story Samkelo Fetile

The University of the Free State (UFS) is set to host a compelling book launch event, exploring the lasting legacy of apartheid. This thought-provoking gathering is organised by the Deputy Vice-Chancellors (Research and Internationalisation; Institutional Change, Strategic Partnerships and Societal Impact), the Directorate for Institutional Advancement, and the Faculties of Law (Centre for Human Rights) and The Humanities, with a cocktail reception to follow.

The overarching question guiding the event is a thought-provoking one: Even though apartheid has formally ended, to what extent does its legacy persist? This enquiry sets the stage for an exploration of diverse facets of this legacy by three distinguished authors – Premesh Lalu, Wahbie Long, and Saleem Badat. Their recently published works, namely Undoing Apartheid (Polity Press, 2022), Nation on the Couch: Inside South Africa’s Mind (MF Books, 2021), and Tennis, Apartheid and Social Justice: The First Non-Racial International Tennis Tour, 1971 (UKZN Press, 2023), respectively offer textured insights into the enduring shadows cast by apartheid on contemporary realities.

These authors will engage in a conversation with Sarah Nuttall, Professor of Literary and Cultural Studies at Wits and the former Director of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), who served in that capacity from 2012 to 2022.

Date: 12 October 2023

Time: 16:30-18:30

Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, UFS Bloemfontein Campus

For those interested in attending, RSVP by 6 October 2023 through the event registration. For further information, contact Alicia Pienaar at pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za.

The Speakers

The speakers include Premesh Lalu, Research Professor and former founding director of the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC); Wahbie Long, Professor in the Department of Psychology and Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town (UCT); and Saleem Badat, Research Professor in the Department of History at the UFS, former Programme Director of International Higher Education and Strategic Projects at the Andrew Mellon Foundation in New York, and former Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.

As South Africa grapples with the lingering impact of its apartheid history, this event promises an insightful exploration of the continuing reverberations of this historical trauma, inviting participants to reflect on the ways in which it continues to shape the present.

News Archive

Africa’s lost voice during the Second World War echoes throughout book

2016-08-24

Description: Second World War book launch Tags: Second World War book launch

Prof Judith Byfield and Prof Heidi Hudson at the
book launch of Africa and Second World War at the
UFS Sasol Library.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

If you pick up any historical record on the Second World War, you would see that, to a large extent, Africa has been missing from the history pages until now.

Africa and the Second World War (WW II) is a book edited by Prof Carolyn Brown from Rutgers University and Prof Judith Byfield from Cornell University in the United States. The book is the outcome of various papers presented during a workshop at Rutgers University and at a conference on WWII hosted at Cornell University.

The co-editors of the book were invited by Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS), to launch the book at the UFS. The Centre for Africa Studies at the university, in collaboration with the UFS Sasol Library, presented the launch on Tuesday 16 August 2016.

Bestowing honour upon Africa’s role during WW II
Many people do not know that WW II started in Ethiopia with the Italian Invasion. This is generally omitted from discussions or complete histories of WW II. The present book explores the experiences of male and female combatants, peasant producers, women traders, missionaries, and sex workers during the war. “Many people are not aware that Africa produced most of the mineral and agricultural during the war,” said Prof Brown.

Book to reach a greater audience for discussion
The co-editors hope that the book reaches people who teach WW II history, as many talk about only the nationalist movements. “The opening of the book also talks about the importance of South Africa during WW II,” said Prof Byfield. The authors hope that people will read the book to start thinking comparatively about the war.

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