The Body is Present: Rethinking the Afterlives of Violence & Legacies of Oppression the Body is Present

We are pleased to invite you to the second ‘Towards Critical Apartheid Studies’ Conference, convened under the theme” The Body is Present.”

This theme emerged from an effort to critically examine the afterlives of colonial–apartheid violence and the enduring legacies of systemic oppression. Although these legacies often manifest through violent protests and demonstrations, as seen in #RhodesMustFall, #FeesMustFall, and Marikana—events that have shaped South Africa’s recent histories. In truth, etched into the bodies of black South Africans, are century old stories of oppression and resistance. Further, our bodies mark the trajectory of our movements through time and space, whilst simultaneously marking that time and space with our presence. This interplay of hypervisibility and invisibility results in our current context wherein the violation of the black body remains the bedrock on which our conceptions of value, and power and legitimacy are rooted. Whether through ridicule, stereotypes, tropes, violations or brute force. This conference wants to want to consider what conceptions of freedom and corrective justice are adequate to address the embodied experience of black South Africans. What does it mean to centre bodily health and integrity in our conceptions of freedom and justice?

The conference seeks to centre the intimacy of violence and injustice. We are interested in not only the body – as it is present – but also in its shadows, silhouettes and shapeshifting. We seek to peek behind the veil of knowing, certainty and transparency. We encourage an attentiveness to embodied language: a slant, a shiver, silence. This move to expand the notions of legible narration of black lives opens the possibility for languaging new possibilities in the afterlife of immense trauma and violation.