Apartheid After South Africa—Legacies, Logics, and New Frontiers

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
APARTHEID AFTER SOUTH AFRICA:
LEGACIES, LOGICS, AND NEW FRONTIERS

29–31 July 2026, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

In this third iteration of the Towards Critical Apartheid Studies Conference, we invite contributions that interrogate how apartheid systems have travelled and adapted beyond their original South African context, even in cases where the term “apartheid” itself may not have been explicitly used.

We welcome comparative approaches that explore how apartheid manifests in other regions and the possibilities and limitations of such analysis.

We encourage examinations of the transnational legal, social, and political afterlives of apartheid, with reference to Namibia, Palestine, and elsewhere.

We invite analyses that treat apartheid as a global paradigm, tracing its resurgence in contemporary practices of border control, resource allocation, and surveillance, and how it structures the global order.

We further invite works that map the emerging frontiers and possible futures of apartheid, with particular attention to the role of digital, biometric, and artificial intelligence technologies.

Lastly, we invite contributions that critically examine the forms and trajectories of resistance to apartheid logics, both historically and in the present, and assess their effectiveness and relevance in today’s technological age.

DEADLINE: 04 MAY 2026

Innovation Foundation for Democracy
Towards Critical Apartheid Studies