Diary of a Travelogue: My visit to Siavonga, Zambia in 2007

A Journey to Zambia for the Insaka International Artists’ Workshop.

September 2007

Having been invited to participate in the Insaka International Artists’ Workshop in Zambia I wrote the following letter to the then Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University where I teach:

 Department of Fine and Applied Arts

 Nnamdi Azikiwe University

 Awka

 Anambra State

 Nigeria

11^TH  July, 2007.

The Vice Chancellor,

Nnamdi Azikiwe University

Awka.

Through

The Chairman,

Conference Documentation Committee

UNIZIK.

Through

The Dean,

Faculty of Arts, UNIZIK.

Through

The  Head

Department of Fine and Applied Arts, UNIZIK.

Sir,

APPLICATION FOR  PERMISSION AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO TRAVEL TO SIAVONGA, ZAMBIA FOR THE 4^TH INSAKA INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WORKSHOP

I wish to seek  for  your permission and financial assistance to travel to Siavonga, Zambia for the 4^th Insaka International artists workshop taking place between 31^st August to 13th September 2007.

Out of all the Nigerian applicants, I was the only one selected for the workshop and the selection was based on the proposal written, professional achievements and photos  of artworks submitted.

I wish to solicit for your financial support to the tune of  one hundred and sixty thousand naira (N160,000.00)  as the Insaka committee cannot provide this for any of the participants.

The financial support will be used to settle the expenses as follows:

1.Travelling expenses to and from Lusaka, Zambia: N120,000.00

2. Overnight expenses in Siavonga for two weeks:   N40,000.00

Total…………………………………………………N160,000.00

I believe this exhibition will further elevate the status of our institution and also showcase the laudable gestures of this present administration and even initiate a working relationship between UNIZIK and the host group through which other  projects may be achieved.

Enclosed below is a copy of my letter from Insaka.

I await your kind reply.

Sincerely Yours,

Okechukwu NWAFOR (Lecturer II)

Department of Fine and Applied Arts,

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

The letter was approved by Prof. Ilochi Okafor, the then Vice Chancellor together with the sum of 60 thousand Naira. I went to Abuja for my Visa and after about two weeks of rigorous Visa process, I secured the Visa for Zambia. Below is a report I wrote concerning the Workshop:

The story began and ended in Butete, the serene, sleepy village south of Zambia where the artists lived and worked during the workshop. Lurked within the dry, infertile side of Zambia, Butete indeed may not be among the blessed children of  nature as artists arrived in the desolate and forlorn landscape of this land which may have lacked rainfall for as long as 12 months or more. Greeted by an indigent inhabitants and a windy but dry weather, artists settled to the little abode of a bay comprising about fifteen thatched- roofed houses built by a European known as Kennedy. The houses had short walls which created an impression of one lying in the open-thanks to our sleeping bags and blankets. For the organisers of this workshop, the choice of the venue was advisedly for a purpose: firstly, to evade comfort and uphold Chaim Potok’s view that ‘Comfort is the death of art’ and secondly to afford artists an opportunity to experience the calmness of a great lake-Lake Kariba, the largest man-made  lake in the world, which lies beside our abode. Despite the harshness of life for Butete locals, artists convened under a most calculating union and allowed the extenuating circumstances of Butete and Lake Kariba to govern their creative instincts. Eventually, all adversities were cushioned by the common interest as ideas took precedence over suffering or in philosophical parlance, ‘mind ascended over matter’.

On the workshop were: myself from Nigeria, Ruth from Scotland, Bevas from New York, Aditi from India, Maryan from Kenya, Sheila from Uganda, Clarence from Zimbabwe, Marna from South Africa and Daniel from South Africa too. We were nine invited artists and twelve artists from Zambia.

The very first day of the workshop was the day I arrived Lusaka and could not join them. I, Daniel from South Africa and Bevas from New York arrived late so we joined the rest on 3^rd September.

3^rd September 2007: Everybody had started work. Some people worked on oil, some on acrylic, some on wood and some on stone while some like me tried their hands on installation. I had collected chips from the sculptors’ wood and used them to build a base for a painting. As dusk approached artists retreated to their tents and prepared for the dinner. After dinner, the artists gathered together as Zenzele Chulu, the coordinator of Insaka in Zambia made an introduction and overview of previous workshops in slide format.

The night was now dark and sounds of drumbeats echoed from a little distance. Chulu announced that the sounds were that of the little village children who had come to interact with us. This was part of the aims of the workshop-interaction with the local community. The children formed a circle as one or two of them danced to the middle to the rhythm of the drums. They were excellent drummers and dancers. The artists watched in admiration and eventually few of us joined them. It was a fulfilling night.

4^th September 2007:  Work commenced as usual after breakfast. Most artists were trying something new. Marna from South Africa and Aditi from India were trying their hands on wood which according to them was their first time. I had finished an installation on a tree using polyethene bags. It looked interesting.  We took a walk into the village. We trekked close to the Kariba Lake and interacted with the villagers and took photos with them. In the evening immediately after dinner there was an art presentation by myself and Daniel. I spoke on War as my topic while Daniel spoke on Confinement.

5^th September 2007: Work commenced. Everybody concentrated. There was lunch and dinner after which Marna from South Africa and Aditi from India presented their works.

6^th September 2007 (Thursday): After breakfast we were told that we will be going on a  boat ride on the kariba Lake. The ride was in batches. Some went ahead of us. We drove in a truck for about 20 kilometers and came to a village where the boat was waiting. We entered and although I was afraid initially but as the boat moved, my fear was allayed. At the middle of the lake we saw 3 Hippos. The day rolled by and today’s presentation was by Alumedi from Zambia and Clarence from Zimbabwe.

7^th September 2007: Work continued. From my work position, the sound from the sculptors’ machines was strong. It reminded me of my days in University of Nigeria when we worked into the night and the sound of similar machines wafted from the sculpture studio into our own painting studio. But the difference here was that Zambian sculptors worked mainly on stone because there is availability of hard stones.

8^th September 2007 (Saturday): Today we went to Kariba Bridge. This bridge demarcates Zambia and Zimbabwe and the dam was a joint project between the two countries. This is where the major electric power of both countries was generated. From this bridge one could see Zimbabwe hidden by steep hills and lonely border. From here we went to a lake side where we swam. The journey back to the bay took 1 and half hours. Today, Tom Phiri from Zambia, Lombe Insama from Zambia and Ruth MacDougall from Scotland presented their works.

9^th September2007 (Sunday): Some Christian participants attended the local church while others worked. Today Mulenga from Zambia, Sheila from Uganda, Partrick from Zambia  and Adrain from Zambia presented their works.

10^th September2007: Work continued. Presentation was by Bevas from New York, Maryan from Kenya, Lutanda from Zambia.

11^th September 2007: Today was the final day for production. Most artists had finished while some were rounding off. Later in the day, the mounting started. The trees around Butete bay provided the base for the mounting of works. After dinner most of us gathered together in what appeared as the grand finale of all night sessions in Butete bay. There was no topic initially but Bevas introduced a topic, ‘My First Love’. It was very exciting listening to one another recount his or her first love experience. So private a topic was it that some people like Marna from South Africa, Sheila from Uganda and Aditi from India declined to join. But it was an attempt to kill the boring long hours of the night and create alternate leisure that propelled us into those private stories. The discussion continued and Marna, I and some others had provided some drinks which everybody enjoyed while the discussion lasted. The night advanced and the weather was becoming chilling cold. Clarence took us into more daring, adventurous stories of youthful lust and exuberance but because it was seen as an adult forum people’s sense of decency may not have been offended. It was a night of laughter, excitement and fraternization.

12^th September 2007: The opening ceremony of the exhibition was today. Each artist endeavoured to mount his works on the trees scattered around the bay. The invitees had started arriving. Around 3pm, Mr Bright Chimba of The National Arts Council, Zambia made a speech and the representative of the Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare Mr. Wesley Kaonga formally declared the exhibition open. Also in attendance were representative of The Kenyan High Commissioner, Helen kenani and representative of The Nigerian High Commissioner in Zambia, Nnamdi.   A bus filled with Zambian artists arrived. Most of them wore dreadlocks  and raucously formed a beehive in the once serene environs of Butete  bay. At nightfall around 10pm, most of these artists gathered around a bonfire singing, dancing and beating drums. I joined them and we beat drums until past midnight.

13^th September 2007: (Thursday). Works had been dismantled and packed in the long truck. The artists mounted the lorry and soon we set off for the four hour journey back to Lusaka. The journey was rough because it was an unusual road of snaking turns made more dangerous by the ubiquitous presence of heavy trucks and trailers. The risk was compounded by the ongoing reconstruction which was aimed at widening the narrow road, forcing motorists to use one lane. We got to Lusaka in the evening. Works were dismantled. We checked into Kuombouka backpackers, a guest house located along Makanta close, Lusaka.

14^th September 2007:  Departure.

Reflections

My interactions with Zambian artists were not restricted to the art domain. As a journalist, I had engaged some of them in discussions involving a wide range of issues. For example, I discovered that Nigerian home video is more popular in Zambia than any other film industry including that of Hollywood. Every Zambian I met seems to know much about Nigerian film actors and actresses more than myself. The most popular is Osuofia (Nkem Owoh) and Genevieve. And they seem to be fascinated by Osuofia’s music, “I Go Chop Your Dollar” more than the films. Moreso, Chinua Achebe commands more popularity than any other Nigerian writer. Most Zambians have either read or heard about “Things  Fall Apart” by  Chinua Achebe.

In a nutshell, to most Zambians, Nigeria remains a figure of fame, honour and accomplishment; a nation made more visible by her ingenious populace.

*          *             *       *           *         * 

Kariba Dam in my mind is one of the greatest human feats and the dam itself could be the largest in the world. The construction of the dam was actually by a demarcation of a tributary of the Zambezi River by a very high wall which could have gulped millions of dollars. Looking down from the bridge one could feel the towering and imposing sensation of a height stretching about 500 metres down. At the lake side in Siavonga, we stopped and I bought some oranges from some Zimbabwean women. These women were keen to know where I came from. Having told them that I am a Nigerian, they asked me if we were shooting a film. They only recognize Nigeria through home video from what I understood. The town of Siavonga where this lake side is located has electricity (unlike Butete where we lived) and development is religiously conservative as people have not got that radical vigour possessed by inhabitants of even the remotest village in  my country, Nigeria.

Arrival at Lusaka International Airport. L-R Zenzele Chuku, Okechukwu Nwafor, Jerry Miko. September 2007.






Okechukwu Nwafor with Daniel Mosako in Siavonga, Zambia, September, 2007.


Okechukwu Nwafor with Swala Lubinda (Right), a Zambian artist and her friend. Lusaka, Zambia, September 2007



A trek to the village in Siavonga, Zambia, September 2007.

Exiled lives, complicated lives, Minneapolis, 2011

By Okechukwu Nwafor

This is my first trip to the United States. Having spent almost three years as a PhD student in History Department at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, I moved to the University of Minnesota as an Associate Researcher at ICGC. This prestigious post comes from the collaboration of ICGC with Center for Humanities Research at UWC where I was a doctoral fellow. I was one of the three fellows that went for the programme. The rest are Steve Akoth from Kenya and Vilho Shigwedha from Namibia.

Just the next day in Minneapolis I had gotten a sim for my phone through the help of Sara. Sara did not know much about international calls so she took me to a Somali shop where I bought a sim and the Somali shop owner taught me how to make international calls. I called my younger sister who lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and children. She was happy that I arrived safely. I was also happy to hear from her and my mum, who has come to visit them since December 2010.  This is the first time I spoke with my sister after about a period of 5 years. I heard her voice and the long stretch of silence was broken. We connected back. For five years, distance, imposed by exile, has severed all communications with her. She was also disconnected from many others at home (Nigeria). Hearing my sister’s voice after five years reminds me of how unpleasant exile can be at times. Exile disconnects you. It makes you invisible. Not only that, it makes you ambiguous, and your personality, your life, becomes complicated and open to multiple interpretations.


Mind you my use of exile here is not as simplistic as the ordinary meaning of exile. For me exile could be a communication disconnection for those in the diaspora.  While it might not matter whether one is at home or in the diaspora, I concentrate on those in the diaspora for a particular reason. If you migrate from a hinterland in Nigeria into a self-imposed exile in Lagos, people at home wouldn't regard you as living in exile. They will not bother you much. To  them you are still with them. But as soon as you migrate from Lagos and head towards the 'West,' exile hovers over your image like a halo. The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben and Liisa  Malkki may have taught us a lot on exile. You may refer to  Agamben's Homo Sacer or Malkki's  Purity and Exile for more on the theoretical  and conceptual readings on exile.For now let me talk to my popular folks. 

Exile was the case of few Igbo people I met in Minneapolis in just two weeks. My sister called her friend who lives in Minneapolis and she came with her husband over the weekend to see me. She and her husband were good people and they were happy to see me. We exchanged pleasantries.  We discussed about home (Nigeria) and then briefly about Cape Town where I have been studying for about 4 years. Our discussions about home (Nigeria) cut across a range of subjects including failure of governance, the challenges of Nigeria as a nation state, kidnappings, Boko Haram bombings, Niger Delta, power failure, insecurity, among other issues.

Reminiscing on the above discussions, it was obvious to me that Nigeria is really an unresolved conundrum.  I thought that Nigeria is a behemoth that scared and terrified her own children.  I thought that Nigeria drove her children into exile. It was from my interactions with some Nigerians in exile here in Minneapolis that I draw the conclusions of my text on exile. As my text will show, exiled lives are complicated. Speaking to someone in exile from home always sounded like reading a book in esoteric language. There was always a communication gap.  And no middle ground was ever established. The question remains why exiled lives are complicated.

Larry, the husband to my sister’s friend came on Saturday to take me to meet some Igbo people in Minneapolis. We went specifically to Anambra State Association Meeting in Minneapolis. Larry drove in a beautiful, posh Toyota jeep. After about 20 minutes drive we arrived at the venue of the meeting. The neighbourhood looks quite dignified: well cut lawns, beautifully planned estate, and exquisite apartments made up of duplexes and well fed dogs. The dogs backed and jumped around with confidence. The sight of this neighbourhood immediately reminded me of an idealized image of paradise in the book, My Book of Bible Stories which I read as a child. In that book, paradise was constructed as a place of grand pleasure where calmness, exotic beauty and scenic wonders converged. Paradise was produced as a place where the wild engaged humans in a gesture of harmless and innocent embrace. Peace, harmony and tranquillity were the threads that bound humans and the wild together in this paradise. And this is just a place you would want to retire permanently.

This neighbourhood of the Anambra Association meeting in Minneapolis is similar to the above image of paradise. The only difference is that, unlike the beatific naiveté and harmless charge of the wild in the paradise of My Book of Bible Stories, in the paradise of the Anambra Association neighbourhood, dogs violently ‘roared’ at us, with menacing aggression, like lions. ‘Roaring’ dogs in this neighbourhood made me ponder one thing: could it be true that beneath the picture of beauty and peace that this apartment and its neighbourhood portrayed lie some feelings of inadequacy, nostalgia, and loss. I wondered. I shall discover subsequently.

I saw Anambra Igbos as they converged in the small living room where one of their own was hosting the meeting. Their meeting was organized with Chairman, Secretary, Provost, Financial secretary, and other officials important in any organized meeting. Larry, who brought me happened to be the financial secretary. The agenda of the meeting cut across many issues including developmental initiatives and how to forge ahead as a people in the diaspora.  Surprisingly to me, the level of organization I found in this meeting belied the chaos I found in similar meetings back home. People behaved in mature ways here. Everyone was respectful. Back home such meetings would only end in fisticuffs, swearing, accusations and bragging. My question again is why the organization in exile. That collective chaos at home did suddenly transform to collective unison in exile is still a question whose answer may appear sooner or later.

I attended so many other meetings and parties including Umunne meeting. ‘Umunne’ in Igbo means ‘brethren’. It was an umbrella of all Igbos in Minneapolis or even Minnesota. It was much organized like the Anambra Association meeting. Anambra is only a state of the five states that make up Igbos in Nigeria. So Umunne is thus a collective of the other five Igbo states.

I eventually came to the conclusion on why the Igbos are organized in exile. They have been driven out of Nigeria by a common goal. Their goal was to come to the United States and make it, to achieve and then go back home with proofs of their achievements. The biggest reason why the Igbos are well mannered here in exile, I think, is because the system is also well mannered. They attempt to emulate the system in language, in lifestyle, in the struggle for survival. However there is one reason which helps in bringing them together. The reason is a terrible feeling of lack and loss. They need to chart a common cause. They need to seek the face of their brethren. Their shock, on getting to the United States is the sudden realization of the non-existence of African styled neighbourhood. They realized that there is a failure of brotherhood in the African sense here in exile. To invoke this brotherhood, they form Associations where they meet regularly to commune. In the process they hope that their children would interact, know themselves and then look forward to possible life-time networking and relationships that may end in marriage. The Igbos are faced with a terrible dilemma of losing their children to the system. The dilemma lies in escaping the ugly scenario at home to face another ugly scenario in exile. There is the dilemma of the Devil’s alternative. There is a game of chance: choosing between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Of course one knows the best choice: living with the Devil in hell fire or dilly-dallying with Sharks inside the Deep Blue Sea.

The risk is that Igbo children would get swallowed by the system.  If you understand what it means for your child as a Black African to get swallowed by the American system then you would become terrified. It means that your male child would wear his trouser half way between his buttocks and his legs, and walk in a crazy way, as though his legs are flying off his trousers. It is called sagging. It means that your son would always mime one radical tune in the name of music every time you admonish him into studying. It means that your teenage son can say to you ‘Dad F*** off.’ It means that your daughter can elope with an “AKATA” to God-knows-where, among many others. Don’t ask me the meaning of AKATA because I don’t know. This is because if you were at home, you may have the ‘privilege’ of giving your son or daughter six strokes of the whip, or a sound and dirty slap, when you think he or she is misbehaving without the risk of getting suspended like the judge who did same to her daughter and was caught by the camera. You know the judge’s fate more than I do. So you lose all the privileges of ‘African’ styled moral upbringing. You lose your power as a parent. You lose your voice and your head would swell like a tabula rasa.   Now I am sure you know the reasons why exiled lives are complicated. 

Chilling out under the cold winter

Clearing the snow to sit down 

Sitting down

Make the what???

Chilling out with some Igbo men 

You see what I was telling you. I saw this on the wall of a corporate organization on my way to downtown Minneapolis to pay for my TV and internet bills

At the ASA Conference in Washington DC, November 2011. L-R Helena Porlandt-McCormick, Leslie Witz, Okechukwu Nwafor

    

The Longest elevator in Dupont Center, Washington DC. 

Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor.

With Prof. Obiora Udechukwu at the Late Prof. Ivan Karp lecture at the ASA Conference in Washington DC, November 2011.

The Dangers for Posterity: Know it now.

A certain girl thought that 'lol' means "lots of love" and sent in the following text to her boyfriend; "sorry 2 hear about your mom's death....LOL.

      In the above statement, you can see that ‘to’ has been replaced with ‘2’ and ‘mother’ by ‘mom’. She even did well, some will write it in this manner, ‘sorry 2 hr abt ur mom’s death’...lol.

     The above encapsulates the dangers posed by technology to the future generation. The danger is grave and demands urgent attention. Our children are literally brainwashed. Let my use of brainwashed not constitute a point of critical attack as in the case of the American Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain who said that Black Americans are brainwashed. I mean that our future generation have lost a sense of direction and focus. I will give you some examples.

    These days, when most young teenagers walk on the streets, they cover their ears with a head speaker and look into their phones. Is it not enough to lose track of one’s direction or navigation? When they arrive at their homes, instead of concentrating on their schoolwork, they enter facebook. Now instead of facing the schoolbook, they face ‘facebook,’ or they face the phone book through either blackberry chat or what South Africans call mixit. Is it not a way of losing one’s focus and direction from future goals?

    Because they spend most of their time in these virtual spaces, they learn a new way of conversing in sign languages. That is why the above girl thought that everything is understood in sign language. We can therefore pardon her misreading of lol. But let us be more sincere here. Is the meaning of lol not actually ‘lots of love?’ who invented lol? Are they not those who tell us the meanings of the sign languages they invent online?

And why are the younger generation fascinated by these sign languages? The reason is simple: attempt to seek short cuts. There is an increasing desire to cut shorts in the present technological world and this is part of the bane of the younger generation. The younger generation do not want to waste time writing a complete word when they can cut it short. Some of them are so dexterous with it that you need to attend their lectures to be able to grasp. They cut the words short by the passing days. In one class assignment a university undergraduate student wrote in her work, ‘tkia’ in place of ‘take care.’ The lecturer, who incidentally is also well versed in the sign language, summoned the student and she did not see anything wrong in writing that. That is why I recommend this very interesting book by Theodore Roszak: The Making of a Counter Culture, Reflections on the technocratic society and its youthful opposition.

    By technocracy, Roszak means the ideal men usually have in mind when they propose a modernizing, enlightening, rationalizing, progress in the technological, industrializing society. I do not know whether technocracy derives from techno-logy. I believe it is part of the slogans of ‘specially trained experts.’  Goethe, according to Roszak,  believes that “nothing is more inadequate than a mature judgement when adopted by an immature mind”. Therefore the argument Roszak proposes is that the expertise of our experts has succeeded in disorienting our adolescents such that they have developed a revolutionary potential towards the new inventions. They have embraced the need for ‘unrestricted joy’ promised by the new technological world.  There is no stopping them. Any attempt to stop them will hit a brick wall. We only need to stop our technocracy, simple.

    One can argue that our youths have capitulated to the excesses of our technocracy. The consequence of this capitulation is a rebellious attitude difficult to deal with.  Multiple lives are being lived in the internet and it is sheer futility to keep track of your child’s attempt to circumvent you these days. She/he talks in spirit. Even when he/she is walking with you, she is conversing but, trust, you cannot understand his/her language. You are lost. 

    Assuming you have a teenage daughter and you think she is being mislead, you are, rather, the one that is being mislead. Constantly, through modern technological Social Network devices such as facebook, her ears are at work, as much as her eyes, her fingers, her senses, and so on. You think real stuff in the physical world, and she thinks funny stuffs in online world.  You want to read a good book, be it in kindle or anywhere, she wants to read sign languages in FB or phone. You want to do real shopping for valuable stuffs in amazon.com, she wants to shop for phone or other funny stuffs in amazon.com. This is where the real ‘clash of civilization’ lies. You want to go to bed and wake up refreshed with robust energies and new, creative insights, she goes to bed very late, thanks to spellbinding sign language discussion in facebook. The consequence is her late wake and eventual loss of direction throughout the day. The above is equally true if your child is male teenager. It shocks me how these young people make it. They belong to so many Social Networks. They make numerous contacts: both humans and ghosts. They perform very poorly in their schoolwork. You wonder why. Now you know why.

Okechukwu Nwafor

University of Minnesota, October 8, 2011.

Life in Minneapolis

I arrived Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 16 to resume duty as an Associate Researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC), University of Minnesota. Since then I have been working on my dissertation and on Friday 16 September, I presented one of my chapters in the ICGC Brown Bag Series. The title of my paper is "Aso ebi and the ambivalence of Solidarity, Friendship and Oneness in Nigeria." It was well received.

I had struggled to understand the visual matrix of the city of Minneapolis. In just one month I have become acquainted with the road signs. Cecilia, one of the fellows at ICGC contacted her friend who lent me one of his spare bicycles. On October 1, I started biking. Biking made it easier for me to get to campus, from my apartment at 616 SE 10th Avenue, in just 6 minutes, a distance which usually took me 25 minutes if I walk.

I biked almost the whole of Minneapolis on Sunday October 2. It was an exciting experience. Since, as I thought, I cannot ride bike in my hometown, this is a rare opportunity for me. The reason why I cannot ride back home in Nigeria is not only because of the non-availability of the infrastructures for biking, including a biking lane on the roads, peoples' notions of bicycle in my place is skewed. Bicycle is not perceived as a means of  recreation but often as a means of mobility. Cars are, however, generally preferred. Again, cars are thought of as befitting of certain individuals and classes. But let us not go into that. The point is that my people abhor bicycle. So I will avail myself of the biking opportunity here before I go home.

                           My biking route in Minneapolis, October 2, 2011. (c) Okechukwu Nwafor

           My biking route along Heritage Walk in Minneapolis, October 2, 2011, (c) Okechukwu Nwafor

My biking routes along Heritage Walk in Minneapolis, October 2, 2011, (c) Okechukwu Nwafor

My bike. Coming back from a biking trip with some groceries tied on the handle, (c) Okechukwu Nwafor 2011.

PSHA Activities from April 14 2011

Many things have happened. Forgive me for failing to update you. And permit me to enumerate these activities in  very modest form that will enable you follow. I will intervene in some texts, only when I feel provoked, to emphasize my own reading of the texts.

1. On April 14. There was a seminar presentation by Dr Pauline E.Peters from Center for International Development at Harvard University and currently at the Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) at Stellenbosch University. The title of his paper is "Contestations over 'culture' in a time of AIDS in Malawi".

2. On April 21 we read Timothy Mitchell's "Rule of Experts".

3. Tuesday May 10, Noeleen Murray and Leslie Witz of UWC presented a seminar titled, "Dislocation: Making the Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum".

4. May 12. Our reading group reconvened with Colette Guillaumin's "Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology" and Etienne Balibar's "Masses, Classes, Ideas".

5. May 24. Seminar presentation by Prof Ciraj Rassool of UWC, title of paper is "Bone memory and the discipline of the dead: human remains, transitional justice and heritage transformation in South Africa".

6. May 26. Our reading group took place with Edward Said's "The Word, the Text and the Critics" and "Reflections on Exile".

7.June 10. Official welcoming of doctoral and postdoctoral fellows and faculty at Center for Humanities Research (CHR).

8. On Monday June 13. Prof John Mowitt delivered the 2011 Annual Dean's Distinguished Lecture on the topic, "The Humanities and the University in Ruin".

9. June 15. Discussion on new directions in the humanities with Premesh Lalu, Maurits van Bever Donker and John Mowitt at CHR

10. June 21. Reading Group with John Mowitt on his text: "Text: the Genealogy of an Antidisciplianry Object"  at CHR

11. June 28. We had a workshop with John Mowitt, Quadri Ismail and Adam Sitze from Amherst College on the theme, "The Humanities After Postcolonial Theory" at CHR. Adam Sitze's paper was "On Crisis", Quadri Ismail's "On Imaginations", while John Mowitt's was "On Sociography".

12. June 12.  There was a visit to National Gallery and District Six Museum

13. Between July 1 - 5 we had a joint colloquium on the Humanities and its futures with fellows at CHR and Forte Hare fellows in East London. We departed from Cape Town on June 30, by bus, and arrived East London very late at night. Professor Gary Minkley was our host. We escaped to a place known as Chintsa where we had a whole five day marathon conference. It was, however, serious business mingled with some good pleasure. It was really a remarkable and unforgettable experience and it would be overstating the obvious to say that Gary and his team pampered us. Even as we read, we also ate, such that both our reading and eating flowed with the rhythm of the joyous moments at Chintsa seaside. If  intellectual pursuit was anything close to what we experienced at Chintsa seaside then in my next life I will become an academic.

At the East London Colloquium, L-R Prof Quadri Ismail (University of Minnesota), Prof Premesh Lalu (University of the Western Cape), Prof John Mowitt (University of Minnesota).

Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor

                                          During a presentation by Prof Gary Minkley during the colloquium.
                                          Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor

                                          Return from East London. Stop over at Port Elizabeth.
                                          Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor

                                          Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor

                                          Photo: Okechukwu Nwafor



14. July 6. Visit to Robben Island.

15. July 12.  We had a workshop with Quadri Ismail with a reading of Chatterjee's "Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse".

16. July 19.   At 2 pm there was a seminar presentation by Catherine Cole of University of California Berkeley, title of paper: "Wole Soyinka's The Beatification of Area Boy as Neoliberal Kaleidoscope".

17.  July 21 "A series of conversation and Public lecture" with Judith Butler and Wendy Brown was organized by the Center for Humanities Research of UWC, Center for African Studies University of Cape Town and English Department, Sociology and Social Anthropology Department and Transitions Research Theme of Stellenbosch University.


18. July 26. Another workshop with Quadri on Derrida's "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences".

19. July 28. We had another workshop with Quadri Ismail on Spivak and Deconstruction with a reading of Spivak's "Can the Subaltern Speak?"

19. August 2. Quadri Ismail  delivers a seminar titled, "Reading the Itinerary of Culture in the Modern Anglo-U.S. Episteme", with discussant Paolo Isreal.

20. August 5 -6. A conference convened by Christian Williams, a fellow of the Center for Humanities Research took place. Title of conference is "Camps, Liberation Movements, Politics".