Twenty years since the establishment of democracy in South Africa, the people, land and politics of Southern Africa continue to be influenced by the legacies of the apartheid wars. The aim of this cross-disciplinary conference is to invite diverse views and perspectives on addressing these legacies.
This three-day event will take place at Rhodes University, and will consist of two phases. The first is a series of public dialogues in partnership with the annual South African National Arts Festival’s Think!Fest, on 4 July 2013. The second is a two-day academic conference on 5 and 6 July 2013.
A broad range of themes are envisaged for the conference, including:
• Historical dialogue
• Dialogue as archive
• Memory and violence
• Trauma healing work
• Theories relating to the legacies of trauma and violence
• Biographies about the apartheid wars
• Researching the apartheid wars
• The legacies of conscription
• Veterans who served in the SADF or liberation forces
• Gender and militarism
• Accountability for the past
• Trauma and resilience
• Intergenerational legacies of war and conflict
The organizers invite abstracts for papers at the conference on 5 and 6 July to be submitted no later than 31 March 2013. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words, accompanied by a short bio of no more than 100 words. The email address for submissions is: abstracts[at]lawsconference.co.za and for more information, please visit the conference website.
This conference is being jointly hosted by two projects based at Rhodes University:
• The Legacies of Apartheid Wars Project, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies
• The South African War Veterans Project, funded by the South African Partnership for Alternative Development (SANPAD)