Insurrections

21 June 2017

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Hosted by South African History Online, Centre for African Studies (UCT) and Centre for Humanities Research (UWC).

 

THE IDEA

 

Insurrections was conceived and initiated by Ari Sitas, Sumangala Damodaran, Sazi Dlamini and Neo Muyanga in 2011, to open a conversation between the imaginations of Indian and South African writers and musicians. The idea was to articulate our dismay and rage about our globally dark present, and to address the inadequacy of political expression in our times.

 

This was not to be a glib declaration of commonalities already given but an ongoing method of discovery. The first two Insurrections were compendia of individual songs; they gave us the exhilaration of knowing that such communication was indeed possible, that it could be deep and full of surprises for all of us. For the third, the question was how to develop a single, long-form text to address the historical moment we find ourselves in. Keynote speaker: Prof. Dilip Menon ; Musical performance by Tina Schouw and Reza Khota outlining the feelings of Calibana, our slave spirit, in sung form.

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Original illustrations from the book on display by Stephané E Conradie