Past Event

The Institute of African Studies is pleased to announce a one day conference focused on South Africa since the end of Apartheid.

With the generous support of Carleton’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Department of History and the Institute of African Studies, we have brought together leading South African and North American scholars, public figures, and commentators who will provide their insight and analysis to facilitate probing discussions of the past, present and futures of South Africa, a leading economic and political state in Africa and beyond.

The keynote speaker was to be  Irvin Jim, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), but due to increasing debates within the trade union movement in South Africa concerning its future directions, particularly concerning the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), he has had to regretfully cancel his participation.

Other speakers include: Hein Marais (South African author and political analyst); Zine Magubane (Boston College); Dan O’Meara (Université du Québec à Montréal); Richard Saunders (York University); Allison Goebel (Queen’s University); and Linda Freeman (Carleton University).

This is part of a number of events concerning South Africa.

On Wednesday, November 5th, at 7pm, John S. Saul will be launching and discussing two of his latest books, A Flawed Freedom: Rethinking Southern African Liberation and A Flawed Freedom: Rethinking Southern African Liberation and South Africa (co-authored with Patrick Bond).  More information here.

The evening before, Thursday November 6, at 7pm, there will be a screening of the award-winning South African documentary Miners Shot Down (2014) about the police shooting of striking mine workers in South Africa.  This will occur in St. Patrick’s Building, Room 100.

Please also join us for a concert after the conference at 8pm, Friday November 7th, with Rita Carter and Oumar Ndiaye at Pressed (750 Gladstone), $5 at the door.  See the poster for more details

Please rsvp at african_studies@carleton.ca

Poster for conference.

Conference schedule (Conference is free):

“South Africa after Apartheid: Critical Reflections”
A One-Day Conference by the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University

Thursday and Friday, November 6 and 7, 2014

Thursday November 6
Location: St. Patrick’s Building 100

7:00 p.m. Canadian premier of documentary film Miners Shot Down by Rehad Desai
Chair: Toby Moorson, Sessional Lecturer, Institute of African Studies and PhD Candidate, Department of History, Queen’s University

Discussant: Irvin Jim, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa

Friday November 7
Location: Dunton Tower 2017 (Arts Lounge)

8:00 a.m. Registration

8:30 to 9:00 Opening Remarks
John Osborne, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Carleton University

Blair Rutherford, Director, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University

9:00 to 10:30 Panel 1: “Reflecting Back and Taking Stock”
Chair: Linda Freeman, Professor, Political Science, Carleton University

Dan O’Meara, Professor, Political Science, University de Quebec a Montreal:
“Dismantling the Political Economy of Apartheid? A Road Not Taken”

Hein Marais, author of South Africa Pushed to the Limit — the Political Economy of Change and Limits to Change:
“Arrested Development: Critical Reflections on South Africa after Apartheid”

10:30 to 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 to 12:30 Panel 2: “South Africa and the Region”
Chair: Monica Patterson, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies/Child Studies, Carleton University

Linda Freeman, Professor, Political Science, Carleton University:
“South Africa and Zimbabwe – Paradox and History”

Richard Saunders, Associate Professor, Political Science, York University:
“Extracting Value from Crisis: Bargains, Benefits and SA Investment in Zimbabwe’s Minerals Sector”

12:30 to 2:30 Lunch 

2:30 to 4:00 Panel 3 “Social and Cultural Issues in the ‘New South Africa’”

Chair: Susanne Klausen, Associate Professor, History, Carleton University

Zine Magubane, Associate Professor, Sociology, Boston College:
“Critical Reflections on Gender Politics and Policy in the Post-Apartheid Era”

Allison Goebel, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies, Queen’s University:
“Uprising of the Urban Poor: The Right to the City, Environmental Justice, and Sustainable Urbanization in the ‘New South Africa’”