Legacies of Violence and Trauma’s Repair in the Global South

6-9 December 2022 | Cape Town – South Africa

The conference Legacies of Violence and Trauma’s Repair seeks to create space for reflection on historical trauma, its continuing violent legacies, and the quest for reparative possibilities. For this conference, the Call to the “global south” includes all groups in the United States and the Global North with a history of oppression endured over several generations.

“Transgenerational transmission of trauma” has become one of the primary ways in which legacies of violent histories have been understood in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in in civil society. The concept’s foundation is built on the study of real-life narratives and witness testimonies of survivors, as well as on literary narratives about survivors’ experiences and the relationship that descendants have with historical trauma of successive parental generations. In this context, it is argued, the memory of past traumatic experiences is transmitted to the next generation through artefacts, images, stories, etc. Sometimes “symptoms” of the trauma are handed down by the parental generations to the younger generations, and the next. Although there are shifts in this universalising tendency, the approach in the scholarship on historical trauma has been to apply this theoretical framework of inter-/transgenerational transmission of trauma to explain the enduring legacies of violence in “post”-conflict countries without paying attention to the complexity and chaos that has sometimes been witnessed after transitional processes, despite commitment to democratic rule.

This conference is organised and hosted by Stellenbosch University’s
Centre for the Study of Violence and the Reparative Quest (AVReQ).

Opening Plenary with

Nandipha Mntambo

photo by Elsa Young

Renowned South African artist famous for her cowhide sculptures, videos and photographs that focus on the human female body and identity.

in conversation with

Dr. Samantha Masters

Dr Samantha Masters is a scholar of classical material culture intrigued with the ancient world ever since her grandmother thrilled her with stories of visits to the Athenian Acropolis, the Colosseum of Rome and the caldera of Vesuvius.

Keynote Speaker

Tamar Garb

Tamar Garb is Durning Lawrence Professor in History of Art, University College London.

Speaker

Lebohang Kganye

Lebohang Kganye, a visual artist and photographer, uses her family archive to explore and re-enact notions of home and belonging.

Critical Dialogue on Ubuntu: A Conversation

Panelists: Ubuntu as Reparative Practice?

In conversation

Albie Sachs

The Quest for Reparative Humanism: Albie Sachs and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in Conversation.

Speaker

John Brewer

John Brewer is Professor of Post Conflict Studies in the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast.

Speaker

Hope Azeda

Hope was raised as a refugee in Uganda and returned to Rwanda after finishing her theatre studies at Makerere University.

Speaker

Phil Clark

Phil Clark is a Professor of International Politics at SOAS University of London.

Speaker

Precious Simba

Dr. Simba is an adjunct lecturer in the department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University.

Pre-Conference Workshop 1

Researcher Wellbeing

This interactive and interdisciplinary workshop aims to equip emerging scholars with the emotional and cognitive skills to conduct research in difficult settings and on sensitive topics.

Pre-Conference Workshop 2

Gender Justice and Reconciliation

From #MeToo to #WeTogether; reconciling Relations across the Genders.

Venue

BI of South Africa

Kalk Bay, Cape Town, South Africa