The seminar's theme this year is
Legacies of Violence, Social Change and Transformation. The seminar explores the interplay of traumatic histories, civic life, social justice and the arts. Invited speakers in the series are drawn from an interdisciplinary, South African and international group of scholars .
Seminar Series on Transgenerational Trauma and Transformation
MAY 8
Reconfiguring the Legacies of Racialized Trauma.
Professor Maurice Apprey, Department of Psychiatry and Dean of African-American Affairs, University of Virginia, USA.
Time: 12h00 - 13h15
Venue: STIAS Wallenberg Centre 10 Marais Road – Stellenbosch. Auditorium 1 (New Venue).
Abstract
Urgent
and [not “but"] paradoxically, voluntary errands bind us to our compatriots, or foes, past and present. Binding errands of
history, transformed into conscious or unconscious
contracts haunt us. These contracts are delegated and redelegated into endless and circular chains of continuity. Upon the consolidation and ossification of these contracts we arrive at an aporia, a
dead end.
A new ethic of responsibility is required of us. It starts with coming to grips with
history and its unmetabolised sedimentations, a new consciousness of
unproductive transformations of history, and a
creative
reconfiguration
of ancestral wishes, demands and missions.
Enter the treaties of Westphalia to introduce the idea of sovereignty and the Berlin Conference to introduce the idea of colonization without sovereignty of the indigenous people. Continue with entrenchment, struggles for freedom and unproductive public policy initiatives. Then begin the processes of individual and group transformation so that we can upend our toxic legacies.
The writer James Baldwin provides us with poetic renditions of history, the intertwining between transgressors and transgressed that end in an impasse. This we must do so that we may see clearly.
Let us, finally, begin to come to grips, through dialogue and intentional design, with painful history, episodes of gratuitous hatred, painful love, and unproductive circular efforts to change our destiny and begin the process of creating new possibilities for authentic and transformative interventions.
Events Poster
(Click here link to download)
Social Neuroscience and Intergroup Relations
MAY 9
How the Brain Can Change the Mind: A Neuroscience Based Approach to Prejudice Reduction.
Dr Emile Bruneau, Director of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Time: 12h15 - 13h30
Venue: Perold Building on the Rooi Plein, 1st Floor, Room 1018
Dr. Emile Bruneau
Dr. Emile Bruneau is director of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, and lead scientist of the Beyond Conflict Innovations Lab. Prior to his formal training in neuroscience, Dr. Bruneau worked, traveled and lived in a number of conflict regions, including South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Ireland. Dr. Bruneau is now working to bring the tools of science to bear on the problem of intergroup conflict by (1) building methods to assess the ways in which we demean, dehumanize and withhold empathy from ‘the other’, and (2) creating and critically evaluating interventions aimed at transcending these biases. His lecture will be based on critical insights gained from this programme of research.
Events Poster
(Click here link to download)
Dr Melike Fourie, Senior Researcher, Historical Trauma and Transformation. Stellenbosch University.
Walking in Another's Shoes: Empathy and perspective taking in second generation South African Students.
Time: 14h15 - 14h45
Venue: Perold Building on the Rooi Plein, 1st Floor, Room 1018
Alea Skwara, Doctoral Fellow Researcher, Historical Trauma and Transformation. Stellenbosch University.
From the Self to the Social: Contemplative Practice as a Path to Compassion.
Time: 14h45 - 15h15
Venue: Perold Building on the Rooi Plein, 1st Floor, Room 1018
MAY 10
Dr Samantha van Schalkwyk, Senior Researcher, Historical Trauma and Transformation. Stellenbosch University.
Disrupting
Patriarchy: Transformative Dialogues on Gender Violence
Time: 12h00-13h15
Venue: Perold Building on the Rooi Plein, 1st Floor, Room 1018
Adebayo Sakiru, Doctoral fellow in the Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand.
The Inheritance of Loss:
Half of a Yellow Sun as a Postmemorial Narrative'
Time: 14h15-15h00
Venue: Perold Building on the Rooi Plein, 1st Floor, Room 1018
Dialogue on Race and Citizenship
MARCH 2
Policing the Black Man: Conversation about Race in the United States.
Professor Angela J, Davis, Law Faculty, Washington College of Law, American University.
Time: 12h15 - 13h30
Venue: Stellenbosch University Library, JS Gericke Library Auditorium
Seminar Brochure (Click on the link to download the seminar brochure)
MARCH 7
Professor Christi van der Westhuizen, Department of Sociology, University of Pretoria
Rethinking Intersectionality: Race, Gender and White Afrikaans Women
At the Perold Building, Rooi Plein
Speaker: Christi van der Westhuizen
Date: Wednesday 7 March, 2018
Time: 12:15 p.m. to 13:30 p.m.
Venue:
Room 1018
First Floor
Perold Building on the Rooi Plein
Seminar Brochure (Click on the link to download the seminar brochure)
MARCH 14
Professor Melissa Steyn, Director, Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, Wits University
Whiteness and Ignorance in Contemporary South Africa
At the Perold Building, Rooi Plein
Speaker: Melissa Steyn
Date: Wednesday 14 March, 2018
Time: 12:15 p.m. to 13:30 p.m.
Venue: Room 1018,
First Floor Perold Building on the Rooi Plein
Seminar Brochure (Click on the link to download the seminar brochure)
