On 23 July 2015 the African Centre for Migration & Society, based at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, will host a workshop addressing the themes of difference and cohesion in contemporary South African cities.
Convened by:
- The South African Research Chair on Mobility and the Politics of Difference
- The African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand
- The UCLA School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
Two weeks of violence in May 2008 left scores dead and tens of thousands displaced. Many were from beyond South Africa’s borders, others South Africans citizens. Since then, hundreds more have been killed, attacked, extorted, or expelled based on where they are from or the work they do. In April 2015, performative violence again spilled on to city streets eliciting fear, anger and solidarity among defenders of tolerance and advocates of social closure. Yet in the violence’s shadows, people from diverse backgrounds live side by side in relative peace if not prosperity.
This closed door workshop asks participants to reflect on what these dual demons – the scapegoated outsiders and the spectre of popular violence – say about the nature of citizenship, race, politics and law in South African society. The workshop is particularly concerned with how conflict and patterns of coexistence speak to the conceptual categories, teleologies, etiologies, and normative biases embedded within South African academic, popular and political discourse.
For more information, view the call for papers here.
Abstracts are due on 10 June 2015.
Final papers to be circulated by 17 July 2015.
Direct enquiries and submissions to xeno2015@migration.org.za
