Welcome to The Posthumanities Hub and The Eco- and Bioart Lab Webinar “Oceanic Humanities for the Global South” with Prof. Em. Isabel Hofmeyr, Dr Charne Lavery and Dr Phindezwa Mnyaka!
When: 15th September 2022, 13:15-15:00
Where: On Zoom (see registration details below)
“Oceanic Humanities for the Global South”
Rising sea levels, as the most visible sign of climate change, require new styles of research and writing in the humanities: an oceanic humanities. It is also important that this research speaks simultaneously to environmental and decolonial themes, recognising not only environmental crisis but also global inequality as legacies of empire.
The Oceanic Humanities for the Global South project pursues a research agenda that combines critical oceanic studies with postcolonial theorizations of the seas to evolve an oceanic humanities appropriate to global south. It aims to engage with both human and non-human aspects of the ocean, with the depth and the surface of the seas; to decolonize histories of oceanic space, while providing new approaches to aesthetic understandings of water.
Based in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, the principal investigators, Isabel Hofmeyr, Charne Lavery and Phindezwa Mnyaka, will provide an overview of the collaborative project so far and outline questions for the future.
Bios:
Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU. She has worked extensively on the Indian Ocean world and oceanic themes more generally. Her most recent book is Dockside Reading: Hydrocolonialism and the Custom House (2022. With Charne Lavery, she co-directs the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South (www.oceanichumanities.com).
Charne Lavery a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria and Research Associated based at WISER, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She explores ocean writing of the global South in a time of environmental change. Her first monograph, Writing Ocean Worlds: Indian Ocean Fiction in English, appeared in 2021. With Isabel Hofmeyr, she co-directs the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South (www.oceanichumanities.com).
Phindezwa ‘Phindi’ Mnyaka is a senior lecturer in the Department of History at the University of the Western Cape. She teaches courses on Africa’s colonial history, including gender and colonialism. Her research interests include mid-century photography in southern Africa. She has published widely on these. She also has an interest in different modes of historical engagement. Since 2019 she has convened a postgraduate course on experimental history writing drawing from a range of genres and disciplines.
REGISTRATION:
In order to register for the webinar, please click on the link:
https://liu-se.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Aqc-qgqzIiG9LF3ixaySt8ClOClZvVMlKK
