Revolutionary Papers

Revolutionary Papers is a transnational research collaboration exploring 20th century periodicals of Leftanti-imperial and anti-colonial critical production. Read More

Revolutionary Papers: Counter-Institutions, Politics and Culture in Periodicals of the Global South

28 April to 30 April 2022

Event Type
Conference
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Venue
Community House, Salt River

Schedule

28 – 30 April 2022

DAY 1: Thursday, 28 April

9-9.30          Coffee/Tea  & Registration

9.30-10        Welcome & Opening Remarks

Revolutionary Papers Team: Mahvish Ahmad, Hana Morgenstern, Koni Benson, Sara Kazmi

Department of History, UWC, Head of Department: Paolo Israel

Center for Humanities Research, Director: Heidi Grunebaum

10-12            Introducing Revolutionary Periodicals

All participants take one minute each to introduce the journal they have brought to the conference.

12.00-1.00     Lunch

1.00-1.15       Framing the Counter-Political with Mahvish Ahmad (Sociology, London
School of Economics and Political Science)

1.15-3.00       PANEL 1: Third World Socialism(s) and Solidarities in Circulation

Speakers
Semeneh Ayalew (Ethiopian Studies, University of Addis Ababa)
Title/Journal: “Abyotawi Medrek/Revolutionary Forum: An Exercise in Free Expression in Revolutionary Ethiopia”
Abstract

Om Prasad (History, Gujrat Institute for Development Research)
Title/Journal: “Vijnan Karmee: Science and Solidarity: The Vigyan Karmee and the Quest for an ‘Afro- Asian Science’”
Abstract

Marral Shamshiri-Fard (International History, London School of Economics)
Title/Journal: Sawt al Thawra (Voice of the Revolution)
Abstract
Teaching Tool

Ruth Nyambura (Independent Scholar)
Title/Journal: Struggling for Land in the Shadow and Afterlife of the Mau Mau Anti-Colonial Movement: An Examination of the Selected Texts of Kenya’s Marxist Underground Movement (MWAKENYA – December Twelve Movement), 1974-2002
Abstract
Twitter Teaching Tool

Moderator
Patricia Hayes (Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape)

3.00-3.15       Coffee/Tea Break

3.15- 5.15      PANEL 2: Internationalism & Pan-Africanism in Print

Speakers
Przemyslaw Strozek (Polish Academy of Sciences/ Archiv der Avant-garden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden)
Title/Journal: “Casa de Las Americas, Souffles, AfricAsia: Casa de Las Americas and its transcontinental network in the years of 1965-1972”
Abstract

Thandi Gamedze (Center for Education Rights and Transformation, University of Johannesburg)
Title/Journal: “The Journal of Black Theology in South Africa and its Contribution to the Struggle for Liberation”
Abstract

Corinne Sandwith (English, University of Pretoria)
Title/Journal: “Umsebenzi / Umvikele-thebe: Reading Ethiopia in Radical South African Newspapers”
Abstract

Estefania Bournot (German Forum of Art History/ Free University of Berlin)
Title/Journal: “Front Brésilien D’information: Networks of (miss)information: fighting against ‘general understanding’”
Abstract

Khalid Shamis (Centre for Humanities Research & Department of History, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal: Al-Inqad
Abstract

Moderator
Mahvish Ahmad (Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science)

5.15-5.30       Reflection on Day 1 with Ruchi Chaturvedi (Other Universals/Sociology,
University of Cape Town)

5.30-6.00       Break w/ Revolutionary Music

6.00-9.00       Revolutionary Papers: A Traveling Exhibition of Anticolonial Journals

Opening Remarks
Revolutionary Papers Team
Bevil Lucas, Cissie Gool House
Suren Pillay, Center for Humanities Research, UWC
Monwabisi Ralarala, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, UWC

Phokeng Setai (Curator of Quiet Dog Bite Hard: Clandestine Networks of Revolutionary Papers)

Michael Bhatch (Sonic Lecture: Revolutionary Records & Vinyl Set: Projecting and Shaping Black Futures Through Sound and Album Art)

Nombuso Mathibela (Sonic Lecture & Vinyl Set: Continental Staffriders’ Liberation Bonfires and Dance)

Sara Kazmi (Songs of Protest from South Asia)

Soundz of the South (Songs of Protest from South Africa)

DAY 2: Friday, 29 April

10-10.30        Coffee/Tea & Arrival

10.30-10.45   Framing the Counter-Cultural with Hana Morgenstern (English, University
of Cambridge)

10.45-12.30   PANEL 3: Anticolonial Art Forms and Practices

Speakers
Nelson Mlambo (Language and Literature Studies, University of Namibia)
Title/Journal: “The Combatant: A Literary and Rhetorical Analysis of Selected Anti-Apartheid Discourses: Plan’s The Combatant, SWAPO’s Pre-independence Revolutionary Magazine”
Abstract

Sarah Jilani (English, City University of London)
Title/Journal: Genç Sinema / Yedinci Sanat
Abstract

Kebotlhale Motseothata (African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand)
Title/Journal: Dawn
Abstract

Michael Bhatch* (English, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal: “Sonic Lecture: Revolutionary Records: Vinyl Set: Projecting and Shaping Black Futures Through Sound & Album Art”
Abstract

Nombuso Mathibela* (Independent Cultural Worker and Writer)
Title/Journal: “Sonic Lecture: Continental Staffriders’ Liberation Bonfires and Dance”
Abstract

Chris Ouma (English Literary Studies/ African Studies, University of Cape Town
Title/Journal: “Small Magazines in Africa: Networks of Curation and Scalability”
Abstract
Project
Note: Chris Ouma will deliver a short lecture on their project at the event

*Nombuso Mathibela and Michael Bhatch will be part of the discussion to offer brief reflections on their performances/presentations from the night before.

Moderator
Itumeleng Wa-Lehulere (Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape)

12.30-1.30 Lunch

1.30-3.30     PANEL 4: Language Politics and the Revolutionary Periodical 

Speakers
Lifang Zhang (Art History, University Currently Known as Rhodes)
Title/Journal: “World Literature: The Chinese Translation and Introduction of African Literature in the Journal of World Literature (1953-1966)”
Abstract

Idriss Jebari (Middle East Studies, Trinity College Dublin)
Title/Journal: Perspectives Tunisiennes / al-‘āmil al-tūnsī
Abstract
Teaching Tool

Sara Kazmi (Postcolonial Literatures, LUMS, Lahore/University of Cambridge)
Title/Journal: Mazdoor Kissan Party Circular
Abstract
Teaching Tool

Sisanda Nkoala (Media, Cape Peninsula University of Technology)
Title/Journal: “Abantu-Batho and Umteteli wa Bantu: The Early Indigenous South African Black Press: A Model for Decoloniality and Multilingualism in Journalism Education”
Abstract
Teaching Tool

Mishca Peters (History, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal: “A Children’s Movement for Change: Izwi Labantwana/Die Kinderstem/ Voice of the Children”
Abstract

Moderator
Heidi Grunebaum (Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape)

3.30-3.45     Coffee/Tea Break

3.45-5.30     PANEL 5: Periodicals of Decolonization: Aesthetics and Consciousness
                    9.45am EST; 2.45pm BST

Speakers
Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann (Literatures, Cultures and Languages, University of Connecticut)
Title/Journal: Tropiques
Abstract

Hoda El Shakry (Comparative Literature, University of Chicago)
Title/Journal: “(Non-)Aligned in Print: Anti-Colonial Aesthetics in Souffles-Anfas (1966-1971)”
Abstract

Zaib un Nisa Aziz (History, Yale University)
Title/Journal: “The Masses of India: The Radical Underground: The Secret Circulation of Propaganda and the Rise of Global Anti-Imperial Consciousness 1919-1936”
Abstract

Zeina Maasri (School of Humanities, University of Brighton)
Title/Journal: “Al Hadaf: Militant Imprints: Palestine, Art and Revolution in al-Hadaf (1969–72)​”
Abstract

Moderator
Hana Morgenstern (English, University of Cambridge)

DAY 3: Saturday, April 30

9.30-10        Arrival/Coffee

10-10.15      Reflection on Day 2 with Bongani Kona (History, University of the Western
Cape)

10.15-10.30 Framing the Counter-Institutional with Koni Benson (History, University of
the Western Cape)

10.30-12.15 PANEL 6: The Newspaper as Organizer

Speakers
Sam Longford (Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal: Dawn
Abstract

Noor Nieftagodien (The History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand)
Title/Journal: “Congress Militant: The paper as a revolutionary organizer”
Abstract

Danah Abdulla (Graphic Design, Camberwell, Chelsea/ University of the Arts London)
Title/Journal: “Publications as a Form of Solidarity Building: PFLP Bulletin”
Abstract

David Johnson (English, The Open University)
Title/Journal: The Workers’ Herald
Abstract

Moderator
Kelly Gillespie (Anthropology, University of the Western Cape)

12.15-1.15   Lunch

1.15-3.15     PANEL 7: Political Education through Newspapers and Magazines 

Speakers
Ciraj Rassool (History, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal:
“Schooling the Nation through Words: Reading and Writing in the Non-European Unity Movement, 1940s-50s”
Abstract

Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja (Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, University of Cape Town) and Koni Benson (History, University of the Western Cape)
Title/Journal: “The Social Life of the Namibian Review
Abstract

Mahvish Ahmad (Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science)
Title/Journal: “On Underground Study Circles as Anticolonial Praxis”
Abstract
Teaching Tool

Leigh-Ann Naidoo (School of Education, University of Cape Town)
Title/Journal: “Publica[c]tion: Publishing, An Alternative and the Creative Process of Critique”
Abstract

Lorna Houston (Programme Coordinator at Brave Rock Girl)
Title/Journal: Pathways to Free Education
Abstract

Moderator
Sara Kazmi (Postcolonial Literatures, LUMS, Lahore/ University of Cambridge)

3.15-3.30     Coffee/Tea Break

3.30-3.45     Reflection on Day 3 with Noor Nieftagodien (The History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand)

3.45-4.45     Teaching Tools & Way Forward

Discussion/ Q&A on Radical Pedagogy with the Digital Teaching Tools Team: Hana Morgenstern, Ben Verghese, Sara Kazmi & Lizzie Malcolm.

Group Discussion on the future of Revolutionary Paper’s Teaching and Publishing Projects.

7.30           Conference Dinner