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2020 John Langalibalele Dube Memorial Lecture
September 17, 2020 @ 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM
The College of Humanities cordially invites you to the 2020 John Langalibalele Dube Memorial Lecture
Speaker: Professor Nomalanga Mkhize
Title: Locating the Umbilical Cord in Africa: Why the South African Decolinisation Debate Must Resist North and Latin American Trends
Date: Thursday, 17 September 2020
Time: 15h00 to 17h30
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Nomalanga Mkhize is a Historian and Head of Department of History and Political Studies at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. Her family roots are in Willowfountain, Pietermaritzburg and eMbonisweni in White River. She spent parts of her childhood in Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Her research interests are in 19th century Xhosa writers and their record of precolonial African histories, legends and mythologies. She is also a member of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Board. Outside of academia she writes children’s books.
ENQUIRIES ONLY
Shakila Thakurpersad | email – thakurpersads@ukzn.ac.za
ABSTRACT
Using the current #BlackLivesMatter protests as a starting point, in this talk I want to explore the limits of the current wave of decolonial and decolonisation discourse as they apply to the African situation – 60 years since the first country gained independence. I will argue that the current academic trends in decolonisation, while helpful in describing some of the deep structural problems facing South Africa, its universities and society, cannot lead us towards a liberated Africa. I will argue that the current trends are not well located in the long traditions of Black Africa’s education philosophies which are rooted in a strong moral ethic notion of education without assimilation. I will argue that in fact, today’s decolonisation trend is begging for white acceptance and affirmation with its focus on symbolic victories around statues and correcting racist behaviour online. I propose that African liberatory education should build on the older lineages of building independent Black institutions as advanced by the likes of JL Dube, as well as the organic education of our grandmothers and community. I call the lineages of JL Dube the ‘umbilical’ tradition – that roots us in our own context while pushing us to believe we can outcompete the rest of the world that has dominated us.