Rhodes African Studies Centre co-hosting the 3rd annual conference of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence between 6 - 9 July 2022

conference poster

The Rhodes African Studies Centre together with its global partner, Bayreuth University in Germany, will co-host the third annual conference of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence. The conference will be a face-to-face and hybrid event and will take place in Bayreuth and Makhanda (ACC Rhodes) from 6 to 9 July 2022.

It is dedicated to the annual theme of Medialities and completes the thematic work of the previous academic year. As one of the four "heuristics" around which the cluster organises its collective theoretical and conceptual work, the topic Medialities serves as a guide for exploring the Cluster's core concepts. The conference offers members of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence a forum to present and discuss their latest research in the thematic field of Medialities in self-organised groups (panels).

The conference thus creates a space for theoretical debates and intellectual exchange among members of the Cluster - including the African Cluster Centres at Moi University (Kenya), Rhodes University (South Africa), Joseph Ki-Zerbo University (Burkina Faso) and the University of Lagos (Nigeria). It will be held in a hybrid format to facilitate as much intercontinental exchange as possible.

The conference programme features:

  • 3 keynote lectures
  • 14 parallel thematic panel sessions
  • 2 roundtable discussions
  • 2 film screenings
  • an artist event
  • and a knowledge slam.   

Participants (in person and online) represent a wide range of academic disciplines; additionally, artists and activists will also play an active part in the conference programme.

Last Modified: Fri, 05 Aug 2022 12:12:42 SAST

Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Literary Studies in the English Department, Lynda Gichanda Spencer, took some time off to speak to us about how she got involved with the Rhodes University African Studies Centre.

 

I am late for our appointment. As I eventually find her office on the first floor, where she is serenely sitting behind her desk with all kinds of books in her office. In front of me sits Lynda Gichanda Spencer.

To make up the time, I asked her my main question, how did you get involved with the Rhodes African Studies Centre?

“When Bayreuth University officials came to South Africa, they were on a fact-finding mission to visit various institutions in South Africa to see what they wanted, which institution they would work with,” she says.

A colleague of mine was aware of the Bayreuth visit, and I was eventually invited because of her intervention and introduction. Rhodes University was chosen and eventually, money started to come in from Bayreuth. I was in the group with other literature and language researchers and lots of discussions took place around positions, roles, and responsibilities and finding ways where we would all fit into what they were going to do at the Rhodes University African Studies Centre (RASC). Initially, I was asked to play a leadership role. I was at the time busy with my research groups, and I also became the Head of the Department. I was simply too busy, and I declined the offer to play in some leadership capacity.

A lot of my involvement has been in trying to make sure that the Centre works and being able to volunteer where I think my strengths lie and that’s why I got in involved with the recent conference as that is one of my strengths and I know how to manage stuff like that. And there you will see me visible and present. I have not used the Centre for funding, except for funding for my doctoral student.  

Now I don’t have a defined role yet, but I know when the director or Nelson asks for people to help, or when there are seminars, I attend, and I think I am very supportive in that role. It is a labour of love for me. I am an academic. I am paid to teach at Rhodes University in my department, and my involvement with the RASC is a labour of love.

Before the Bayreuth funding was there an African Studies Centre at Rhodes University?

“Yes, there was, that’s the short answer to your question”, Prof Spencer says. Before this RASC, it used to be called UHURU, and it was funded by the Mellon Foundation. After the funding was exhausted, there was nothing in place until we received funding from the University of Bayreuth to be a part of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence centres they have established on the African continent.   

The idea of reimagining African Studies is key to us making a significant impact in this area, and we must find ways and projects to be sustainable post the Bayreuth funding. So, we had to think about Rhodes University and what we do here in terms of African Studies.  The difference now between UHURU and RASC is that UHURU was more from a global south lens and more humanities whereas RASC is more Africa focus and inter-and-trans-and-multidisciplinary and think that is the difference. So that, then you have people who, for example, the law people coming in or the water people coming in or the environmental studies people coming in and being able to have those kinds of conversations.

And I think, for me, that’s the part I really enjoy. The transdisciplinary, the interdisciplinary part of it. And when we have seminars for example or even for example the last conference, my interest…and the papers I found that were very interesting were not in my discipline.

Why have other departments at Rhodes University not gotten involved with the Centre?

In the beginning, it was almost like, word of mouth and people were invited. And I think it was the law people that were co-opted after everything was launched. Anyone can be involved, and people who are involved must be committed.   

In terms of the university’s mandate around curriculum transformation, does the RASC for instance, insist on only making use of theorists from the global South in our teaching?

I think for me, it has something that has always been a part of me. My research interest is in African Literature. For me, it flows in terms of theory, it flows naturally, and I must at least use them. For my colleagues, some of them, maybe it was precipitated because of the protest and where we had to think carefully about that. But now for me, it is really a deliberate thing to try and give. Even my research project is not just mainly about theorists, but my research project mainly looks inwards, at the continent and how in terms of literary studies, how do we promote writers, and works and things that come out of the continent. So, for me, it has not in terms of theory it has not been difficult to implement this.

The recent conference as an example, how does the work of all the different clusters (Africa Multiple Clusters of Excellence) add value to how people perceive the continent? Why is the media not fed this information and research that we are reimagining the way we view African Studies?

I do think as the RASC we are not visible. As academics, we tend to not publish the things we are doing. I think one of the ways we can do that is through our website and on our social media platforms so that we can start saying this is what we are doing. We need to make ourselves visible in that way. That is not the same as shifting policy. If you are doing something in a silo – no one knows. If you begin to talk to the media and put stuff out in the public sphere, then people will start to know that there is something happening. I am thinking of water. You would probably Google water… and you know what, Nelson Odume is the one you should talk to, they do phenomenal work. For me, if you want anything to do with water, speak to Nelson. How do we publicise the things we are doing? For me, this is more important. People will contact us for the work we do in Africa, but we also know what to say about our interests. For example, if you want to talk about popular culture and popular literature, talk about women’s literature, which is my strength. As academics, we are busy, and I don’t have the time to tweet things or post things, but my research group has a social media presence because I have students who can do that for me. For me what is important, and we often speak about is that firstly, we need to be out there, to be visible. The second thing is to archive the talks we had at the conference, a memory, a record of it so that you can always go back to it. Even when we ran parallel sessions at this recent conference, you didn’t get to hear what others were saying and when we have the recordings, we would be able to hear what they were saying.

When I was sitting in some of these sessions, I thought, we are doing good work here. We need people to know this. We need our archives on open access so that anyone, anywhere, can have access to it if they have the Internet.  

 

*The third annual conference for the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence group was held between 6 and 9 July 2022 simultaneously at Rhodes University, South Africa and Bayreuth University, Germany. For more information on the African Cluster Centres - https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/african-cluster-centres/index.html

 

Last Modified: Fri, 05 Aug 2022 12:12:24 SAST

13:09 - 14:09
Humanities Seminar Room Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/98239570211