About

Arts of Africa and Global Souths

Arts of Africa and Global Souths is a postgraduate research programme that focuses on the ways socially engaged art creations can reshape knowledge, power and social space as acts of decoloniality. Initiating, formulating and driving knowledge from the African continent and various Global South contexts, this research programme shifts the centre of gravity of the global academy by situating Africa and other Global South contexts at the forefront of contemporary scholarship and creative production. 

Participants include the National Research Foundation Chair, Research Associates, Postdoctoral Fellows, Postgraduate Students, Resident Artists, Resident Writers, Visitors and Collaborators. Our intellectual home is the Fine Art Department, and our Research House and RAW Spot Gallery are at 5 Rhodes Avenue, Makhanda.

Our goals are:

  • To produce original, high quality research in the form of scholarly publications, exhibitions, performances and interventions
  • To contribute to new modes of knowledge-creation that are steered from Africa and impact local and global artworlds, cultural sectors and societies
  • To grow research capacity through a co-operative research culture that builds collaborations with scholars predominantly on the African continent and in other Global South contexts
  • To foster a culture of academic sharing and cooperation by working on related topics and by developing non-hierarchical forms of ‘sideways learning’ and ‘unlearning’

Arts of Africa and Global Souths includes the following research programmes: 

  • Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa DSI/NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) (2016 - present)
  • The Art POWA network (2017 - present) 
  • Artivism, Social Justice and Epistemic Revolution Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence (2020 to present)
  • Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa Mellon programme (2017 - 2021)
  • Visual and Performing Arts of Africa research focus area (2011 – 2016)

 

Programme

 

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Last Modified: Fri, 25 Feb 2022 09:23:19 SAST