ATTENTION: NEWS EDITORS

Media Statement
For Immediate Release

From the 23rd to 25th November 2016, the Wits History Workshop, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and South African History Online (SAHO) will be hosting a conference on The Politics of Armed Struggle in Southern Africa.

The conference, which will take the form of public dialogues, roundtable discussions, paper presentations, film screenings and cultural events, will include speakers such as Piero Gleijeses, Dumiso DabengwaAyanda DlodloThenjiwe MthintsoJocelyn AlexanderVladimir ShubinMandla LangaRaymond SuttnerRonnie KasrilsZ. Pallo Jordan, Mac MaharajTerry BellThula Simpson, Robert Vinson and Hugh MacMillan amongst many others.

The conference seeks to open up new areas of research and new conversations on this topic which, in spite of its historical significance as a key strategy of the liberation movements over many years and carrying a lot of weight in the lives of thousands of people, has remained difficult to document and understand, not least because of its sensitive nature and associated secrecy. One of the conference’s key aims is to provide a space for recounting narratives of the armed struggle from the perspective of its protagonists. A second aim is to make an intellectual contribution to the historiography of the liberation struggle by generating original research and developing new questions and ideas on the armed struggle. Thirdly, the conference aims to foreground the regional dimension of the armed struggle in southern Africa and the reciprocal influence of struggles in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and Angola.

The conference is being funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) with the support of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

For more information and to register to attend the conference go to Armed Struggle Conference.

DETAILS OF THE CONFERENCE ARE AS FOLLOWS:

VENUE: University of the Witwatersrand, John Moffat Building / East Campus
DATE:  23 – 25 November 2016

If you are interested in attending or would like to arrange interviews with the speakers, please contact:

Dr. Arianna Lissoni
Email: ariannalissoni@gmail.com
Cell: 078 0033941