The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) is pleased to share with you its first newsletter for 2021. We hope that you had a good rest and holiday season, during these challenging times. We are excited to start off this year with the launch of our Priority Research Projects on Arts, national identities and democracy in South Africa and on Land in South Africa: Contested Meanings and Nation Formation in South Africa.

We are also delighted to share with you two free-to-download working papers, emanating from each of the launches.

In this issue, we also report on:

  • Our upcoming webinar on China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Navigating a geopolitical landscape impacted by COVID-19;
  • The Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania’s Forum on ‘Why Think Tanks Matter in Times of Crisis’; and
  • The US Ambassador’s Launch of ‘America’s Voices Against Apartheid Initiative’.

We hope you enjoy this issue and are looking forward to engaging you this year.

Read the full newsletter here