Reminder: Ndebele, Garuba and Nuttall - 'No Longer at Ease'
The discussion has been convened in response to Ndebele's keynote address, To Be Or Not To Be, No Longer At Ease, which he presented at the 40th African Literature Conference at the University of the Witwatersrand in April this year.
'So I tell a personal story about a novel and me. Between us, the novel and I, is a world of my growing up as a boy. A key part of that growth was the expansion of my awareness. A significant moment in that expansion as I reached out towards a broader world was when this novel came into my life. (...) So what could be the connection between a novel and the sweep of global history, and a young man in between, who grew into adulthood?' (Njabulo Ndebele)
At the event, three South African literature scholars will cover a range of topics including: notions of blackness, Black Consciousness, African-ness and citizenship in colonial, post-colonial, post-apartheid politics and literature. The conversation will engage with a series of questions around canons of literature and the historical exclusion of literary expressions of experience from curricula in South Africa.
- Professor Njabulo Ndebeleis Honorary Research Fellow at the APC. A literary writer of fiction, he is the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
- Professor Sarah Nuttall is the Director of WiSER at Wits. She is a literary scholar and cultural commentator and critic.
- Professor Harry Garubais a poet and author and based at the Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town.
The event will be taking place at 12.30 for 1pm in the Jon Berndt Thought Space, A17 Arts Block, Upper Campus at UCT.