Hauntology, archivy and banditry: an engagement with Derrida and Zapiro

The APC hosted a research lab in the Jon Berndt Thought Space on 13 August, 2015, presented by Honorary Research Fellow Verne Harris in conversation with political cartoonist Zapiro.

In his essay which was the basis for discussion, Verne Harris explores what he calls primary spectral movements in archive.  The exploration is positioned within a framing provided by Derridean hauntology.  

Harris suggests that spectral readings of archive unfold fresh epistemologies and ontologies.  Drawing on the work of scholar Esther Peeren (who visited the APC in 2014), and cartoonist Zapiro, he focalises particular ghosted voices and narratives in 2015 South Africa.

This becomes the basis for a call to what he names "memory banditry" – a strategy, if not a praxis, to create space for ghosts in oppressive societal contexts.