The Annual HUMA Research Symposium

The Annual HUMA Research Symposium

The Annual HUMA Opening Research Symposium on March 4th marked the beginning of the institute’s 2025 activities and seminars. The event brought together our diverse cohort of doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting scholars, all of whom had the opportunity to present their research to their peers as well as to Godisang Mookodi, chair of the HUMA Advisory Board, and Tiny Diswai member of the advisory board. 

The symposium served as a platform for scholarly exchange, allowing reflections, questions, and establishing connections among the work of fellows. Fellows reflected on how the various research projects align and contribute to HUMA's overarching themes: epistemic disobedience, the concept of "being human," Africa-centered epistemologies, and decolonial and feminist critiques.

As of March 2025, our 15 HUMA Doctoral Fellows are based across departments in the faculty of Humanities: Psychology, Anthropology, Media and Film Studies, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Historical Studies, Linguistics, and African Studies. They are working on a wide range of intellectual projects such as health and technology, being and becoming, food, land reforms, marginality, migration, and youth studies across multiple countries in Africa: Cameroon, Morocco, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Senegal, Benin, and Ghana. Additionally, our six Postdoctoral fellows are leading projects on Africa AI Ethics, supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York. Our visiting fellows are Prof. Dulce Maria Pereira (Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil) Antonádia Borges (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Marcelo C. Rosa (Rio de Janeiro Federal Rural University, Brazil)

“So many things still come up about deconstructing gender and gender relations in the tertiary space. There’s so much to be done that I’ve got five topics already as I’m sitting here listening to all of you. I really appreciate the work that you’re doing, and it’s such a privilege to be able to sit here and see how amazing your work is.” 

Godisang Mookodi, HUMA Advisory Board Chair

The Annual HUMA Research Symposium took place alongside the Opening Board Meeting and the launch of the ATAYA: HUMA Interdisciplinary Seminars 2025. Our programming began in March, a few weeks after the start of teaching at UCT. It is an exciting moment for the institute to continue with its mandate “to create a space of dynamic interdisciplinary community for scholars and students in the humanities at large” through conducting and promoting rigorous research, nurturing Africa-centred academic expertise and enthusiasm and bringing scholars and students into conversation. 

Since re-launching in 2020, HUMA sought to promote the humanities and the decolonial project with a focus on epistemic disobedience and thinking on being human. As we move towards the end of a five-year relaunch cycle, we are looking forward to reviewing our achievements, missteps, gaps, opportunities and planning towards the next five years.

We shall continue aiming: (1) providing intellectual leadership in interdisciplinary and transnational research into key issues in thinking the human in Africa, and Africa’s place in thinking and producing the world; (2) contributing to the production of the next generation of scholars in the humanities in Africa and the world at large; (3) strengthening HUMA as a lively hub of scholarly exchange, collaboration and public debate; (4) promoting collegial, hospitable and productive intellectual linkages between scholars and the Institute; and (5) invigorating independent and critical public debate in and through Africa.

We look forward to welcoming our community to our public activities: seminars, roundtables, workshops and other activities. In the course of this year, the Institute will be welcoming new cohorts of doctoral, postdoctoral and junior research fellows; as well as an exciting group of visiting fellows.