Volume 10, 2016

This epistolary exchange between Sam Opondo and the philosopher VY Mudimbe, draws upon the ideas of the latter’s recently published On African Fault Lines (2013) to think through the imbrication of African linguistic, philosophical and narrative practices with a multiplicity of sites and traditions in and beyond the continent.

UCT psychologist Shose Kessi excavates the roots of xenophobia in the uneven distribution of resources that are the legacy of apartheid, and argues for readings of identity that recognise its embeddedness within structural inequalities.

Paul Clarke considers representations of the environment in the film District 9 and the novel Zoo City in order to think through the emergent intimacies and mobilities offered by the Anthropocene.

Peter Hudson remembers the academic and activist Rick Turner.

In her essay on Indian Ocean literatures, Charne Lavery argues that fictive imgainaries reflect the persistent opacity of the ocean itself.

Lisandro Claudio and John Comaroff discuss the Comaroff’s recent publication Theory from the South and its implications for rethinking global relations through the praxis of critical scholarship.

In her translation of Édouard Glissant’s essay, “Plaisir et jouissance: le vécu martiniquais”, Rachel Rothlender critiques his delimiting reading of Martinican female pleasure and sexuality.

Dilip Menon argues for a pedagogy and scholarship of multi-lingualism given the pressing need for transformation at South African universities.

Unpacking the habits of “whiteness”, Mo Shabangu responds to Samantha Vice’s 2010 article “How do I live in this Strange Place?”. In so doing, he argues that Vice extends rather than unstettles the parameters of white entitlement.

Tracy Muriniik reviews Juan Orrantia’s sugarcoated blues, recently on display in the Wits Anthropology Museum.

Zen Marie reflects upon the work of his student Ishkar Richard and its challenge to traditional patterns and habits of mourning.

Claudia Gastrow reviews Lara Pawson’s In the Name of the People: Angola’s Forgotten Massacre.