The WISER Podcast

Hlonipha Mokoena: Frontier Dandies in Colonial South Africa

Hlonipha Mokoena examines links between masculinity, dress and "war work" in colonial South Africa.

Hlonipha Mokoena received her Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town in 2005. She is currently an associate professor at WiSER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She is the author of Magema Fuze: The Making of a Kholwa Intellectual (2011). 

Nolwazi Mkhwanazi: Childbirth, Natality and "Young" Families

Nolwazi Mkhwanazi explores her work on Childbirth, Natality and 'Young Families'. Nolwazi Mkhwanazi an Associate Professor in Medical Anthropology at WISER. She leads the Institute’s programme in Medical Humanities. She is the co-editor of “Young Families: Gender: sexuality and care”, and of “Connected Lives: Families, Households, health and care in contemporary South Africa”.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: Marechera, The Story Doctor

Tinashe Mushakavanhu speaks about a forgotten archive of letters written after Dambudzo Marechera's death, and his attempt to run a writing surgery for young war returnees from Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. 

Dr. Tinashe Mushakavanhu is currently a postdoctoral fellow at WiSER. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Kent. His forthcoming book is, Reincarnating Marechera: Notes on a Speculative Archive (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2020).

Part 1: Achille Mbembe & Dilip Menon: Capitalism's Global Histories

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Achille Mbembe and Dilip Menon discuss the newly published book Capitalisms a Global History, co-edited by Menon and Dr Kaveh Yazdani and published by Oxford University Press.

Professor Achille Mbembe is a world-renowned theorist, public intellectual and Professor of History and Politics at WISER. Professor Dilip Menon is Mellon Chair in Indian Studies and Director of CISA at Wits. Visit: https://wiser.wits.ac.za

Part 2: Achille Mbembe & Dilip Menon: Capitalism's Global Histories

In Part 2 of this two-part conversation, Achille Mbembe and Dilip Menon discuss the newly published book Capitalisms a Global History, co-edited by Menon and Dr Kaveh Yazdani and published by Oxford University Press. In this section, Mbembe and Menon explore technology, COVID-19, and capitalisms in Africa.

Professor Achille Mbembe is a world-renowned theorist, public intellectual and Professor of History and Politics at WISER. Professor Dilip Menon is Mellon Chair in Indian Studies and Director of CISA at Wits. Visit: https://wiser.wits.ac.za

Richard Rottenburg: "People, Pathogens and Technology"

Professor Richard Rottenburg discusses the cohabitation of people and pathogens in an increasingly digitised world. Richard Rottenburg is an Anthropologist of Science and Technology and Professor at WISER. His many-acclaimed works include Far Fetched Facts and The World of Indicators. Visit https://wiser.wits.ac.za

 

Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh: "Africa and Nuclear Weapons"

Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh examines the politics of nuclear-weapon-free zones in Africa, a region of the world not usually associated with the geopolitics of nuclear disarmament. Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh is a Postdoctoral Fellow at WISER. He recently completed a DPhil in International Relations at Oxford. His first book, Democracy and Delusion: 10 Myths in South African Politics (2017), won the City-Press Tafelberg Nonfiction Award. https://wiser.wits.ac.za

 

Mpho Matsipa & Bronwyn Kotzen: "Logistics, Blackness and Spatialities"

In this episode two WISER Fellows, Dr Mpho Matsipa and Bronwyn Kotzen, explore similarities in their work relating to space, race, and the politics of cement.

Mpho Matsipa joined WiSER in April 2019. She completed her PhD in Environmental Design in Developing Countries at the University of California, Berkeley. Mpho is currently the curator of the African Mobilities Project. Mpho divides her time between the Wits School of Architecture and Planning, where she holds a position as lecturer in design and urban research, and WISER.

 

Bronwyn Kotzen joined WISER as a Visiting Research Fellow in January, 2020. Bronwyn is a PhD candidate in Geography at the University of Cape Town. Her doctoral research focuses on the political economy of materiality in urban Africa by tracing Pan-African cement flows and is supported by Emory University’s African Critical Enquiry Programme and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.Bronwyn’s broader research explores the interstices between materiality, politics and place in rapidly developing urban centres.

 

For more, visit https://wiser.wits.ac.za

 

 

 

Sarah Nuttall: Introducing The WISER Podcast

Professor Sarah Nuttall, Director of WISER, introduces The WISER Podcast.

Isabel Hofmeyr: "Hydrocolonialism"

Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor of African Literature at Wits and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. Her latest book, forthcoming from Duke University Press, is Hydrocolonialism: Coast, Custom House and Dock-side reading.

In this episode, she discusses the work with Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, a post-doctoral fellow at WISER.