Book Launch, Accented Futures: Language Activism and the Ending of Apartheid

Wits University Press, WISER and the School of Literature, Language and Media at Wits  Invite you to join Achille Mbembe (WiSER), Aghogho Akpome (Research Associate with the Centre for Africa Studies at the University of the Free State), and Graeme Bloch, (Education Analyst and Development Activist) in discussion with Carli Coetzee about her book

Accented Futures:  Language Activism and the Ending of Apartheid

Accent (noun): can be an accent of speech; an attitude; a stance. It is a distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, esp. one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class.  Accentedness, in the context of this book, is a form of activism; a hyper awareness of the legacies of South Africa’s past, without attempting to empty out or gloss over the conflicts and violence that may exist under the surface.  “Accented thinking”, in Carli Coetzee’s words, is a tolerance for difference and disagreement, and a willingness to show vulnerability at the same time as taking up resistant and challenging positions.  Is this tolerance and willingness to engage with one another, practiced in our literary and political discourse?
How can acknowledging difference be helpful in creating a better society?

About the author:
Carli Coetzee is a Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS, University of London, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Associate Academic at HUMA, University of Cape Town

When: Monday 29 July 2013 at 6pm-7:30pm
Where: The Seminar Room, WISER

RSVP: by Friday 26th July to corina.vanderspoel@wits.ac.za

Books will be on sale at the event.