A new series of WiSER and Wits Press book talks: Early Black Intellectuals
A new series: WiSER and Wits Press Book Talks
Early Black Intellectuals
24th April 2013
6:00-7:30
Speakers: Achille Mbembe, Luli Callinicos, Sekepe Matjila
Two recent WUP books reveal how much we have yet to uncover about the writings and thought of South Africa’s 19th and early-20th century black intellectuals. Lover of his People: A biography of Sol Plaatje brings us the first English translation of Seetsele Molema’s unique biography, written in Setswana, of his famous contemporary. The People’s Paper: A centenary history and anthology of Abantu-Batho is an edited collection which explores the newspaper’s seminal role in providing a platform for black thought and opinion under Apartheid.
This panel discussion, which draws these two books into conversation with each other, will explore the writing of key black intellectuals like Sol Plaatje and Pixley Seme, and will ask how we read (and write) these thinkers into a South African and global thought.