CFP: Southern African Textual Heritage (South Africa) (12/1/04; 9/12/05-9/15/05)

National English Literary Museum

National Heritage Cultural Studies Centre, University of Fort Hare

Rhodes University

Maintaining the Heritage:

recording, collecting, archiving, editing and publishing Southern =
African oration and texts

12-15 September 2005

An international indaba to be held at Rhodes University, Grahamstown and
the University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

Please send abstracts (500 words maximum) or proposals for sessions by 1 =
December 2004 to John Gouws, Department of English, Rhodes University, =
Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; or ideally by e-mail to =
J.Gouws_at_ru.ac.za. A preliminary programme should be announced by 31 =
January 2005

The conference will address a wide range of issues relating to the =
identification, preservation and dissemination of, and access to, =
Southern African textual culture, at a time when the heritage of the =
past is threatened and the outlook for the future is uncertain. The =
purpose is to bring together all stakeholders: academics working in the =
fields of Textual Studies, Book and Cultural History, the Media, =
Anthropology, and new and old technologies of the text, archivists, =
librarians, educationalists, publishers, public administrators, funding =
bodies and government. It is hoped that special attention will be given =
to the development of protocols for recording Southern African orature =
and performance art. The purpose of the conference is to examine the =
present and to plan for the future: how do we ensure that future =
generations have access to our past, present and future textual cultural =
heritage? We would welcome the participation of international delegates =
whose experience elsewhere could inform our deliberations.

Through an engagement with questions of identifying and maintaining =
material resources, and enabling access to the continuing Southern =
African textual heritage, the conference seeks to investigate a broader =
set of theoretical themes around texts and textuality. Have particular =
configurations of South African society produced unique understandings =
of what texts are and how they might be used? Have there been styles of =
reading, interpretation and textual use in the past that have dropped =
from view? (For example, early African Christianity has produced =
interesting forms of divinely inspired reading and writing.) What kinds =
of different relationships, institutions and communities have been built =
up in and through texts, and in what ways are they peculiarly South =
African? Are there analogues elsewhere? How might we understand such =
practices, and in what ways should they influence protocols for the =
maintenance of, and access to, cultural heritages?

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Received on Wed Oct 06 2004 - 10:02:40 EDT