Stellenbosch History Department

Preserving Cultural Heritage and the Challenge of AI. Seminar by Dr Harriet Deacon of University of Hull, UK Tuesday 10 February 13.00-14.00 Krotoa Building, Stellenbosch and online https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MTIyNTcxYTYtOWRiMS00YzAxLTgxMTYtYzAyMTgyZDRjZjRk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22a6fa3b03-0a3c-4258-8433-a120dffcd348%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226095f337-83b2-44dd-b6ea-e2bc7310beb4%22%7d

Seminar tomorrow!
teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...

New publication by lecturer Dr Justin Pearce.

Stellenbosch University History graduands on the sports field after graduation.

Graduation day for History Honours class of 2025 and some MA students too. Congratulations to all!

Prof. Marcia Schenk

Prof. Marcia Schenk (Potsdam University) spoke on her book Remembering African Labor Migration to the Second World: Socialist Mobilities between Angola, Mozambique, and East Germany. Using archives & interviews. the talk showed the human face of a forgotten episode.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Dr Athambile Masola speaks in the Stellenbosch History Department.

At today's seminar Dr Athambile Masola from UCT spoke on South African writer & activist Pumla Ngozwana, in particular her thinking in the 1930s on women's emancipation & how this can challenge how we can historicise theoretical & activist work about women’s liberation in Africa.

Students presenting their work

Students presenting their work

Honours Day - when our Honours students present to the department the research that they have done during the year, and hone their arguments before handing in their dissertations two weeks from now.

Dr Pauw with History Department students and staff

At this week's seminar Dr Esther Marie Pauw traced the 33000km journey of a German harmonium (a kind of small organ) owned by her family since 1908, reflecting on the materialities of an instrument that has accompanied intimate & public lives amid multiple relocations between Zambia & South Africa.

Prof. Grant Parker and Dr Este Kotze.

First departmental seminar of the semester: Prof. Grant Parker from Stanford University spoke about 'The bigness of monuments', comparing ideas about monumentality and commemoration from ancient times to the present - including both the Colossus of Rhodes and Cecil John Rhodes.

Panel organisers Ana Santos and Justin Pearce with other participants

Natsai Masango

#ecas2025 in Prague on Friday: @justinpearce.bsky.social co-organised a panel on the contested memory of liberation wars, & spoke with Daria Zelenova on Angolan & Soviet officers' narratives. MA student Natsai Masango spoke on missions & leprosy treatment in colonial #Zimbabwe.

Jabulani Shaba, Thembi Dube

Jesse le Roux

Chet Fransch

Stellenbosch historians at European Conference on African Studies in Prague: Dr Chet Fransch on histories of sexual violence, MA student Jesse le Roux on LGBT Maties, Dr Thembi Dube on peacebuilding after Gukurahundi in #Zimbabwe, recent PhD Dr Jabulani Shaba on gendered political ecology of mining.

Two-part workshop at Warwick University today as part of our departmental collaboration. On the Cold War theme, lecturer
@justinpearce.bsky.social . Online & on the environmental history theme, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social
& PhD students Eddington Maseya & Blessing Dhliwayo.

Applications for the Lisa Maskell PhD programme in History are now open for applicants from African countries.
It is a prestigious 3-year, fully funded scholarship at Stellenbosch University, one of the continent's top universities.
Deadline: 31 July
arts.sun.ac.za/2025/05/28/l...

Prof. Daniel Branch speaking in the History Department.

As part of our collaboration with Warwick University in the UK, Prof. Daniel Branch spoke to students about research experience in Kenya: the need for humility, accepting no archive is perfect, recognising you'll never escape how your identity is seen, & finding personal amid political histories.

Nikiwe Veshe

Rumbidzai Chitaukire

PhD students' seminar today: Nikiwe Veshe spoke on "Unequal hierarchies and the positioning of the bushmen & basters in South Africa's Gordonia district, 1900-1930"; Rumbidzai Chitaukire on "Experiences of Women in the Informal Economy during the Covid-19 pandemic & its aftermath in Zimbabwe".

The Anschluss mentality runs deep.

Emmanuel Phiri (centre) with vice deans Taryn Bernard (left) and Stella Viljoen (right).

Congratulations to PhD student Emmanuel Phiri who was judged one of the top 3 speakers at the Faculty PhD colloquium. Phiri, photographed with the vice-deans, spoke on the topic of 'Brewing Defiance: Colonial State Policies and the Marginalization of Women on Zambia’s Urban Copperbelt, 1927-1939'.

The History Honours class and lecturers.

The Honours class enjoyed the annual weekend away in the mountains at Slanghoek - a chance to present and talk about the first drafts of their research proposals, to get to know one another and to enjoy the outdoors between the discussions.

Anderson, Swart, Samwel, Caistor-Parker

Adson Samwel

David Anderson

Today's event on 'Resistance & Restoration' was the first in a collaboration with Warwick University. From maties: PhD student Adson Samwel, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social & Dr Samantha Masters. From Warwick: Prof. David Anderson, PhD student Ian Caistor-Parker & Prof. Daniel Branch.

Students and staff at open day.

Open Day this weekend - colleagues and graduate students were at the History Department table in the Arts and Social Sciences building to talk to prospective future students about why it's a great idea to study history.

Prof. Hayes speaking to students.

Dr Fourie's seminar.

Audience at Dr Fourie's seminar.

Busy day: Prof. Patricia Hayes of @uwconline.bsky.social spoke to grad students on using photos as historical sources. Dr Ruhan Fourie @ruhanfourie.bsky.social spoke on “'Oorlog om die Volksiel!': Organised anticommunism & the mainstreaming of the rooi gevaar” with Dr Anell Daries as discussant.

People at a seminar

Dr Sishuwa

A packed room for the first seminar of the year: Dr Sishuwa presents a paper co-authored with @mininghistory '"I will get your shop shut": An Italian butcher, the vice-president's wife, and the fusion of the party and the state in early independent #Zambia.'

Students in the conservation section of the Cape Archives.

Students in the archive stacks.

Students in the archive stacks.

Our 2025 Honours cohort today enjoyed an introduction to the Cape Archives, with a tour of the stacks and a demonstration of conservation techniques - before doing battle with 19th century handwriting in the reading room.

Stellenbosch history graduate students.

Stellenbosch history graduate students.

Stellenbosch history graduate students.

Another academic year begins: orientation session for new Honours students followed by a catch-up for all our graduate students.