Conversations on the biography of contested pasts in the shadow of neo-authoritarian agendas

Vuyiswa Lupuwana (University of Cape Town and Mandela Harvard Fellow) will give a special seminar at the UCL Institute of Archaeology on 7 May.

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Conversations on the biography of contested pasts in the shadow of neo-authoritarian agendas

07 May 2025, 17:00 – 18:15

Room 209
31-34 Gordon Square
London
WC1H 0PY
United Kingdom

Truth, agency, and dissonance: conversations on the biography of contested pasts in the shadow of neo-authoritarian agendas

Abstract

At the end of 2019, the clocks turned the page onto an anticipated decade. Promised in this decade, was greater international cooperation, increased cultural synthesis and ‘progress’. However, as the world took its first steps into the twenties, the rumbling discontents of the world soon heralded that the decade that would follow, would be one of discontent. Critical in these discontents, was the unfinished work of anti-racism, social activism and critical heritage. As the world watched on visual and virtual spaces became actives spaces for activism. Many spaces of higher education and heritage institutions along with broader local and global organisations signalled their allegiance to anti-racism. However, five years into this critical decade, the world finds itself engulfed with the flames of neo-authoritarianism.

In this discussion, we will discuss what it means to do the work of social activism in heritage spaces in scholarship and living practice within the context of the populist gaze.

The discussion will take the form of a presentation by Dr Lupuwana, followed by a roundtable conversation.

About the Speaker

Dr Vuyiswa Lupuwana is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. Her research and teaching are couched around periods of transition, with her doctoral work focusing on the vernacular corbelled architecture of the Karoo in the 19th and 20th century. In 2024, she was awarded the Mandela Harvard Fellowship at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at the Hutchin’s Center at Harvard University. Her fellowship project was titled – ‘Archaeology Goes to the Cinema – Perceptions of Africa and Civilisation through the Filmic Lens’.

As an archaeologist who once trained as a filmmaker, Dr Lupuwana’s work is influenced by the visual and its intersections with constructions of heritage narratives. Her research has particularly focused on the practice of heritage in southern Africa and the contemporary obligations towards social justice. Her work in social justice is generously funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa, where she is the lead PI for the Remembrance Project – a community based, virtual archive and Museum.