On Thursday, November 12, 2026, the 118th ASC Seminar will feature a lecture by Mr. Shahid Vawda and Mr. Robert van Niekerk, who are visiting Japan from South Africa,
entitled:"Material Necessities and the Struggle for Non-racialism at Two South African Universities: Western Cape and Durban-Westville"
As the seminar will also be accessible via Zoom, participants are welcome to join remotely from anywhere.
We warmly invite you to attend.
The 118th ASC Seminar
◾️Title："Material Necessities and the Struggle for Non-racialism at Two South African Universities: Western Cape and Durban-Westville"
◾️Speakers:
・Dr Shahid Vawda
Honorary Professor, University of Witwatersrand, Senior Researcher at the History Department, Rhodes University and associate with the University of Cape Town, South Africa
Dr Vawda has led departments and schools at the Universities of Durban-Westville, Witwatersrand, and Cape Town, and was the first Archie Mafeje Chair in Critical Humanities at the University of Cape Town, 2017-2021. He conducts research on state building in Africa, Afro-Asia, and Modern Heritage.
・Dr Robert Van Niekerk
Professor and Chair of Public Governance at the Wits School of Governance, South Africa
Dr Van Niekerk served as the Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University. He currently serves on the Ministerial National Health Insurance Committee in South Africa. His current research is on the universalisation of health care, the history of social policy and inequality in South Africa, and the role of black intellectuals in the development and indigenisation of social democratic thought in South Africa.
◾️Abstract: The University of the Western Cape and the University of Durban Westville were two universities established in 1961 by the regime of apartheid for the segregated education of black students from the 'Coloured' and Indian communities respectively. Both historically black universities made the choice, led by progressive students and academic staff, to defy the racist logic that underpinned their original establishment and struggled to become non-racial academic institutions. This occurred in the material conditions of a highly repressive and fiscally disciplining apartheid state, and externally, growing political mobilisation against apartheid and the system of racial capitalism by popular community-based movements and labour unions. The 1976 student uprising in Soweto and ensuing crisis of the apartheid state was to prove a water-shed moment for both universities in conditioning and shaping the further evolution of their oppositional educational strategies to create non-racial institutions of academic study on a progressive, 'open university' model.
The presentations focus on the forms of political mobilisation against apartheid by the student community, academic staff, and progressive administrators, and their consequences for pedagogy and knowledge construction. The presentations excavate furthermore the educational challenges, opportunities, and also unintended consequences for universities which directly challenge a dominant, repressive political order within specific political conjunctures. The emergent lessons from the two universities' historical experiences are salient also for contemporary higher education, in a conjuncture currently of extreme right-wing mobilisation globally.
◾️Keywords:
Historically black universities; Apartheid state; Oppositional educational strategies; Higher education; Political mobilisation; Non-racial institutions; Pedagogy and knowledge construction
◆Date：Thursday, November 12th, 2026 / 5:40p.m.～7:10p.m.（JST） 8:40a.m.～10:10a.m.（GMT)
◆Venue：Hybrid
・Onsite Room102（1F Research and lecture bldg.,TUFS Fuchu Campus）＆ Online（ZoomMeeting）
・Access：https://www.tufs.ac.jp/abouttufs/contactus/access.html
◆Language：English
◆Addmission fee：FREE
Please pre-register in advence from here. Or Use QR Code.
The Zoom link will be sent after you pre-registerd.
Registration deadline: Noon November 12th, 2026 (Thu)
◆Jointly organized by African Studies Center - TUFS and Kanto Branch of Japan Association for African Studies