UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCHDEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Second Call for Papers – Conference: 5-7 April 2004

The UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH, in conjunction with the South African Historical Association. In 2004 Stellenbosch history department, the oldest of its kind at an Afrikaans university and one of the oldest in South Africa, commemorates its centenary. This important milestone presents an opportunity for reflection on the influence of the department on the making of history and historians in South Africa. Both for good and for bad, the department has had a significant impact – an impact that requires re-evaluation and re-framing in the broader context of the discipline of history. The department’s centenary also offers an occasion for stocktaking in the discipline as it has been practiced on South African history over the past century, both locally and abroad. We believe that occasions such as these that revolve around memory can serve as an instrument for restoring the knowledge of the past that has been suppressed or no longer forms part of public consciousness. Equally we accept that memory can both be a tool to deepen reflection and also to provide the basis for action and reaction. Here we look at the memory of the discipline, from the position of a post-colonial, post-Apartheid, post-Mandela Southern African context, in order to consider in more nuanced ways on the production of history itself.

We welcome papers on the following themes:

• Developments in the writing of gendered history
• Re-historicising issues of identity and identity creation
• The public and social role of the historian
• Handling heritage: museums and the social construction of memory
• Afro-pessimism, the African Renaissance and Africanist history
• The contribution offered by environmental history
• The history of science and medicine
• The role of regional and community histories in the new dispensation
• Language, culture and perceptions
• The history of sexualities
• Historiography, interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches to the writing of history
• Family history and the development of the history of childhood as a sub- field
• Developments in economic and labour history
• The history of pleasure and leisure
• The history of technology and the @-factor
• The role of a new cultural history?

For the international community we add:Renowned for its Cape Dutch buildings and wines, Stellenbosch lies in a valley surrounded by vineyards, orchards and mountains, about 50 kms from Cape Town. Stellenbosch University is an internationally recognised university with about one hundred and fifty departments in ten faculties and more than forty research institutions. Visit our webpage. The Conference will be in the first fortnight in April 2004 Please submit abstracts (no more than 500 words) for consideration to Dr. Chris Venter via email.

Tweede Uitnodiging vir Referate

Eeufees-konferensie aangebied deur die Departement Geskiedenis van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch in samewerking met die Historiese Genootskap van Suid-Afrika in 2004.

5-7 April 2004

Die Departement Geskiedenis van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch vier in 2004 sy eeufees. As tweede oudste geskiedenis departement in die land en die oudste aan `n Afrikaanse universiteit bied hierdie mylpaal `n belangrike geleentheid aan die Departement om te besin oor sy invloed op Suid-Afrikaanse historici en die skryf van geskiedenis in Suid-Afrika. Dit is ook nodig om hierdie invloed - beide positief en negatief - binne die konteks van die breër historiese wetenskap te herevalueer en herposisioneer. Die Departement se eeufees bied ook geleentheid vir `n voorraadopname van die wyse waarop geskiedenis as dissipline oor Suid Afrikaanse geskiedenis oor die afgelope eeu, beide plaaslik en internasionaal, beoefen is. Ons is van mening dat geleenthede soos hierdie wat sentreer rondom “memory” kan dien as meganisme om genegeerde en gemarginaliseerde kennis wat vroeër onderdruk is of nie langer deel van die openbare bewussyn vorm nie in die ope te bring. Ons aanvaar ook dat “memory” `n meganisme is wat grondiger herbesinning kan bewerk en ook die basis vir aksie en reaksie kan vorm. In dié geval besin ons oor die “memory” van die dissipline vanuit die perspektief van `n post-koloniale, post-apartheid, post-Mandela Suider-Afrikaanse konteks in `n poging om `n meer genuanseerde blik op die produksie van geskiedenis te verkry. Teen hierdie agtergrond verwelkom ons referate oor die volgende onderwerpe:

• “Gendered” geskiedenis: ontwikkelings en hindernisse
• Herhistorisering van die kwessies van identiteit en identiteitskepping
• Die openbare en sosiale rol van die historikus
• Erfenishantering: museums en die sosiale konstruksie van “memory”
• Afro-pessimisme, die Afrika Renaissance en Afrikanistiese geskiedenis Omgewings en ekologiese geskiedenis
• Die geskiedenis van wetenskap en medisyne
• Die rol van streeks- en gemeenskapsgeskiedenis
• Kultuur, taal en mentaliteite  Die geskiedenis van seksualiteite
• Historiografie en interdissiplinêre en teoretiese benaderings tot geskiedskrywing
• Familiegeskiedenis en die ontwikkeling van die geskiedenis van kinderjare
• Ekonomiese en arbeidsgeskiedenis
• Die geskiedenis van vryetydsbesteding
• Die geskiedenis van tegnologie en die @-faktor
• Oppad na `n nuwe kultuurgeskiedenis?

Stellenbosch is geleë sowat 50 km vanaf Kaapstad in `n vallei bekend vir sy Kaaps-Hollandse geboue, wyn, wingerde, boorde en berge. Die Universiteit van Stellenbosch is `n internasionaal erkende universiteit met tien fakulteite verdeel in ongeveer 150 departemente en meer as 40 navorsingsinstitute. Besoek ons webbladsy by www.sun.ac.za Opsommings (maksimum 500 woorde) van referate vir Dr. Chris Venter cven@sun.ac.za