Oceanic Humanities Podcast‘s

Writing On Water

Our latest episode focuses on oral poetry from the Kenyan coast and its relation to indigenous marine conservation knowledges; black travel writing from the Indian Ocean world in the early twentieth century;  learning to surf and read waves in Cape Town; and the recent rise in postcolonial fiction about mermaids. 

Lost Books: Four Narratives On Absent Text

Today we release the next episode of The WISER Podcast entitled Lost Books: Four Narratives On Absent Books. Focusing especially on books by women, Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Sarah Nuttall, Isabel Hofmeyr and Confidence Joseph offer an array of engaging short narratives on books lost, hidden, dreamt, thrown overboard or killed on social media. 

8 Ways to Think About Unsettlement (Part 2)

Part 2 of our mini-series on Unsettlement explores the predicament of those who are stranded in states of indefinite displacement, deferred arrival and recurrent departure around the world today. It has emerged from a collaboration between The Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, Africana Studies at Barnard College in New York and WISER.

8 Ways to Think About Unsettlement (Part 2)

Listen in to find out what the term Unsettlement draws into focus in an original way. Speakers in Part 1, released today are Rosalind Morris (Columbia University), who introduces the theme, Isabel Hofmeyr (Wits/WISER), Yvette Christianse (Barnard College) and Mpho Matsipa (Wits/WISER).

Southern Oceanicity

Charne Lavery is a Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Pretoria and a Research Fellow in the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South project based at WISER. Her work explores literary and cultural representations of the deep ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean and Antarctic seas, researching oceanic underworlds of the global South in a time of climate change.

Oceanic Humanities: Below the Water Line

Confidence Joseph, Ryan Poinasamy, Meghan Judge and Mapule Mohulatsi go below the water line as they describe new avenues for research in the environmental humanities and critical ocean studies.

Hydrocolonialism

Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor of African Literature at Wits and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. Her latest book, forthcoming from Duke University Press, is Hydrocolonialism: Coast, Custom House and Dock-side reading.