Date de début:
14 Septembre 2011 - 09:00
Date de fin:
16 Septembre 2011 - 17:00
Publié ici :
08 Septembre 2011Mis à jour le :
19 Octobre 2017Zone géographique:
- Afrique
Colloque "Memory and City"
Johannesburg - 14-16th September 2011
Where : University of the Witwatersrand (John Moffat building)
University of Johannesburg (Soweto campus – Conference Hall)
Conference Description
With a few exceptions (for example some cities on the Swahili coast, see Abungu 1998), the issue of heritage in Africa remains, in academic literature as well as among institutions in charge of the economic valorisation of heritage, very much attached to rural areas and societies. African cities, still widely considered alien in the landscape of a continent essentialized as rural ever since colonisation (Coquery-Vidrovitch 1993, Freund 2007), are nonetheless important spaces for the construction of memory and heritage (which are not necessarily interchangeable terms). The topic of urban memory and its meaning in the making of neighbourhood identities and development strategies (linked to tangible and intangible heritage) produced by local and municipal governments and international donors, has only recently come under investigation by researchers in Africa. What image of these neighbourhoods is promoted and for what purpose? What selections and processes operate, as far as representations of these neighbourhoods are concerned, so that they acquire, in the long run, distinctive traits and stereotypes? In cities experiencing rapid transformation, often connected to new patterns of migration and mobility, what is the role of memory and nostalgia in the making of local identities? To what extent does this nostalgia serve the purpose of regeneration/gentrification policies – a phenomenon that has been particularly prevalent in Johannesburg?
In South Africa, memorial efforts since the democratic transition have mainly focused on the evocation of the (mostly urban) battlegrounds of the struggle : emblematic areas and neighbourhoods wiped out during the forced removals and resettlement policies led by the Apartheid regime (such as Red Location, Sophiatown, District 6), are today the object of memory enterprises which are, arguably, intended to contribute to the construction of a national identity rooted in memories of violent abuses committed under Apartheid (Saunders & Kros 2004, Didier et al. 2007). The question of the link between these memorialised neighbourhoods and the population currently living in them has, however, not yet been explored in depth. Above all, not only do these evocations of memory tend to occlude contradictory voices (Nieftagodien 2009) but little space is left for "ordinary" memories (as described by Hayden 1995). What space do ordinary, everyday or unspectacular memories have in the making of territorial identities? How do they articulate with grand memorial narratives promoted for the sake of national identity?
The event will consist of a two day colloquium, organized at the University of Witwaterstrand (Wits) and University of Johannesburg (UJ); one day of site visits to some of emblematic neighbourhoods of Johannesburg as far as the subject of urban memory in South Africa is concerned; and a film screening and debate at the Alliance Francaise in Johannesburg. It is anticipated that the academic fields represented will range from urban history, geography, anthropology, heritage studies and urban sociology. The intention is to go beyond the frame of "African studies" and to connect experiments and reflections from all corners of what is now a global issue: for instance, the recent progress of French memory collection works in the Paris suburbs, under the impetus of the DIV (Inter-ministerial Delegation for the City) since 2005, reflects the relevance of the theme even for cities that would appear to have come to terms with the issue of memory a long time ago.
This would allow us to put into perspective the specificities of research work on memory in "African cities". We hope to initiate a real dialogue between researchers on this topic.
Présentation
L'Institut Français d'Afrique du Sud, en association avec l'Université du Witwatersrand et l'Université de Johannesburg et avec le soutien du Fonds d'Alembert (Institut Français), organise une conférence internationale sur la « Mémoire et la ville » à Johannesburg du 13 au 16 septembre 2011. La conférence qui réunira des chercheurs d'Afrique et du reste du monde, inclura une journée de visite de quartiers johannesbourgeois symbolisant le thème de la mémoire urbaine en Afrique du Sud (Vilakazi Street à Soweto, Yeoville et Sophiatown), ainsi qu'une projection de film.
La conférence sur la « Mémoire et la Ville » explore la notion de patrimoine urbain. La question du patrimoine en Afrique reste en effet encore largement rattachée, dans la littérature comme auprès des instances chargées de la valorisation économique du patrimoine, à l'espace et aux sociétés rurales. Les villes d'Afrique, encore largement identifiées comme des "anomalies" dans le paysage d'un continent essentialisé comme rural depuis la colonisation, sont pourtant des espaces importants d'accumulation de mémoires et de traces patrimoniales. La question des mémoires urbaines et de leur signification dans la construction des identités de quartier mais aussi dans les stratégies de développement (en lien avec le patrimoine matériel et immatériel) émanant des échelles de gouvernement de ces villes comme des bailleurs internationaux commence tout juste à être traitée en Afrique.
La conférence se propose également de se pencher sur le cas particulier de l'Afrique du Sud ou l'exercice de mémoire est attaché depuis la transition démocratique à l'évocation des hauts lieux, souvent urbains, des luttes d'émancipation tels que les quartiers emblématiques de Red location (Port Elizabeth), Sophiatown (Johannesburg), District 6 (Cape Town), rasés lors des politiques de regroupement des populations de l'apartheid. La question du lien entre ces quartiers musées et les populations actuelles vivant dans le quartier est en revanche peu explorée et aucune place n'est laissée aux mémoires ordinaires et à leur rôle dans la construction des identités territoriales.
Programme
TUESDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER – Wits University (venue tbc)
· 18h00 – 20h00 : Opening cocktail and Yeoville Studio exhibition
WEDNESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER – John Moffat building (Wits University)
SESSION 1 - The resilience of memory in the city: memory conflicts and issues of the post-colonial
· 08h00 – 09h10 : Registration
· 09h00 – 09h25 : Opening speeches
· 09h25 – 10h00 : Keynote speech by Pr. Donatien Dibwe (Urban historian, running the History of Lubumbashi project) on Memories of Lubumbashi (DRC)
· 10h00 – 10h45 :
- Quentin Mercurol (University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense - IFRA Nairobi ) - "Colonial urban memory and periurban memories: reproduction of the colonial spatial dichotomies in Kisumu, Kenya"
- Leonard Rosenberg (Physical Planning Department - Durban University of Technology) - "A City within a city: The Casbah, Dutchene and Currie's Fountain"
· 10h45 – 11h05 : Tea break
· 11h05 – 12h15 :
- Eric Makombe (University of the Witwaterstrand)- "Place attachment, operational memory, and symbols of home 'Mumusha Wembare' ",
- Chaya Hurnath (Faculty of Geography and Planning - University Toulouse le Mirail, France) - "Articulation between Urban Memory and the Process of Heritagization: Case study of multicultural Port-Louis (Mauritius)"
- Anna Madoeuf (Université François-Rabelais de Tours, France / UMR CITERES) - "From the depth of the old city to a redeeming panoramic view, building a place of memory in Cairo"
· 12h15 – 13h00 : Discussion
· 13h00 – 14h00 : LUNCH
SESSION 2 - Migration, mobility, memory: place making and networks
· 14h00 – 15h30 :
- Celine Barrère (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture et de Paysage, Lille, France) - "Immigration - furnished hotels of North & East of Paris as places of memory"
- Kizito Muchemwa (University of Stellenbosch)- "Dumb/dump sites, migrants, and nomadic memory in Southern African cities"
- Rasheed Olaniyi (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) on "Yoruba Migrants, Memory and Politics of Identity in Urban Kano, 1953-2003"
- Ludovic Gandelot on "Africa and the city-ports of Gujarat, 19th -20thcentury"
· 15h30 – 15h50 : Tea break
· 15h50 – 16h25 : Discussion
· 16h25 – 17h00 : Keynote speech by Pr. Philippe Gervais-Lambony (Geographer, University of Nanterre, France) on city nostalgia
Evening
· 19h00 : Screening of "My Uncle" from Jacques Tati at the Bioscope( with dinner cocktail)
THURSDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER – University of Johannesburg (Soweto Campus – Conference Hall)
SESSION 3 - Memory in urban policies/politics: between global consumption and community projects
· 09h00 – 09h15 : Opening speeches
· 09h15 – 09h50 : Keynote speech by Pr. Annie Fourcaut (Urban historian, University of Paris I Sorbonne ) on the resurgence of history in recent political discussions regarding the Greater Paris project
· 09h50 – 10h35 :
- Marie-Hélène Bacqué & Frédéric Dufaux (UMR Lavue, Laboratoire Mosaïques, University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) – "Selected memories of the working class in Nanterre and Saint-Denis (France), former communist suburbs"
- Marie Bridonneau (Laboratoire Gecko EA375 - Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) - "Lalibela, Ethiopia : building a sacred and rural memory for the development of a small touristic city"
· 10h35 – 10h55 : Tea break
· 10h55 – 11h45 :
- Alan Mabin (University of the Witwaterstrand) – "Mobilisation of history and city futures"
- Pauline Guinard (University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense) - "What room for ordinary memories in redevelopment projects, the case of Vilakazi St and the Johannesburg Development Agency"
- Joël Ninon (Université de La Réunion, France) – "Memory issues with regard to a slum eradication programme in Reunion Island cities"
· 11h40– 12h15 : Discussion
· 12h15 – 13h15 : LUNCH
SESSION 4 - Remembering as a practice: literature, photography, performance and city memory
· 13h15 – 14h45 :
- Tazneem Wentzel (University of Stellenbosch) – "Minstrel Mappings of Memory"
- Danson Kahyana (University of Stellenbosch) - " Imagining the City in Ugandan Fiction: the Portrayal of Kampala as an Unhomely and Unhoming Place"
- Olivier Marcel (Bordeaux 3 University - IFRA Nairobi) – "Making the city historical – contemporary art in the definition of memorial narratives in Nairobi, Kenya"
- Sophie Feyder (Leiden University) – "Photography, memory and urban space : The Ngilima collection and the commemoration of Benoni Old Location"
· 14h45– 15h05: Tea break
· 15h05 – 15h50 : Discussion
· 15h50 – 16h30 : Closing speech by Pr. Cynthia Kros (University of the Witwatersrand) and members of the Organizing Committee
Evening
· 17h00 – 18h30 : Visit of Vilakazi Street in Soweto
· 18h30 : Dinner at Sakhumzi restaurant in Soweto
FRIDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER – Site visits in Yeoville and Sophiatown
Yeoville
· 09h30 – 10h00: Presentation of the Yeoville Stories project by Sophie Didier (French Institute of South Africa) and Naomi Roux (School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand)
· 10h00 - 12h30 : Guided visits of the Yeoville neighbourhood by residents
· 12h30 – 14h00 : Lunch at L'Ambassade restaurant in Yeoville
Sophiatown
· 14h30 – 16h30 : Guided visits of the Sophiatown neighbourhood
· 16h30 – 19h00 : Participatory discussion with ex and current residents of Sophiatown & film screening (tbc)
Suggested sessions for the colloquium:
Session 1: Memory, heritage and development
The themes approached in this session concern the status of urban memory as heritage in Africa. The notion of urban history and memory is often used as an instrumental tool of socio-economic development strategies, initiated both by international donors and local governments. This use of heritage raises several questions about the kinds of narratives that are chosen as representative of memory, and which are occluded or seen as less useful; as well as questions regarding who has the power to use memory and for what purposes. The issue of nostalgia (of what, of whom?) in regeneration processes for instance will be under specific scrutiny in this panel: nostalgia appears nowadays to be a global construct (Appadurai 1996), participating in the worldwide circulation of urban models, and it is put to use in various urban development strategies, from gentrification to the setting up of cultural precincts.
Session 2: Theories and methodologies in urban heritage
This session will seek to unpack some of the problematics and debates around theoretical bases and methodologies for studying and inscribing memory in cities, in Africa and elsewhere. What kind of discourses and languages exist for speaking about memory? What does it mean to study "The African City" in this way? What kind of methods, both traditional and new or inter-disciplinary, exist and are being developed as means of studying urban and neighbourhood memory, including oral history, visual anthropology, different forms of mapping, and so forth(for instance the work of Dibwe in Lumumbashi, 2008, and Jewesiewicki 1982)? This session invites both methodological critiques and the sharing of new methods and theories in the study of urban memory.
Session 3: Mobility, migrations, memory
The acceleration in patterns of economic migration, forced migration and the rapid growth of cities and urban populations over the past 20 years has made African cities important transit spaces with major implications for identities and the construction of urban imaginaries (see for instance the ANR programme 2006 "MITRANS" on transit migrations in Johannesburg): this session will reflect on the role of memory and life histories in the integration process of migrants in the city, with a particular focus on migrant neighbourhoods or enclaves.
Session 4: The politics of urban memory
This session will approach a well-documented theme in South Africa and will try to put its hypothesis to the test in other urban contexts. Under this theme we invite reflection on the articulation between grand narratives and national or collective memories, and what could be termed "ordinary", neighbourhood or local memory, including private archives and localised oral histories. How do processes of power and politics impact on the construction of memory in cities? Whose voices and which narratives are heard, and how are they represented? Who holds ownership of urban memory and what does this tell us about balances of political power, both on large and small scales?
Organization committee:
Dr. Sophie DIDIER, French Institute of South Africa (Research Director)
Prof. Natasha ERLANK, University of Johannesburg (Department of History)
Naomi ROUX, University of the Witwatersrand (School of Arts)
Dr. Mfaniseni SIHLONGONYANE, University of the Witwatersrand (School of Architecture and Planning)