Rhythms of Life : Youth and Popular Culture in a Changing South Africa
University of the Western Cape, Cape Town
13-14 November 2015
Rhythms of Life : Youth and Popular Culture in a Changing South Africa is a two day symposium organized by the Human Sciences Research Council, the University of Helsinki’s discipline of Social and Cultural Anthropology, and the University of the Western Cape’s Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research. It is an interdisciplinary symposium that encourages contributions from across the social sciences and humanities.
South African youth are in a unique and challenging transitory space that presents continuities with the past, yet simultaneously offering a moment in which new and different ways of being and doing are possible. How do young people engage this new, transitory space with all its contradictions ? What are the tools that they use and the channels that they navigate to create alternatives ? What are the contemporary cultural and linguistic practices that signify the ‘breaks from the past’ yet encourage social solidarities and create alternative imaginings of being South African ?
In the age of neo-liberalism, technology and social media, there are spaces for new and different cultural practices to emerge. Cultural practices are now shaped through an engagement with technology and virtual identities. These cultural practices include disruptive performances of the ‘self’ and creates new meanings and shape new cultural horizons. These popular shifts in the production of the self, emphasises notions of performance, an increased hyper-visualisation of the body, new multilingual practice, and seductive consumerism. What does the opening up of new technological and commercial spheres mean in practical, social, political, symbolic, and economic terms for the makers of popular youth cultures ? What are these spheres and are their rewards accessible and who are excluded ?
This symposium is open to the analysis of all aspects of the relationship between youth and popular culture in South Africa, and we particularly welcome papers addressing :
- Youth, social identities and difference
- Youth, social solidarities and resistance
- Youth, social media and new technologies
- Youth, consumerism and popular culture
- On being young and African
- Youth and pursuits of pleasure
- Youth, linguistic diversity and globalization
- Youth, multilingualism and localization
The closing date for the submission of abstracts is the 31 May 2015. Please send a 200 word abstract and 50 word academic biography to bmoolman@hsrc.ac.za.
Acceptance of abstracts will be communicated to presenters by 30 June 2015.
The symposium organisers regret that they are unavailable to provide funds for the travel or accommodation costs of participants.
The organizers are committed to developing an edited book on the symposium theme which participants will be strongly encouraged to contribute to. A first draft of the proposed chapter should be submitted to the organizers prior to the symposium, with revised chapters to be submitted by early 2016. Further details will be made available to potential contributors on the 30 June 2015. Participation in the book project is not a prerequisite for participation in the symposium.
The symposium program will be updated also to http://southafricanyouthtoday.com/events/
