The colloquium addresses current debates in Namibian and Southern African Studies and provides a forum for
conversations between students and local and international scholars, artists and activists. The regional focus is
programmatic, but we offer multiple opportunities to reflect on the sessions, and situate them in broader discourses.
We nurture an intellectual milieu and knowledge practice that transcend rigid institutional and symbolic boundaries
between the university and society, the Global South and North, and disciplines, fields, and practices. The
colloquium is open to students from all levels and guests from within and beyond the university.

Jointly organised by the University of Namibia, the University of Basel &the Basler Afrika Bibliographien

Contact for registration and zoom link (for participants from beyond Basel): julia.rensing@clutterunibas.ch  and makawa@clutterunam.na 

Full program: 

3 March 2026: Introduction to the Namibian and Southern African Studies Research Colloquium and Southern African Archives
(with Antonio Uribe, Basler Afrika Bibliographien)

11 March 2026: Jeremy Tiboth (poet and writer, NUST)
Poetic Reading and Conversation with Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja and Julia Rensing

18 March 2026: Olivier van Beemen (journalist and author)
“Hey, Weren't They the Good Guys?" – A Critical Look into Conservation in Africa

25 March 2026: Mark Mushiva (creative technologist, Forensis/Forensic Architecture)
Decolonial Futurities and African Accelerationism

8 April 2026: Book launch: Histories and Legacies of Migrant Labour in Namibia and Switzerland
 With the volume’s editors and contributors. Followed by an Apéro

15 April 2026: Rufino Sitoe (Unibas)
Spiteful Emancipation: Youth Engagement in Violent Extremism in Northern Mozambique

22 April 2026: Film Screening & Discussion “Kapana: A Namibian Gay Love Story”
By and in conversation with Philippe Talavera (director)

29 April 2026: Hildegard Titus (journalist, artist and activist ) & Dag Henrichsen (BAB)
Decolonising Namibia’s Queer History

6 Mai 2026: Bongani Kona (writer and editor) & Catherine Boulle (audio producer and journalist)
'Arrested Time:’ Field Notes from the Making of ‘Time, Paper, Bone’

20 Mai 2026: Dirk Moses (City College of New York
Title tbc (collaboration with Middle Eastern Studies)

27 Mai 2026: Closing Session