Black Archives and Intellectual Histories

Black Archives and Intellectual Histories brings together a range of scholars from South Africa, the continent at large and the black diaspora whose work has transformed our thinking about black intellectual histories and archives. From its complicated history that ranges from early colonial modernity in the Cape to apartheid, South Africa’s protected modernity history finds resonances with those of the Caribbean, the United States, British colonized India and, of course the African continent at large. Drawn from a Mellon funded seminar series of the same name that ran from the University of Cape Town in 2018, Black Archives and Intellectual Histories is a book project that brings together esteemed scholars and activists who have made significant contributions to their respective fields but whose interests impact more broadly on our thinking about black histories and archives. The project will continue to broaden South African perspectives on the issues by insisting that a comparative frame yields the kinds of global insights on our local and national experiences that generate greater senses of collective experience and solidarity.