Stellenbosch History Department
@stellhistory.bsky.social
The Department of History at Stellenbosch University.
https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/arts/history/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/arts/history/Pages/default.aspx
Our colleague Dr Este Kotze is spending a term at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, working on her research project 'Church and Charity: The Dutch Reformed Church and changing conceptions of poverty in South Africa'.
Fellow News
We warmly welcome our new fellow Esté Kotzé, lecturer in the Department of History at Stellenbosch University (@stellhistory.bsky.social), at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg!
Find out more about her research project here:
t1p.de/ib8l5
We warmly welcome our new fellow Esté Kotzé, lecturer in the Department of History at Stellenbosch University (@stellhistory.bsky.social), at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg!
Find out more about her research project here:
t1p.de/ib8l5
August 22, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Our colleague Dr Este Kotze is spending a term at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, working on her research project 'Church and Charity: The Dutch Reformed Church and changing conceptions of poverty in South Africa'.
Friday was Doctoral Day when our PhD students present the fruits of their research. Prize for best presentation Emmanuel Phiri on women brewing beer in Zambia, runner up Tapiwa Vincent Mutasa on legislation surrounding sex work in Zimbabwe, and most expert chair, Brian Maregedze.
August 22, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Friday was Doctoral Day when our PhD students present the fruits of their research. Prize for best presentation Emmanuel Phiri on women brewing beer in Zambia, runner up Tapiwa Vincent Mutasa on legislation surrounding sex work in Zimbabwe, and most expert chair, Brian Maregedze.
Do voters in African democracies prioritise the economy over rights & freedoms? Our colleague Dr Sishuwa told Al Jazeera that while hunger is a major factor, it is not the bedrock of their concerns. In Zambia's election, the spectrum of voters' needs is much wider than food.
youtu.be/c2DCVP53vYY?...
youtu.be/c2DCVP53vYY?...
What's at stake in Zambia's elections? | Inside Story
YouTube video by Al Jazeera English
youtu.be
August 14, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Do voters in African democracies prioritise the economy over rights & freedoms? Our colleague Dr Sishuwa told Al Jazeera that while hunger is a major factor, it is not the bedrock of their concerns. In Zambia's election, the spectrum of voters' needs is much wider than food.
youtu.be/c2DCVP53vYY?...
youtu.be/c2DCVP53vYY?...
Reposted by Stellenbosch History Department
I spoke to Radio France International, and let them use my photos, for an article about the South African government's plans to repatriate the mortal remains of fallen ANC liberation fighters in Angola.
www.rfi.fr/fr/connaissa...
www.rfi.fr/fr/connaissa...
Afrique du Sud: l’histoire méconnue des camps d'entraînement de l’ANC en Angola
L'Afrique du Sud lance une vaste opération de rapatriement des corps de militants anti-apartheid décédés en exil. Les équipes de recherche sud-africaines ont identifié 89 sépultures et près de 400 sit...
www.rfi.fr
August 14, 2026 at 10:17 AM
I spoke to Radio France International, and let them use my photos, for an article about the South African government's plans to repatriate the mortal remains of fallen ANC liberation fighters in Angola.
www.rfi.fr/fr/connaissa...
www.rfi.fr/fr/connaissa...
Do voters in African democracies prioritise the economy over rights and freedoms? Discussing yesterday's election in #Zambia, colleague Sishuwa Sishuwa told Al Jazeera that while hunger is a major factor, it is not the bedrock of voters' concerns. x.com/ssishuwa/sta...
Sishuwa Sishuwa (@ssishuwa) on X
Here is the recorded version of my appearance on @AJEnglish earlier this evening, alongside economist and ZANACO Board chairman @saasaoliver and @ChathamHouse ’s Senior Research Fellow Christoper Vand...
x.com
August 14, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Do voters in African democracies prioritise the economy over rights and freedoms? Discussing yesterday's election in #Zambia, colleague Sishuwa Sishuwa told Al Jazeera that while hunger is a major factor, it is not the bedrock of voters' concerns. x.com/ssishuwa/sta...
Reposted by Stellenbosch History Department
Seminar tomorrow!
teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...
teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...
February 9, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Seminar tomorrow!
teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...
teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...
New publication by lecturer Dr Justin Pearce.
New article out from SA Historical Conference panel re-evaluating global anti-apartheid activism. I examine how MPLA in power in #Angola used its alignment against apartheid in order to conflate all its critics as imperialist & to silence internal debates re race. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
‘Down with Racism!’ The MPLA’s Response to Dissidence in the Shadow of Apartheid
The last years of the anti-colonial struggle in Angola by the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) were marked by internal battles in which challengers to the leadership of Agostin...
www.tandfonline.com
January 22, 2026 at 1:21 PM
New publication by lecturer Dr Justin Pearce.
Graduation day for History Honours class of 2025 and some MA students too. Congratulations to all!
December 12, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Graduation day for History Honours class of 2025 and some MA students too. Congratulations to all!
Prof. Marcia Schenk (Potsdam University) spoke on her book Remembering African Labor Migration to the Second World: Socialist Mobilities between Angola, Mozambique, and East Germany. Using archives & interviews. the talk showed the human face of a forgotten episode.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
October 21, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Prof. Marcia Schenk (Potsdam University) spoke on her book Remembering African Labor Migration to the Second World: Socialist Mobilities between Angola, Mozambique, and East Germany. Using archives & interviews. the talk showed the human face of a forgotten episode.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
At today's seminar Dr Athambile Masola from UCT spoke on South African writer & activist Pumla Ngozwana, in particular her thinking in the 1930s on women's emancipation & how this can challenge how we can historicise theoretical & activist work about women’s liberation in Africa.
October 14, 2025 at 9:27 PM
At today's seminar Dr Athambile Masola from UCT spoke on South African writer & activist Pumla Ngozwana, in particular her thinking in the 1930s on women's emancipation & how this can challenge how we can historicise theoretical & activist work about women’s liberation in Africa.
Honours Day - when our Honours students present to the department the research that they have done during the year, and hone their arguments before handing in their dissertations two weeks from now.
October 4, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Honours Day - when our Honours students present to the department the research that they have done during the year, and hone their arguments before handing in their dissertations two weeks from now.
At this week's seminar Dr Esther Marie Pauw traced the 33000km journey of a German harmonium (a kind of small organ) owned by her family since 1908, reflecting on the materialities of an instrument that has accompanied intimate & public lives amid multiple relocations between Zambia & South Africa.
August 5, 2025 at 10:05 PM
At this week's seminar Dr Esther Marie Pauw traced the 33000km journey of a German harmonium (a kind of small organ) owned by her family since 1908, reflecting on the materialities of an instrument that has accompanied intimate & public lives amid multiple relocations between Zambia & South Africa.
First departmental seminar of the semester: Prof. Grant Parker from Stanford University spoke about 'The bigness of monuments', comparing ideas about monumentality and commemoration from ancient times to the present - including both the Colossus of Rhodes and Cecil John Rhodes.
July 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
First departmental seminar of the semester: Prof. Grant Parker from Stanford University spoke about 'The bigness of monuments', comparing ideas about monumentality and commemoration from ancient times to the present - including both the Colossus of Rhodes and Cecil John Rhodes.
#ecas2025 in Prague on Friday: @justinpearce.bsky.social co-organised a panel on the contested memory of liberation wars, & spoke with Daria Zelenova on Angolan & Soviet officers' narratives. MA student Natsai Masango spoke on missions & leprosy treatment in colonial #Zimbabwe.
June 27, 2025 at 8:51 PM
#ecas2025 in Prague on Friday: @justinpearce.bsky.social co-organised a panel on the contested memory of liberation wars, & spoke with Daria Zelenova on Angolan & Soviet officers' narratives. MA student Natsai Masango spoke on missions & leprosy treatment in colonial #Zimbabwe.
Stellenbosch historians at European Conference on African Studies in Prague: Dr Chet Fransch on histories of sexual violence, MA student Jesse le Roux on LGBT Maties, Dr Thembi Dube on peacebuilding after Gukurahundi in #Zimbabwe, recent PhD Dr Jabulani Shaba on gendered political ecology of mining.
June 26, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Stellenbosch historians at European Conference on African Studies in Prague: Dr Chet Fransch on histories of sexual violence, MA student Jesse le Roux on LGBT Maties, Dr Thembi Dube on peacebuilding after Gukurahundi in #Zimbabwe, recent PhD Dr Jabulani Shaba on gendered political ecology of mining.
Two-part workshop at Warwick University today as part of our departmental collaboration. On the Cold War theme, lecturer
@justinpearce.bsky.social . Online & on the environmental history theme, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social
& PhD students Eddington Maseya & Blessing Dhliwayo.
@justinpearce.bsky.social . Online & on the environmental history theme, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social
& PhD students Eddington Maseya & Blessing Dhliwayo.
June 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Two-part workshop at Warwick University today as part of our departmental collaboration. On the Cold War theme, lecturer
@justinpearce.bsky.social . Online & on the environmental history theme, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social
& PhD students Eddington Maseya & Blessing Dhliwayo.
@justinpearce.bsky.social . Online & on the environmental history theme, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social
& PhD students Eddington Maseya & Blessing Dhliwayo.
Applications for the Lisa Maskell PhD programme in History are now open for applicants from African countries.
It is a prestigious 3-year, fully funded scholarship at Stellenbosch University, one of the continent's top universities.
Deadline: 31 July
arts.sun.ac.za/2025/05/28/l...
It is a prestigious 3-year, fully funded scholarship at Stellenbosch University, one of the continent's top universities.
Deadline: 31 July
arts.sun.ac.za/2025/05/28/l...
arts.sun.ac.za
June 3, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Applications for the Lisa Maskell PhD programme in History are now open for applicants from African countries.
It is a prestigious 3-year, fully funded scholarship at Stellenbosch University, one of the continent's top universities.
Deadline: 31 July
arts.sun.ac.za/2025/05/28/l...
It is a prestigious 3-year, fully funded scholarship at Stellenbosch University, one of the continent's top universities.
Deadline: 31 July
arts.sun.ac.za/2025/05/28/l...
As part of our collaboration with Warwick University in the UK, Prof. Daniel Branch spoke to students about research experience in Kenya: the need for humility, accepting no archive is perfect, recognising you'll never escape how your identity is seen, & finding personal amid political histories.
May 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM
As part of our collaboration with Warwick University in the UK, Prof. Daniel Branch spoke to students about research experience in Kenya: the need for humility, accepting no archive is perfect, recognising you'll never escape how your identity is seen, & finding personal amid political histories.
PhD students' seminar today: Nikiwe Veshe spoke on "Unequal hierarchies and the positioning of the bushmen & basters in South Africa's Gordonia district, 1900-1930"; Rumbidzai Chitaukire on "Experiences of Women in the Informal Economy during the Covid-19 pandemic & its aftermath in Zimbabwe".
May 6, 2025 at 6:24 PM
PhD students' seminar today: Nikiwe Veshe spoke on "Unequal hierarchies and the positioning of the bushmen & basters in South Africa's Gordonia district, 1900-1930"; Rumbidzai Chitaukire on "Experiences of Women in the Informal Economy during the Covid-19 pandemic & its aftermath in Zimbabwe".
Congratulations to PhD student Emmanuel Phiri who was judged one of the top 3 speakers at the Faculty PhD colloquium. Phiri, photographed with the vice-deans, spoke on the topic of 'Brewing Defiance: Colonial State Policies and the Marginalization of Women on Zambia’s Urban Copperbelt, 1927-1939'.
April 2, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Congratulations to PhD student Emmanuel Phiri who was judged one of the top 3 speakers at the Faculty PhD colloquium. Phiri, photographed with the vice-deans, spoke on the topic of 'Brewing Defiance: Colonial State Policies and the Marginalization of Women on Zambia’s Urban Copperbelt, 1927-1939'.
The Honours class enjoyed the annual weekend away in the mountains at Slanghoek - a chance to present and talk about the first drafts of their research proposals, to get to know one another and to enjoy the outdoors between the discussions.
March 31, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The Honours class enjoyed the annual weekend away in the mountains at Slanghoek - a chance to present and talk about the first drafts of their research proposals, to get to know one another and to enjoy the outdoors between the discussions.
Today's event on 'Resistance & Restoration' was the first in a collaboration with Warwick University. From maties: PhD student Adson Samwel, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social & Dr Samantha Masters. From Warwick: Prof. David Anderson, PhD student Ian Caistor-Parker & Prof. Daniel Branch.
March 18, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Today's event on 'Resistance & Restoration' was the first in a collaboration with Warwick University. From maties: PhD student Adson Samwel, Prof. Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social & Dr Samantha Masters. From Warwick: Prof. David Anderson, PhD student Ian Caistor-Parker & Prof. Daniel Branch.