A Conversation with Sabelo Mlangeni

The Producing Knowledge In and Of Africa workshop series kicks off with a conversation with Sabelo Mlangeni (followed by a dinner at a restaurant in Palo Alto for the first ten people to sign up for the event). We would like to encourage you to visit his exhibition at the Cantor Arts Museum in advance of this event, and please read through the this document.

About the Series

Knowledge Production in Africa is a contested topic. Recent calls have been made – both within the academy and without – to “decolonize” the production and circulation of knowledge about Africa, and to think about the artistic and cultural aspects of this “production.” This involves attention to institutional power dynamics within universities and corporations and efforts to reconceptualize modes of knowledge production beyond the Western academic framework. Our proposed workshop will draw together scholars and practitioners within the social sciences, humanities, arts and the sciences to investigate these pressing concerns. We will focus on three key themes: 1) How might we create robust dialogue between “intellectual” versus “cultural” production of knowledge in Africa? 2) How does knowledge production about Africa manifest both in different and in convergent ways within African scholarship and praxis? 3) What are the ethical implications and responsibilities of researching and presenting on Africa in the Euro-American academy?