Bearing Witness Series

A viral video of a food delivery driver facing the threat of state-sanctioned violence and seeking safety in a private home raises urgent questions about the tension between fear and moral courage. This public dialogue moves beyond abstraction to reflect on moral responsibility, what it means to bear witness, and how we stand in solidarity with those at risk.

The lecturers

Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is Professor and Research Chair for Historical Trauma and Transformation, and the South African National Research Chair (SARChI) in Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her work is in the fields of trauma studies and research on the psychoanalytic interpretation of remorse and forgiveness. She was awarded a B-rating from the National Research Foundation, and she is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and an honorary member of the South African Psychoanalytic Association.

Thabolwethu Tema Maphosa is uMuntu who is an Emerging Decolonial Scholar who holds a Bachelor of Social Science Honours Degree with Distinction from the University of Cape Town. He is currently a Research Assistant and Curator at the Nhu Space for Critical and Creative Africa, and Research Fellow at AVReQ, Stellenbosch University. Beyond academic engagements, Thabolwethu is a creative writer, storyteller, spoken word poet (imbongi) and an archivist of mundane human experiences.

Professor Herman Wasserman is Professor of Journalism and Director of the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa at Stellenbosch University. He has published widely on media ethics; media, democracy and geopolitics, and disinformation in the Global South. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal African Journalism Studies, and holds an A-rating from the National Research Foundation.

Dr Sophia Sanan (PhD Sociology) is a lecturer and research fellow at AVReQ, Stellenbosch University. She teaches on Trauma Testimony with a focus on visuality, epistemology and ethics. She has published in academic and popular formats on African cultural policy, alternative museologies, race, historical injustice, and visual culture.

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