Natural Justice attended and participated in the third ‘Rethinking Africa’ Catalytic Pre-colonial Conference held on 23-24 January 2020 at the University of Cape, an annual two-day conference, hosted by the Centre for African Studies (CAS) and National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) in collaboration with A/Xarra Restorative Justice Forum under the theme: What is an African Philosophy? Contemporary challenges and imperatives for political and economic policies in southern Africa’.
The third pre-colonial catalytic conference included on its agenda: land and agrarian reform and governance research and the pertinent issue of community engagement with civil society organisations and movements in South Africa in search of justice for marginalised communities.
The conference reflected on these formations and their implications for research development in the interdisciplinary field of historiography, linguistics, language, land reform, democracy, gender questions, social activism, social movements, environmental justice and traditional/customary law. What new research questions are emerging from organic research through scholarly activism? What is the trajectory for contemporary research and knowledge formation partnerships given these emerging research questions in southern Africa?
On the last day of the workshop, Natural Justice sat on a panel entitled “Intellectual Property Rights & Restorative Justice” where Sobantu Mzwakali, Programme officer at Natural Justice, presented case studies on BCPs, looking specifically at Lamu in Kenya and the Rooibos BCP in South Africa, while Natural Justice’s Board Chair, Professor L. Feris, presented legal imperatives in reflecting on these case studies.
Read more about the conference here: http://www.africanstudies.uct.ac.za/projects/rethinking-africa
