Thozama April
Next Generation Scholar
Dr Thozama April held a Next Generation Scholar position at the CHR from 2016 to 2019, where she was preparing a book manuscript based on and going beyond her doctoral dissertation “Theorising Women: The life of Charlotte Maxeke.” Dr April received the Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Award by the Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute (CMMI) in partnership with the University of South Africa for her “groundbreaking research” in documenting the life history of Charlotte Maxeke. Dr April’s powerful, ongoing exploration of Maxeke’s narrative extricates “women’s political pasts from the dominant trends of the meta-narratives of women in liberation struggles on the continent” (April, 2012). It significantly brings to light Maxeke’s international creative and intellectual pursuits and her important influence within the Pan-Africanist thought and theory of the Black Atlantic, as well as leading international thinkers and activists such as W.E.B. Du Bois. In 2020, Dr April took up a permanent post at the University of Fort Hare.
Related News
2025 African Critical Inquiry Workshop: We Need New Names
We are pleased to announce that the 2025 African Critical Inquiry (ACIP) Workshop will be We Need New Names: On Cultures of Care and Difficult Knowledge in African University Museums.
MAXEKE: “This work is not for yourselves”
This production premieres at the Star Theatre at the District Six Homecoming Centre (formerly the Fugard Theatre) on the 7th February until the 11th February 2023.
Charlotte Maxeke at the CHR: Boschendal puppetry workshops and exhibition
In September 2022, the CHR’s artists in residence Siphokazi Mpofu and Sipho Ngxola and LoKO convenor Aja Marneweck, ran a puppetry workshop based on stories of Charlotte Maxeke, with young scholars from the Pniel area, culminating in an exhibition held in Boschendal on 17th September.
In the Press: Buhle Ngaba on CHR Charlotte Maxeke Production
CHR Artist in Residence Buhle Ngaba is writing a screenplay for a groundbreaking puppetry production on the life of Charlotte Maxeke.
The Ideas and Legacy of Charlotte Maxeke
Thozama April presented a paper at Sol Plaatje University on her research on Charlotte Maxeke on 9 January 2020.
Seminar: Sam Longford
Governing the ungovernable: contested legacies at the Chris Hani Memorial
Dr Thozama April awarded The Charlotte Mannya Maxeke Award
The CHR congratulates Dr. April on receiving The Charlotte Mannya Maxeke Award.
Workshop: Migrants, Markets and the Modalities of Rule
The Migrating Violence Research Platform of the Centre for Humanities Research presents a workshop on Migrants, Markets and the Modalities of Rule.
Book Launch: Remembering Historian, Activist and Author Martin Legassick
You are invited by Wits University Press, UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research and The Book Lounge to pay tribute to the memory of eminent historian and activist Martin Legassick at the launch of his posthumously published book