The North-West University's (NWU’s) Faculty of Humanities will host a Facing Race Week from 8 to 12 April. This special week will shine a light on this all-important issue that not only permeates our society, but also the world. 

“The Facing Race Week is aimed at encouraging critical conversations about race and how it is positioned at the interface of so many issues. These include student experience, gender, class, sexuality, identity, social organisation, cohesiveness and knowledge production,” says Prof Robert Balfour, deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning.

“I am pleased to say that, with the assistance of the Faculty of Humanities, we are going to have an exciting programme on all three campuses, featuring speakers from elsewhere in South Africa.”

The programme includes many round-table events such as discussions, book launches, and other activities. These events are designed to stimulate a thought-provoking exchange about the nature and characteristics of race - as part of the NWU’s commitment to focus on social inclusion and diversity.

Topics to be discussed include decolonising and rethinking the university, as well as conversations about race awareness.

“Facing Race is an extra-curriculum teaching-learning initiative, which we hope will provide the university community – its staff and students – with facilitated and informed engagements about the impact of race,” says Prof Balfour.

Two important book launches are featured as part of the programme: Studying While Black (Swarts, Mahali et al. 2019) and Whose History Counts (Bam, Ntsebeza, Zinn eds. 2018). The latter also features Prof Pamela Maseko, the dean of the Faculty of Humanities.

Click here for the full  facing race week programme