Animist modernity and spatial subjectivity in Africa:Thinking through the road in African Literature

The Wits City Institute will host a seminar to be presented by Professor Harry Garuba from the University of Cape Town.

Colonial administrators everywhere were heavily invested in the enterprise of building roads and railways. In tropical Africa where dense forests made many communities inaccessible, the desire for roads became something of a pillar of faith of the modernising, civilizing mission.

The physical road or railway brought together the twin axes of the colonial enterprise of commerce and civilization, which functioned as the justification for colonial conquest. After initial hesitation, local communities also became equally, if ambivalently, invested in roads for their own different reasons.

In addition to its promise of economic modernity, the possibilities of mobility roads brought forth were seen as limitless by local people, who dreamt of new spaces and places of gain, and of adventure and fulfillment. To each side, therefore, the road promised something materially and symbolically significant. This seminar will be presented by Professor Harry Garuba, University of Cape Town.

The discussant will be Professor Achille Mbembe, Wits University.

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