In the prologue to The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley claimed that the “past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”. That is certainly true for 1914, for in that year southern Africa was mired in warfare, rebellion, protest and unrest. One hundred years on, it is an opportune moment for historians to reflect upon and reappraise the events of that time. But it is also appropriate to cast our historical gaze towards the more contemporary ‘History Wars’ we are fighting with pens, pencils, paper, print, PCs, paint, propaganda, pomp, parliament, press, power, paintings, pictures and sometimes even pistols. However, while some historians are engaged with warring in its various guises others are going about their work in a more peaceful but equally important manner. Considering the aforementioned, the HASA conference has three distinctly southern African foci, namely:
1.‘History Wars’
Each era has its History Wars. Some of these are hot wars and others are cold. Durban, the megacity in which this conference is taking place, is a good example of such History Wars with battles being fought on street names; the statues of Shaka and Dinizulu; the proposed statue for Indian indentured labourers; and an artwork comprising three elephants. Other such History Wars have raged in the past or are still being fought on issues as diverse as: memory vs history; heritage vs history; patriotic history; the commemoration or non-commemoration of past events; commercially commissioned official history vs academic history; truth laws; national identities and history; the judicialisation of history; the content of history textbooks; public displays of history; the downsizing of history at educational institutions; archives; minoritised histories; gender; and historical denial and reinterpretation, to mention just some of the issues in which we are embroiled. We welcome submissions for proposals for panels (3+ papers) and individual papers on southern African ‘History Wars’, past and present.
2.‘Wars in History’
In 2014 we have the centenary commemoration of several significant ‘wars’ in the history of southern Africa: The outbreak of the First World War; the Rebellion of 1914; the protests against the Natives Land Act; the end of the Satyagraha campaign; and the use of the military by Jan Smuts to crush the strikes called by railwaymen and by the South African Federation of Trades. We welcome panels (3+ papers) and individual papers reappraising these events of a century ago.
3.‘Other Southern African Histories’
The reality of conference themes is that they are many a time overtly narrow and exclusionary and do not necessarily cater for the range of ongoing research projects on the history of southern Africa. At the same time, conferences are the ideal opportunity for scholars to meet, engage and share their work with the broader history community. We therefore welcome submissions for proposals for panels (3+ papers) and individual papers on ‘Other southern African Histories’.
Young historians: As in the past at both the HASA conference and that of our sister organisation, the Southern African Historical Society (SAHA), a strong emphasis will be placed on the development of young historians.