The Faculty of Arts & Humanities invites you to the:
DEAN'S ANNUAL DISTINGUISHED LECTURE 2026
SLOW POISON
Mahmood Mamdani
In Conversation with Ari Sitas & Paolo Israel
Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. He was Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda from 2010 to 2022. His latest book, Slow Poison, has been published by Harvard University Press and, in Southern Africa, by Wits University Press. His books include Neither Settler nor Native, Citizen and Subject, When Victims Become Killers, and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim.
Paolo Israel is a Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of the Western Cape. He has twenty years of research experience in Northern Mozambique (Cabo Delgado). His monograph In Steps with the Times: Mapiko Masquerades of Mozambique (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2014) charts the twentieth-century trajectory of a tradition of masquerading. His most recent work is the ethnographic novel The War of the Magic Lions: A Witch-hunt in the Heartland of the Mozambican Revolution (Chicago: HAU book, forthcoming).
Ari Sitas is a prominent South African sociologist, poet, and dramatist. He is currently the Chair of the National Research Foundation and the recipient of the Order of Mapungubwe from the country's presidency. His work spans labour studies, social theory, historical sociology, the creative arts, and music. He has played a vital role in South Africa's labour and anti-apartheid movements and continues to bridge academic research with social justice activism.
Date: Tuesday, 7 April 2026
Time: 14:00 - 15:30
Venue: GH1
RSVP by 30 March
CLICK HERE TO RSVP
DEAN'S ANNUAL DISTINGUISHED LECTURE 2026
SLOW POISON
Mahmood Mamdani
In Conversation with Ari Sitas & Paolo Israel
Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. He was Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda from 2010 to 2022. His latest book, Slow Poison, has been published by Harvard University Press and, in Southern Africa, by Wits University Press. His books include Neither Settler nor Native, Citizen and Subject, When Victims Become Killers, and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim.
Paolo Israel is a Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of the Western Cape. He has twenty years of research experience in Northern Mozambique (Cabo Delgado). His monograph In Steps with the Times: Mapiko Masquerades of Mozambique (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2014) charts the twentieth-century trajectory of a tradition of masquerading. His most recent work is the ethnographic novel The War of the Magic Lions: A Witch-hunt in the Heartland of the Mozambican Revolution (Chicago: HAU book, forthcoming).
Ari Sitas is a prominent South African sociologist, poet, and dramatist. He is currently the Chair of the National Research Foundation and the recipient of the Order of Mapungubwe from the country's presidency. His work spans labour studies, social theory, historical sociology, the creative arts, and music. He has played a vital role in South Africa's labour and anti-apartheid movements and continues to bridge academic research with social justice activism.
Date: Tuesday, 7 April 2026
Time: 14:00 - 15:30
Venue: GH1
RSVP by 30 March
CLICK HERE TO RSVP
With the support of the Centre for African Studies, UCT
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