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The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban University of Technology and the University of the Witwatersrand will host the 8th International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry for the first time on African soil. 

The conference will take place in Cape Town, South Africa with the option of online participation from 24 to 27 May 2022.

The symposium will bring together international poets and scholars from diverse contexts and interdisciplinary fields to share their work in various formats. 

The conference will be attended by about 200 delegates from Africa, Europe, America, Australia and Asia. The programme will consist of about 92 poetry readings and performances, six workshops and several paper presentations. 

Poetic inquiry is a growing field of qualitative arts-based inquiry that uses poetry as research, in research and for research. It combines poetry with research in innovative ways to produce meaningful, emotive and creative texts that represent lived experiences and engage wider and more varied audiences than those typically reached by conventional academic outputs.

The symposium will be held under the overall theme, Intersections of Silence and (In)visibility. 

According to the convener of the conference, the HSRC’s Professor Heidi van Rooyen, intersectionality offers a framework for understanding how inequalities are experienced, often exponentially. 

“Through this lens we can explore how diversities of race, class, gender, sexuality and others, can result in unfair exclusion and unearned inclusion, making lives (in)visible to ourselves, others and the community,” says Van Rooyen.

The conference will run over four days with the first day (24 May 2022) dedicated to interactive sessions and workshops. 

“We will conclude the day with a poetic journey through the city of Cape Town that will introduce delegates to its histories, people and cultures and allow for reflection and writing,” adds Van Rooyen. 

The formal conference will run from 25 to 27 May 2022 with each day of the main conference sessions centred around three themes, namely, 

Voices and silences;

Poetry as knowing; and 

Poetry as learning.

Professor Van Rooyen believes that poetry’s ability to distil and inspire, touch hearts and shift thinking – practised throughout history, in every culture and on every continent – provides a way to reflect on how some lives are buffered by privilege while many remain trapped in layers of need. “The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare these fault lines even further,” she says.

There are several outputs that will emerge from this symposium, including a book project on conference proceedings that will come out in March 2023. The HSRC will host an international visiting fellow Kimberly Dark for ten days in the Impact Centre. She will give a seminar at the HSRC, do a live performance and deliver a keynote at the conference.

There are two conference attendance options, an in-person and an online version. Please make sure you register for the correct version. Should you have any questions or require assistance, please send an email to ispicapetown@gmail.com.

Details of the event:

Date & time:             24 May 2022, 18h00-20h00

                                    25 May 2022, 09h00-18h00

                                    26 May 2022, 09h00-21h30

                                    27 May 2022, 09h00-18h00

Venue:                       Capital 15 on Orange Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa

Link:                           Media link to be provided at a later stage

Join the conversation:

#ISPE

#VoicesAndSilences

#PoetryAsKnowing, 

#PoetryAsLearning

Issued by The Human Sciences Research Council