The 1960s-80s were an apocalyptic era in Southern Africa. Africans in the vast region took up arms and turned up the heat on the colonial governments that were tightening their collective knee on them, resulting in the political independence of Zimbabwe in 1980 and, across the river Limpopo in Azania (South Africa), the beginning of the loosening of the grip of apartheid. One of the major drivers of the liberation struggle was song, sung, performed and broadcast across the Berlin lines of colonization.
This two-person panel features historians Professor Neo Lekgotla Ramoupi (University of the Free State, South Africa), and Professor Mhoze Chikowero (UCSB History) speaking across the Limpopo about their vast research on this subject. The Limpopo is a storied river that unites the two countries in a symbiotic sensorium of self-liberation.
This event is presented by the Dept. of Music and the UCSB Africa Center, with co-sponsorship from the Orfalea Center and the Department of History.