The D-Word: Perspectives on Democracy in Tumultuous Times

Druckfrisch, a collaborative initiative between the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH) and the Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe), provides a platform for readers and authors to discuss new scholarly contributions in global and transregional studies. In this session, editor Christi van der Westhuizen (Nelson Mandela University, South Africa) will be joined by authors Rachid Boutayeb (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar) and Svetluša Surová (Minority Issues Research Institute, Slovakia). Ulf Engel (Leipzig University, Germany) will contribute commentary, with Constanze Blum (Leipzig University, Germany) moderating the discussion.

About the Book

The D-Word: Perspectives on Democracy in Tumultuous Times
Edited by Christi van der Westhuizen, Siphiwe Dube, Zwelethu Jolobe
2024, Mandela University Press

This curated collection engages international debates about the current challenges facing democracy. Given the proliferation of “crisis” literature on democracy, this volume finds its distinctive niche in presenting perspectives from the global margins that bridge disciplinary, sectoral, national and conceptual divides. South Africans enter into conversation with scholars and activists from elsewhere in the Global South, including the Arab world and the rest of Africa, and from the European periphery. Insights on democracy are offered from a diversity of perspectives and voices, spanning philosophy, socio-legal and political studies, sociology, public administration, and queer and gender studies and activism. The book will be of interest to academics, activists, policymakers, development planners, and the general public.

Editor at the event:
Christi van der Westhuizen is an Associate Professor at the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD), Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. As transdisciplinary scholar interested in identity, difference, ideology and democracy, with a postcolonial and postapartheid focus, she has published widely, both academically and popularly. Christi was a Visiting Professor at the Research Centre Global Dynamics and Institute of African Studies at Leipzig University in 2022. Apart from The D-Word, her scholarly books include, as co-editor, the Routledge International Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness (2022), and two monographs: Sitting Pretty: White Afrikaans Women in Postapartheid South Africa (2017) and White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party (2007).

Author at the event:
Rachid Boutayeb is an Assistant Professor of Social Philosophy and Ethics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He has previously worked as a lecturer in philosophy, anthropology, and Islamic studies at various universities in Germany. He has authored numerous research papers on the ethics and social philosophy of migration. His most recent publications include "Tristesse oblige: Eine kleine Philosophie der Nachbarschaft" (Alibri, 2022) and "Modernity and Contemporaneity" (Arab Center for Research and Policy, 2024).

Author at the event:
Dr Svetluša Surová is President and Senior Researcher at the Minority Issues Research Institute (MIRI), headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. As a Senior Researcher, she investigates minority policies in Serbia and Slovakia, diasporic policies, and collective identities of the Slovak minority in Serbia. She is also working on projects examining the impact of COVID-19 measures on human and minority rights in Slovakia and the political participation of minorities in Serbia. Her work was published in Fórum Társadalomtudományi Szemle, Frontiers in Human Dynamics, Citizenship Studies, Diaspora Studies, among others. Dr Surova is an Expert Member of the Group of friends of minorities in the National Council of Slovak Republic which has prepared expert analyses of approximately 70 laws that directly or indirectly concern minorities.

Commentary:
Ulf Engel is a Professor for Politics in Africa at the Institute of African Studies. He is a visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and professor extraordinary at the Institute for Political Science at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He completed his doctorate in Hamburg in 1994 on the topic of “The Foreign Policy of Zimbabwe” and his habilitation in 1999 on the topic of “The Africa Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1999.” He is currently working on the African Union and challenges in the area of peace and security, as well as on theoretical perspectives for research on regional organizations and regionalism in the Global South.

Moderation: 
Constanze Blum is a postdoctoral researcher at the Leipzig section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC). Her work focuses on (trans-)national approaches to social cohesion and populisms in Southern Africa, in particular in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Furthermore, Constanze’s research interests include the African Union, in particular the organization's external partnerships in the field of peace and security as well as the day-to-day interactions between various actors in international cooperation. She has written her PhD thesis on the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) at Leipzig University which was finalized in May 2023. Before joining ReCentGlobe in October 2020, Constanze has worked in the field of rural development in Mozambique and as policy advisor for several NGOs in Berlin. She holds an M.A. in African Studies from Leipzig University and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Geneva.

The discussion will be held in English. To participate online, please click here. (link corrected!)