The Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa
Conferences
The Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa holds a triennial congress. The twelfth triennial congress was held at Spier Wine Farm from 24-27 May 2023: “Shakespeare Towards an End”, co-hosted by SSOSA and the Tsikinya-Chaka Centre.
The conference co-convenors were Chris Thurman (University of the Witwatersrand) and Sandra Young (University of Cape Town). Ruben Espinosa (Arizona State University) and Jyotsna Singh (Michigan State University) were the keynote speakers.
To find out more about the conference theme, read the Call for Papers or download the programme.
Whether you’re a high school teacher, a theatre-maker, a university-based academic or an independent scholar, meeting with peers and colleagues to discuss the whys and wherefores of “doing Shakespeare” is always helpful. If you would like to let people know about conferences, workshops, seminars or public events in and around South Africa, contact us.
Details of previous SSOSA conferences are available here, and reports on other Shakespeare conferences held in recent years are archived below. A number of papers first presented at these conferences have been published as articles in Shakespeare in Southern Africa.
Conference Reports - Shakespeare conferences in South Africa 2016-19
The 11th Triennial Congress of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa took place in Cape Town in May 2019, and comprised three events: the academic conference, “Shakespeare and Social Justice: Scholarship and Performance in an Unequal World”; a two-day workshop for teachers, titled “my shakespeare”; and “Making Shakespeare”, a platform for theatre makers.
Moving Shakespeare. Market Theatre Foundation / University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 19-20 October 2017. Report by Chris Thurman. The conference programme can be dowloaded here.
“Decolonising Shakespeare?” Contestations and re-imaginings for a post-liberation South Africa. University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College Campus), 30 September and 1 October 2016. Report by Lliane Loots. The conference programme can be dowloaded here.
