<div dir="ltr">Dear all,<div><br></div><div>Thanks for the opportunity to be on this list -- and apologies for the very late response, Keith. I'm a researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), affiliated to Wits University. For the past two years, I have been working in a team studying local government in the Waterberg district of Limpopo, specifically looking at how the context of burgeoning mineral extraction has impacted local administrations from the inside. </div><div><br></div><div>Having seen how documents have played a central role in many of the deepening political disputes between different rungs of party and state - forensic audits, letters, petitions, legal opinions, minutes and agendas - I am pursuing more sustained research on these 'documentary wars' of the state - the dynamics of outsourced document production, confidentiality and secrecy, questions of authenticity and evidentiary power, the leaking of documents, relations to the legal adjudication of disputes etc. </div><div><br></div><div>PARI, along with the NRF Local Histories and Present Realities, and the Center for Urbanism and Built Environment (CUBES), has also begun what we are calling the Research Collaboration on the State, which aims to provide a platform for academics, researchers, officials, and civil society actors to speak to each other about various aspects of the state. The first of the public seminars began last week, and I will keep you informed of upcoming events.</div><div><br></div><div>I am keen to learn a great deal more through the discussions on this list. </div><div><br></div><div>All the best,</div><div><br></div><div>Joel Pearson</div><div><a href="mailto:joelp@pari.org.za">joelp@pari.org.za</a> </div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.8px">-- </span><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.8px"><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.8px"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><font color="#005a69" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:15px">Joel Pearson</span></font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><div style="margin:0px;font-family:'DIN Next W1G Light'"><font color="#005a69" size="2"><i>Researcher</i></font></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><i><br></i></div></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font color="#005a69" style="font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><b>T</b> </span><span style="font-family:Calibri"><a href="tel:%2B27%20%280%29%2011%20482%201739" value="+27114821739" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">+27 (0) 11 482 1739</a> | </span></font><b style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105)">M </b><span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105)"><a href="tel:%2B27%20%280%29%2083%20603%200964" value="+27836030964" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">+27 (0) 84 563 6836</a> | </span><font face="Calibri" style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105)"><b>F</b> </font><span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105);font-family:Calibri"><a href="tel:%2B27%20%280%29%2086%20759%206858" value="+27867596858" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">+27 (0) 86 759 6858</a></span><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><font face="Calibri" color="#005a69" style="font-size:14px">26 Rhodes Avenue, </font><span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105);font-family:Calibri">Parktown West, </span><span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105);font-family:Calibri">Johannesburg, </span><span style="font-size:14px;color:rgb(0,90,105);font-family:Calibri">2193</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><u style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(58,136,254);font-size:14px"><a href="http://www.pari.org.za/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">http://www.pari.org.za</a></u></div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:BF6AB7EA-AD5C-445B-AD08-DD58E26F210C@Home"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On 8 February 2017 at 11:01, Lawrence Hamilton <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Lawrence.Hamilton@wits.ac.za" target="_blank">Lawrence.Hamilton@wits.ac.za</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi All,<br>
<br>
I am a political theorist based in political studies at Wits and politics and international studies, Cambridge (see below). I work on the state, amongst other topics in contemporary political theory, as informed by the perspective of the global South and the history of political thought. Some say I'm too focused on the state, but anyway.<br>
<br>
A heads-up on two forthcoming events associated with my Chair:<br>
<br>
1) On the 15-17 March, I (or my Chair) will be hosting Ian Shapiro (Yale). He'll be giving a public lecture at midday on 16 March on democracy and political competition in the wake of the 2016 referenda and elections (full details and final title to follow);<br>
<br>
2) From 30 Aug-1 Sept, David Boucher (Cardiff) and Ayesha Omar (UJ) are hosting a conference entitled ‘The Prelude to Decolonisation: the turning of the tide'. I'm giving a paper there on 'Amilcar Cabral, Resistance and Freedom'. It is an interdisciplinary conference and they already have a lot of good and varied interest. Please see attached the first version of their call for papers and please circulate widely.<br>
<br>
Thanks, and thank again to Keith for creating this list, etc.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
<br>
Lawrence<br>
--<br>
Lawrence Hamilton BA (MA), MPhil, PhD (Cantab) MASSAf<br>
NRF/British Academy Bilateral Research Chair in Poltical Theory,<br>
University of the Witwatersrand and University of Cambridge<br>
Editor-in-Chief, Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory<br>
<br>
Single-authored books:-<br>
The Political Philosophy of Needs (Cambridge University Press 2003)<br>
<br>
Are South Africans Free? (Bloomsbury 2014)<br>
<br>
Freedom is Power: Liberty Through Political Representation (Cambridge University Press 2014)<br>
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