UKZN Academic Brings African Philosophical Perspectives to International Conference

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI)/National Research Foundation (NRF) South African Research Chair in the National Question, Professor Rozena Maart, brought African-centred philosophical perspectives to an international audience when she delivered the opening keynote address at Erasmus University’s annual philosophy conference in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Titled ‘The Stakes of Engagement’, the conference explored the societal role of philosophy, researcher positionality, the expansion of transdisciplinary approaches and the challenges posed by normative forms of engagement within the discipline. Scholars examined how philosophy intersects with questions of social justice, activism and contemporary global challenges.

Drawing on decades of scholarship and activism, Maart addressed delegates from her standpoint as a Black South African philosopher whose work has consistently challenged the colonial foundations of knowledge production.

In her opening remarks, Maart reflected on her personal and historical connection to the themes of the conference.

“I addressed the conference as a child of a history of enslavement in District Six, the former slave quarter established by the Dutch East India Company,” she said. “To stand before the descendants of my colonisers, carrying the slave surname Maart, is to bring history into the room and to confront it directly.”

The conference featured three keynote speakers, 25 academic panels and a range of artistic performances over two days.

Reflecting on her participation as a Black South African scholar, Maart emphasised the importance of bringing African intellectual traditions into global philosophical debates.

“We are in an era where decoloniality and Africanisation have met in South African universities and, for the most part, are finding ways to work together despite resistance,” she said. “The stakes of engagement require us to bring something concrete to the table, without fear or trepidation, and to contribute meaningfully to global conversations.”

Maart’s academic journey has long been shaped by critical interventions in philosophy. While completing doctoral studies in the United Kingdom during the 1990s, she studied within the philosophy and politics stream at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham and attended the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research in London. Her doctoral work, ‘When Black Consciousness Meets White Consciousness’, challenged dominant philosophical traditions and laid the groundwork for much of her later scholarship.

During her keynote address, Maart examined the contributions of influential thinkers including philosopher Leonard Harris, founder of ‘Philosophy Born of Struggle’, which has a sister chapter at UKZN, and the late Congolese philosopher Valentin Mudimbe, whose work interrogates the enduring presence of coloniality within philosophical thought.

She also discussed her concept of ‘Philosophies Born of Massacres’, developed in response to the 2012 Marikana Massacre, as a framework for understanding structural, systemic and epistemic violence.

Maart drew attention to what she described as philosophy’s ongoing failure to adequately engage with questions of justice, freedom, enslavement and colonial violence. Referencing Harris’s concept of necro-being or ‘living death’, she argued that many philosophical traditions continue to marginalise African thought and experience.

“The challenge remains that forms of coloniality persist within philosophical institutions, including universities in South Africa,” Maart noted. “We must continue to interrogate the ways in which philosophy reproduces exclusions while claiming to pursue liberation.”

Her keynote generated lively discussion among conference participants, particularly students, who engaged extensively with her critique of contemporary philosophical approaches to decolonisation and her analysis of what she termed ‘White Consciousness’ within academic knowledge production.

“Rozena Maart’s keynote presentation was a stunning example of doing engaging philosophy work. Her presentation delivered invaluable insights into the colonial history between South Africa and The Netherlands and opened avenues of rethinking the stakes of philosophical engagement at the heart of these complex and urgent debates,” said Dr Christopher Brunner, organiser of Erasmus Philosophy Conference 2026.

Maart’s participation at the conference highlights UKZN’s growing international profile in philosophies born of struggle, decolonial scholarship and debates on social justice, while reinforcing the University’s contribution to global intellectual engagement.

Words: Oliver Meth

Photograph: Courtesy of Erasmus University