Vuyiswa Lupuwana is Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town and is affiliated with the Historical Archaeology Research Group. Her research interests broadly span the period of the last-500 years of interaction, colonialism and resistance in southern Africa. Her most recent work has focused on the interactions between indigenous communities and colonial communities in the 18th and 19th century northern Cape frontier. With respect to this, her research questions are focused on the processes of change and continuity, identity formation and the processes of disavowal and resistance. Dr Lupuwana is interested in the use of film as a research tool within archaeology. This combination of perspectives has spurred her interest in public and community archaeology and resulted in the production of the documentary Prestwich: a film for the forgotten and the Remembrance Project in the Cederberg. Her approach to research engages with the complexity of the archaeological record and its intersection with contemporary issues. Dr. Lupuwana also engages with Black feminism as a lens through which the archaeological record can be critically examined. Furthermore, community-based participatory research methods are important to her work for they incorporate social justice in the field of archaeology.

Fellowship Project
Archaeology Goes to the Cinema: Perceptions of Africa and Civilization through the Filmic Lens

Archaeology Goes to the Cinema: Perceptions of Africa and Civilization through the Filmic Lens examines the development of anthropology and the archaeological juxtaposed with the developments of film and television on the African content. This perspective is critical to thinking about how perceptions of identity are formed, and will guide the discourse around decolonial thinking in archaeology. Examining the development of Blackness as a perceived primitive identity is critically linked to the visual world and projections of Blackness in photographs, film and other forms of visual media; interrogating these visual objects in juxtaposition with the development of the archaeological discipline will be the critical addition to the body of scholarship.

Follow the discussion live on YouTube via this link https://www.youtube.com/@hutchinscenter on Wednesday 4th December 2024 at 7pm SAST.