Negende kollokwium oor Afrikaans en die studie van Suid-Afrika
Negende colloquium over het Afrikaans en de studie van Zuid-Afrika
Ninth colloquium on Afrikaans and South African Studies
Inter-Breyten
Breytenbach in Context
26-27 November 2026
Organised with the financial support of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Ghent University, Africa Platform of Ghent University Association (GAP), Departments of Literary Studies, Languages and Cultures, and Translation, Interpreting and Communication, and the Research Centre for Literature in Translation (UGent-VUB)
Programme
Location for all lectures: Sint-Baafshuis (Ghent)
DAY 1
Thursday 26 November 2026
09:30 Registration and coffee
10:00 Opening by Timothy Colleman, Yves T’Sjoen, Lieselot Tuytens, Annelies Verdoolaege, and Martina Vitackova
10:15 Keynote lecture by Louise Viljoen (University of Stellenbosch): ‘Maar ek dink ’n boer is klaar ’n surrealis’: surrealisme, Zen-Boeddhisme en politieke verset in Breytenbach se vroeë werk
Chair Yves T’Sjoen (Ghent University)
11:00 Discussion
11:15 Session 1
- 11:15 – Jungiaanse alchemistiese transformasie in die bundel: op weg na kû (2019) deur Breyten Breytenbach, by Karen Kuhn (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)
- 11:35 – Writing and Publishing in Spite of Censorship: The Buren Archive of Correspondence between Breyten Breytenbach and Daantjie Saayman (1969-1973), by Sandra Saayman (University of La Réunion)
- 11:55 – Breytenbach and Brink in a French-speaking context via the journal Europe, by Kathleen Gyssels (University of Antwerp)
12:15 Discussion
12:30 Lunch
14:00 Keynote Lecture by Doudou Dia (Gorée Institute): Breyten Breytenbach et l’imaginaire de la liberté: littérature, résistance et dialogue dans un monde fragmenté
Chair Kathleen Gyssels (University of Antwerp)
14:45 Discussion
15:00 Panel 1: Breyten in translation
Denis Hirson, and Georges Lory (moderated by Martina Vitackova) + poetry of Breytenbach read by Denis Hirson (E), and Georges Lory (F)
15:45 Discussion
16:00 Coffee break
16:30 Panel 2: GORIN and pan-Africanism
Inge Brinkman, Doudou Dia, and Kathleen Gyssels (moderated by Alwyn Roux)
17:15 Discussion
19:30 Conference Dinner: MUDAY Taste of Ethiopia – Music performance, by Stefan Dixon
DAY 2
Friday 27 November 2026
09:00 Session 2
- 09:00 – Die postulering van ’n nuwe vergestalting van laatwerk in B.B. Lasarus se poëtiese oeuvre, by Anke van der Merwe (University of Stellenbosch)
- 09:20 – ‘Saamnaatmaakmaat’: Skrywer-leser‑verstrengeling en poëtiese wording in Breyten Breytenbach se latere werk, by Annika van der Linde (UNAM & University of Stellenbosch)
09:40 Discussion
10:00 Coffee break
10:20 Session 3
- 10:20 – Beyond the Text: Relational Memory and Breyten Breytenbach’s Living Cultural Ecosystem, by Andries de Beer (Cape Peninsula University of Technology)
- 10:40 – ‘Breyten spreek ons Afrikaanses toe’. Die representatie van die anti-apartheid struggle in Binnerym van bloed van Antjie Krog, by Leona Conradie and Martina Vitackova (Ghent University)
11:00 Discussion
11:15 Keynote lecture by Alfred Schaffer (Stellenbosch University): ‘wat ek skryf is woorde / wat woord ek is skrywe’. Breyten Breytenbachs (‘YK’) als noodgedwongen spiegelpaleis
Chair Lieve de Wachter (KU Leuven)
12:00 Discussion
12:15 Lunch
13:30 Book presentations
- 13:30 – Georges Lory: Capturer le vent & Les strélitzias, balade en littérature sud-africaine
- 13:40 – Bart Kraamer & Robert Dorsman: De onburger (Koppernik, Amsterdam)
- 13:50 – Yves T’Sjoen: Postumiteiten voor Breyten. Door het oog van dichters en vorsers
14:00 Session 4
- 14:00 – Die representasie van “verbeelde Afrikas” in Breyten Breytenbach se werk van 1984 tot 2014: ’n Historiese, filosofiese en poëtiese ondersoek, by Alwyn Roux (UNISA)
- 14:20 – Die tyd van bewussyn: temporaliteit, ervaring en poëtiese vorm in Breyten Breytenbach, by Willie Burger (University of Pretoria)
14:40 Discussion
- 14:50 – Alfred Schaffer in conversation with Robert Dorsman: Breytenbach’s poetry in Dutch translation
15:20 Coffee break
15:45 Panel 3: Breytenbach and Imagined Africas
Alwyn Roux, Alfred Schaffer, and Louise Viljoen (moderated by Yves T’Sjoen)
16:30 Discussion
16:45 Panel 4: “Die taal van ’n breër bewussyn”: Afrikaans, Breytenbach en die veelstemmige Suid-Afrika
Gerrie Lemmer (ATKV), Chareldine van der Merwe (ATKV-VVA), Ilse Eigelaar-Meets (University of Stellenbosch), and Dokka Swart (Doen en Leer) (moderated by Milton Webber)
17:30 Daphnée Breytenbach
17:45 Closing Remarks
18:00 Reception – Moussa Dembele
Wetenschappelijk comité
Dr. Agnes Andeweg (Universiteit Utrecht)
Prof. dr. Koen Bostoen (Universiteit Gent)
Prof. dr. Timothy Colleman (Universiteit Gent)
Prof. dr. Sarah De Mul (Open Universiteit Nederland)
Prof. dr. Lieve De Wachter (KU Leuven)
Prof. dr. Kathleen Gyssels (Universiteit Antwerpen)
Prof. dr. Yves T’Sjoen (Universiteit Gent/Universiteit Stellenbosch)
Prof. dr. Margriet van der Waal (Universiteit Groningen/Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Dr. Ineke van Kessel (Universiteit Leiden)
Dr. Annelies Verdoolaege (Universiteit Gent/UWK)
Prof. dr. Andries Visagie (Universiteit Stellenbosch)
Dr. Martina Vitackova (Universiteit Gent)
Organiserend comité
Timothy Colleman, Leona Conradie, Lieve De Wachter, Lieselot Tuytens, Annelies Verdoolaege en Martina Vitackova.
