Call for Papers: Symposium ‘Tongues of Their Mothers’ - The Intellectual Legacy of Makhosazana Xaba

This will be a one-day symposium convened by Dr Barbara Boswell and Dr Athambile Masola, Departments of English Literary Studies and Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

• Date: 1 April 2026
• Venue: University of Cape Town

Makhosazana Xaba is a South African creative writer, scholar, and former uMkhonto we Sizwe soldier who has rendered a significant contribution to South African literature. As an award-winning poet, short story writer, essayist, literary historian and literary scholar, her contributions span several decades, providing the perspective of a feminist writer who was embedded in the liberation struggle in exile during apartheid. In the post-apartheid period, she has published several foundational texts, foregrounding queer black feminist lives and experience. She has also facilitated the publication of significant pan-African collections of short stories and poetry collections centering women and members of the LGBTIQA community.

Our symposium seeks literary critical papers, literary historical papers, and creative works on the life and literary legacy of Makhosazana Xaba, for presentation at this one-day symposium. Papers presented will be developed for peer-review publication in an edited collection of scholarship, edited by Barbara Boswell and Athambile Masola. We welcome papers in isiXhosa, isiZulu, English, Afrikaans and Kaaps.

Papers may include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The poetry of Makhosazana Xaba
• Xaba’s writing as feminist praxis
• Xaba as translator
• Xaba as editor of feminist and queer texts
• The queer worlds envisioned by Xaba’s short stories
• Xaba’s literary criticism
• Xaba’s methodology in writing “found poetry”
• Creative responses to Xaba’s work
• Xaba’s feminist circles of community
• Xaba’s restoration of women’s voices as epistemic justice
• Xaba as literary historian
• Analysis of Xaba’s use of the genre of literary interview
• Other themes not covered by this CFP
• We welcome proposals for short performance pieces highlighting aspects of Xaba’s work.

We aim to organise accepted proposed presentations into three panels.

Please send abstracts for presentation of no longer than 500 words to barbara.boswell@uct.ac.za and athambile.masola@uct.ac.za with the subject line “Xaba symposium abstract” by 30 November 2025.

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