Decisively dissed and dismissed in the Mail & Guardian, the conference on the Paradoxes of the Public Sphere that took place at Wits University recently was Âwritten off by an offended journalist as a grilled-prawn, wine-swilling affair that left the great minds of the Native Club off its guest list.
The opening night book launch, described at length by Khadija Bradlow, featured a panel of independent commentators. It was open to the public and the publicity for it was substantial. That the aforementioned great minds did not turn out in great numbers is hardly surprising. The author concerned was Xolela ÂMangcu, outed last year by the Native Club as one of South Africa’s cohort of “coconut intellectuals”.
Ironically though, had Bradlow stuck around beyond the opening night cocktail party and the first few sessions, she might have discovered that far from being a navel-gazing, ivory tower affair, the conference dealt head on with precisely the kind of closed quarters, ghettoised communication she sought to critique. Focusing on who spoke rather than on the merit of their ideas, Bradlow’s snap judgements sacrificed attention to the complexity of the subject under discussion — namely the difficulty of communicating across defined and confined public spheres in South Africa.
In order to disseminate the ideas of the conference the organisers turned to the media for assistance. We circulated accessible, Âabbreviated versions of paper abstracts and the framing ideas of the Âconference in the form of an expansive Âprogramme. More detailed materials were provided to everyone who attended the conference. We worked actively to link up journalists and paper givers.
Some extremely media-shy researchers responded generously, meeting journalists, explaining their ideas, and stammering into tape recorders. The extent and depth of the coverage in media other than the M&G is testimony to their efforts and the high levels of engagement by journalists.
The article that appeared uses the reticence of one academic, ÂProfessor Hassim, to accuse her and all the participants having Âgargantuan self-regard and no interest in the voices of the masses. It is a judgement that writes off extensive research efforts that focused on where and how marginalised communities gain voice or are muffled, not to mention Hassim’s years of work in engaging ordinary people often much more vulnerable than the readers of the M&G.
Still more seriously, Bradlow eschews discussion about the state of debate in South Africa in favour of description of an event. When the latter replaces directed argumentation and analysis, one paper noted, “babelisation” results, and the deliberative process foundational to democracy is confounded.
That same paper identified pointedly the role of journalists in “babelisation”. Good journalism, another paper showed, results in dynamic deliberative processes. Journalists play a key role in shaping what is understood to be the public sphere. How they do that demands attention.
The conference papers looked not only at the way in which the public sphere is actively convened and in some instances officialised, and the intellectual differences that underpin the acrimonious debates between the Native Club and the iconic coconuts.
The papers revealed the ways in which public deliberation takes place in unexpected and powerful spaces and places — in art and literature, film and popular musical forms, obituaries, political adverts, family histories and poetic performances.
Asserting the importance for democracy of citizens participating in public life, papers coming out of different projects drew attention to a range of circumstances and conditions that make citizens and, still more sharply, non-citizens, hesitant and uncertain about speaking out, unsure about the ethical grounds from which to speak truth to power. This is worrying stuff and it calls for our sustained attention at a time when, to draw from the conference title, democracy is at the crossroads.
Carolyn Hamilton is head of the Constitution of Public Intellectual Life Research Project at Wits University