Julia Willén

Lecturer

White Africanity - in history and the present

I am interested in how the idea of 'white Africanity' – its possibilities and constraints – was articulated among dissident whites such as Nadine Gordimer and Ruth First during Apartheid times, and how this notion is being negotiated in the present.

I am specifically interested in how the idea of white Africanity – its possibilities and constraints – was articulated among dissident whites such as Nadine Gordimer and Ruth First during Apartheid times, and how this notion is being negotiated in the present.

My doctoral dissertation examined the idea of white Africanity in South Africa, homing in on three different time periods during Apartheid, and in our contemporary moment. It is part of the reserach stream Citizenship and Ethnic Relations: Social, Cultural and Historical Perspectives.

I teach at the bachelor program Social and Cultural Analysis (SKA).

Recent publications

Willén, J. (2015) ”The Curse of the Nation State and History as Remedy? Xenophobia and Migritude in Post-Apartheid South Africa”, in Discover Society, February 1.

Willén, J. (2009) ”Vad är en källtext” in Lundahl & Leppänen (eds.) Kanon ifrågasatt. Kanoniseringsprocesser och makten över vetandet, Hedemora: Gidlunds.

Willén, J. (2007) “Gruvornas röster”, in Glänta, No. 4.

Publications

2022

Julia Willén (2022) Arkivets plats i antropocen Ord & Bild, Vol. 4, p. 43-52

2018

Julia Willén (2018) Vithet vs vithet Glänta, Vol. 1

Julia Willén, Andrew van der Vlies (2018) Reading for hope: A conversation about texts and method Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Comparative Studies, Vol. 19, p. 357-373

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2017

Julia Willén (2017) Past futures lost: people power of the south as utopian concurrence Contested histories from el Complejo: An anthology, p. 85-96

Julia Willén, Hans Carlsson, Claudia del Fierro (Editorship) (2017) Contested histories from el Complejo: an anthology

Research

Man in refugee camp behind the Belgrade Central Station

Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society - REMESO

The institute conducts research with a multilevel approach to the understanding of migration, ethnicity and society.

Conference and workshop presentations

“‘The Trials Go on Inside Us Already’: Futures Past of South African Whiteness” at ’The Ethos of History’, oconference organised by the research program Time, Memory, Representation, 10-12 September 2015.

“The Tragic Time of Whiteness: History as Remedy and/or Curse in Apartheid South Africa” at the international conference ‘Concurrences in postcolonial research – perspectives, methodologies, engagements’ at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden, 20-23 August 2015

“Unsettled Africans: Coloniality, Heritage, Landscapes” at the international workshop “Archaeologies of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ – Debating the Ethics and Politics of Ethnicity and Indigeneity in Archaeology and Heritage Discourse”, Uppsala, 23-24 October, 2013.

“Subjects of the Interstices: Home, Belonging, and Heritage in White Settler Societies”, at the International Conference "Race, Migration, Citizenship: Postcolonial and Decolonial Perspectives'. Birmingham, 7-9 July, 2013.

Organisation

Division of Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO)

REMESO pursues research and education on transnational migration, ethnic diversity and citizenship in relation to changes in labour and welfare.

Department of Culture and Society (IKOS)

At the Department of Culture and Society (IKOS), social sciences and the humanities gather in environments where research and education work together.