EVENT DETAILS

Politics Here and There: A Discussion with Albie Sachs

A chief architect in South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution, Justice Sachs was
appointed by Nelson Mandela in 1994 to the country’s newly established
Constitutional Court, where he served until his retirement in 2009. The appointment
followed decades of anti-apartheid activism, during which Sachs was raided by the
security police, subjected to banning orders restricting his movement, and twice
detained in solitary confinement without trial for prolonged periods. He eventually
went into exile spending eleven years studying and teaching law in England and
another eleven years in Mozambique, where he worked as a law professor and legal
researcher. In 1988, he was the target of a car bombing by South African security
agents, which cost him his right arm and the sight in one eye. Sachs is the author of
several books, including Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter (2000), The
Free Diary of Albie Sachs (2004), and The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
(2009). The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs was adapted for stage by David
Edgar, and a film biography is in production. Sachs holds B.A. and LL.B. degrees from
the University of Cape Town and a Ph.D. from the University of Sussex.

Discussants
Ngugi wa Thiong'o, UCI Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature
and English and Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation

Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, Assistant Professor, African-American Studies
and Core Faculty in Culture and Theory Ph.D. Program

Chair
David Theo Goldberg, Professor of Comparative Literature and Anthropology
and Director of the University of California Humanities Research Institute

Free & open to the public. Sponsored by the UCI Department of Anthropology, the UCI School of Humanities, and the University of California Humanities Research Institute. For details: http://uchri.org | 949-824-8900 | communications@hri.uci.edu