McGill Faculty Affiliate: Jon Soske

Jon Soske is assistant Professor of History and Classical Studies. He received a MA in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. From 2009-11, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. His first book project, Boundaries of Diaspora: African Nationalism and the Indian Diaspora in 20th century South Africa, rewrites the history of the antiapartheid struggle by examining the interlacing histories of South Africa and India, especially the circulation and reconfiguration of ideas concerning race, nation, caste, and diaspora. His other research and teaching interests include 20th century African intellectual history, Africa’s place in the modern Indian Ocean, Indian Ocean visual cultures, South Asian diasporas in Africa and the Caribbean, Marxism and postcolonial theory, the politics of biographical writing, and the Indian Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He has also worked on a number of curatorial, film, and public history projects, including the exhibition South-South: Interruptions and Encounters (JMB Gallery 2009) and the film African-Indian Odyssey (Ochre Media 2010).

2012 Co-edited (with Arianna Lissoni, Natasha Erlank, Noor Nieftagodien and Omar Badsha), One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories Today. James Currey and Wits University Press.

2012 Co-edited (with Liz Gunner), Lewis Nkosi: Memory, Music, Exile. Special issue of English in Africa 39.3.

2009 Co-edited (with Tejpal S. Ajji), South-South: Interruptions and Encounters. Justina M. Barnike Gallery.

Forthcoming "The Other Prince: Ambedkar, Constitutional Democracy, and the Agency of the Law." In GThe Political Philosophies of Antonio Gramsci and B. R. Ambedkar: Itineraries of Subalterns and Dalits, edited by Cosimo Zene. Routledge.

2013 Review of Albert Luthuli: Bound by Faith, by Scott Couper. H-Net South Africa January.

2012 Co-author (with Arianna Lissoni and Natasha Erlank), "One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories after Apartheid." In One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories Today, edited by Arianna Lissoni, Jon Soske, Natasha Erlank, Noor Nieftagodien and Omar Badsha. James Currey and Wits University Press.

2012 "Unraveling the 1947 'Doctor's Pact': Race, Metonymy, and the Evasions of Nationalist History." In One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories Today, edited by Arianna Lissoni, Jon Soske, Natasha Erlank, Noor Nieftagodien and Omar Badsha. James Currey and Wits University Press.

2012 "Open Secrets, Off the Record: Audience, Intimate Knowledge, and the Crisis of the Post- Apartheid State." Historical Reflections/Reflexions historiques 38.2.

2012 Review of Popular Politics in the History of South Africa, 1400-1948 , by Paul Landau. Canadian Journal of African Studies 46.2.

2011 "The Life and Death of Dr. Abu Baker 'Hurley' Asvat, February 23, 1942 – January 27, 1989." African Studies 70.3. Special issue on Writing History for a Variety of Publics edited by Antoinette Burton.

2011 Review of The Origins of Non-Racialism: White Opposition to Apartheid in the 1950s, by David Everatt. Transformation 76.

2010 "Navigating Difference: Gender, Miscegenation, and Indian Domestic Space in 20th Century Durban." In Eyes Across the Water: Navigating the Indian Ocean, edited by Pamila Gupta, Isabel Hofmeyer and Michael Pearson. UNISA University Press and Penguin India.

2010 Review of Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, edited by Benedict Carton, John Laband and Jabulani Sithole. Transformation 71.

2010 "In Defense of Social Documentary Photography." In Bonani Africa 2010. Cape Town: SAHO.

2009 Introduction and Catalogue Essay. In South-South: Interruptions and Encounters, edited by Tejpal S. Ajji and Jon Soske. Toronto, ON: Justina M. Barnike Gallery.
*Winner of the 2010 Ontario Association of Art Galleries Award for Curatorial Writing.

2009 "Ready-Made Habitats." In Luis Jacob: Toward a Theory of Impressionist and Expressionist Spectatorship, edited by Meike Behn and Yilmaz Dziewior. Köln: Hamburg Kunstverein and Walter König.

2012 "Introduction: Lewis Nkosi's Way with Works." English in Africa 39.3.

2012 "Why does South African History Continue to be Written Primarily by White Scholars?" Africa is a Country, 29 November 2012. http://africasacountry.com/2012/11/29/why-does-south- african-history-continue-to-be-written-primarily-by-white-scholars/

2012 "Marikana and the New Politics of Grief." History Matters, 20 August 2012. http://historymatters.co.za/marikana-and-the-new-politics-of-grief-by-jo...

2011 "In Memorium: A Doctor of Principle and the People." Chimurenga 16: The Chimurenga Chronic, October.

2010 Co-author (with Omar Badsha), "The History of a Subcontinent in South Africa." Sunday Times, 18 April 2010.

2010 "Tejpal S. Ajji, Alissa Trotz, and Jon Soske in Conversation." Small Axe Website: A Caribbean Platform for Criticism, March. http://smallaxe.net/wordpress3/vocabularies/2010/03/27/tejpal-s-ajji-jon...

2011 Curator, Christopher Cozier/Luis Jacob. Substation Project Space, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 23 October - 3 November 2011.

2011 Project Team, Bonani Africa 2010 Festival of Photography. Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, 24 August - 30 September 2010; and Museum Africa, Johannesburg, 27 October 2010 - 21 January 2011.

2010 Curator, Under the Umdoni Tree: The Art of Ebrahim and Omar Badsha. Substation Gallery, Wits School of the Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 21 July - 6 August 2010.

2009 Co-Curator (with Tejpal S. Ajji), South-South: Interruptions and Encounters. Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, 2 April - 19 May 2009. Co-produced by the South Asian Visual Arts Centre.