This episode is the third in a three-part series featuring conversations between Rangoato Hlasane and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez.
Rangoato Hlasane from the Keleketla! Library and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez discuss how youth collectivities create beauty, and specifically, within Ra’s program, the Keleketla! Library in Johannesburg, South Africa. Keleketla is a library and media arts project co-founded by Ra that was formerly based at Johannesburg’s historic Drill Hall (2008-2015) and is now based at King Kong, also in Johannesburg. King Kong is a multidisciplinary arts space and concert venue. The Drill Hall is the site where Nelson Mandela and 156 prominent freedom fighters were tried for treason in 1956.
In this episode, they discuss what it means to make beautiful things within youth collectives and within contexts of material precarity, how youth collectives create and shift narratives, and how ethical commitments to anti-racism are challenged while facilitating collectives.
Rangoato Hlasane is a cultural worker, selector, educator and co-founder of Keleketla! Library in Johannesburg. He holds a Master’s degree in Visual Art from the University of Johannesburg and teaches at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he is a PhD candidate in African Literature. He 'selects' music to expand his research into the social, political, spiritual and economic significance of African oralities, sonic and musicking practices.
This episode was hosted and directed by Naima Raza, produced by Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez and Sarah Switzer, and supported by Youth Research Lab Research Assistants, Andrea Vela Alarcon and Madeleine Ross.