emotional wash she’d grappled with all week. What is at first glance a reading and academic space has taken the shape of something more significant. The above what takes place in the group, for example, are honest reflections of the trajectory that academic writing can take. Publications and books are seldom produced in the absence of emotional friction and creative struggles. Instead of presenting well put together responses, the “shut and write” weekly sessions provide a humanising agent and a space where respective truths are held with respect and sensitivity while students advance their academic endeavours. We then seal the day with refreshments and often profound academic and deeply personal conversations. • Workshops, talks and strategic alliances: Recognising that knowledge is rarely created in isolation, we have further built strategic alliances and event partnerships with other departments at UJ, such as African Languages and the Centre for Sociological Research and Practice, under the leadership of Prof Zungu and Professor Motsemme, respectively. Through these partnerships and collaborations, we have been able to bring in scholars from various Global South contexts, such as Brazil, for a knowledge exchange and sharing, as we did, for example, with Netto’s seminar above. Conclusion Given the institution and Anthropology’s legacy as the handmaiden of colonialism (Asad, 1973) and apartheid, how do we heal from the shackles of structural violence? As the authors, we posit, a social justice that moves beyond the discourse while still in the pursuit of knowledge production and theory building is desirable. Jobson (2016) has suggested that Anthropology should burn in order to be born anew. Other scholars, such as Webster (2018) and Ford (2015), interrogate their positions as white scholars studying black subjects, a reflective lens which Ford (2015) likens to ‘peeling back layers of an onion’. Goncalves (2019) highlights that total objectivity is not possible; therefore, the acceptance of the biases we may have can offer us a cleansed understanding and new expressions. Highlighting the errors of the past is not a way in which to cast blame, but uprooting these issues affords us arable soil on which to plant seeds for a better harvest. So maybe Anthropology, and our academic neighbour Development Studies, do not necessarily have to burn, but an immense responsibility lies on us as scholars to always return to the practice of reflexiveness so that we do not reproduce the blunders of the past. As the UJ Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, we have held down our end of the fort, as seen above, in not only advancing the discipline but the institution at large. Figure 4: Writing Group participants after the writing session: having drinks, food and helping each other. 64 A Journey of Innovation
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