Listen, Observe, Feel – A Workshop on Perception, Gender and Prejudice
Gerard M. Samuel
October 15, 2025: 2 - 6 pm | Seminar Room E0101, IKM (Building E)
In this transdisciplinary workshop students are invited to explore the ways in which different forms of structural violence can be traced down to the level of ‘sense and perception’. In a combination of theoretical and practical exercises we experiment with everyday gestures, movements, sounds and expressions. We want to analyze and discuss the ways different bodies and behaviors are perceived, judged and categorized, specifically concerning questions of race and gender.
Gerard M. Samuel is Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town and former Director of their School of Dance (since 2008), a former Ballet dancer, turned choreographer, producer-director turned academic and published author. His PhD examined Contemporary Dance in South Africa and the nexus it offers for reimagining notions of Other and Body. His (research) interests encompass Ballet, Contemporary Dance and Dance Pedagogy in South Africa (post-apartheid histories), Disability Arts and the contested histories found in Dance archives that expose interstices of the Black experience.
Participants are asked to bring comfortable clothes that they can move in and (if available) their smartphone.