Public Lecture: Beyond the Torture Chamber: Cartographies of Genocidal Terror
The Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), in collaboration with the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western Cape (UWC), invites scholars, practitioners, students and members of the public to attend a public lecture by Prof Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian.
Beyond the Torture Chamber: Cartographies of Genocidal Terror
Drawing on testimonies from Gaza, Prof Shalhoub-Kevorkian will examine torture beyond discrete acts, individual bodies and bounded spaces, considering how suffering may also be produced through the destruction of the material, social, infrastructural and ecological conditions necessary for life.
Grounded in critical scholarship on torture and racialised violence, the lecture engages concepts including geocorporeality, debilitation, the “living cemetery”, the “biosphere of genocide” and overkill. It considers torture as a technology operating across bodies and contexts, tracing the interconnected effects of bombardment, displacement, hunger, contaminated water, sewage, disease, the destruction of healthcare and shelter, and environmental devastation.
Through this analysis, the lecture explores how bodily and psychic debilitation may extend across individuals, communities, infrastructures, environments and time, inviting critical reflection on the broader psychological and social dimensions of violence.
About the Speaker
Prof Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London, Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa, and Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her scholarship spans law, criminology, gender violence, surveillance, security, childhood and the politics of violence. She is the author of numerous books and publications examining militarisation, security, surveillance, childhood and gender violence.
Event Details
Date: 28 September 2026
Time: 12:30–14:30
Venue: Room 1E, School of Government Building, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town
RSVP
To attend, please RSVP to Ndimakazi Khumalo at dwayin@unisa.ac.za.
The public lecture is hosted by the Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, in collaboration with the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western Cape.
