Stephen Clingman, Distinguished Professor in the Department of English, presented the 2023 Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa on Oct. 11.

Clingman’s 1998 biography, “Bram Fischer: Afrikaner Revolutionary,” was co-winner of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, South Africa’s premier prize for nonfiction, and his lecture, titled “Bram Fischer, or What Happens When the World Becomes Inhospitable,” highlighted the significance of Fischer’s life in a both a South African and global context.
 

Fischer was the legal and political figure who led the defense of Nelson Mandela and the other accused at the Rivonia Trial in 1964. Following the trial, Fischer himself went underground in disguise until his capture, when he was sentenced to life imprisonment; he died a prisoner in 1975.

Clingman also gave two other presentations at the University of the Free State including a seminar in the Faculty of Law on publishing and an interdisciplinary seminar for faculty and graduate students across the humanities, law and other fields, titled “The Question of Dwelling: South Africa and Elsewhere.”

A video on Clingman’s lecture, starting at 42:54, can be viewed above and is available on YouTube.