This is an invitation to an online conference to celebrate the life and work of Howard
Richards, on 21 July 2024, on Zoom, from 14h00 to 17h00, South African time.
Howard Richards is recognised internationally as a distinguished scholar, social activist, and
moral philosopher. His first published article, in the journal Ethics in 1964, initiated six
decades of contributions in the fields of social science, philosophy, economics, education,
and legal studies. His commitment to using theoretical insights to illuminate practice,
invariably brought him, and his wife and partner Caroline Higgins, to work alongside those
engaged in social change, notably initiatives for peace and environmental justice. His rich
and colourful life includes a period as volunteer attorney for Cesar Chavez’ Farm Workers
Association, work with Freirean pedagogy under Salvador Allende in Chile before the coup,
and his founding the Peace and Global Studies Programme at Earlham College.
Howard’s working association with South Africa started in 2009 when Catherine Odora
Hoppers invited him to become a Distinguished Fellow of her Chair in Development
Education at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Popular amongst his peers, he struck up
working relationships with several of the distinguished fellows of the chair. In the next years
he wrote books in collaboration with Catherine Odora Hoppers, and later Gavin Andersson,
and brought Ela Gandhi as guest in a series of seminars in Chile. He gave of his time to work
at the Seriti Institute and contributed to discourse at several universities and at the Human
Sciences Research Council. For close on ten years, he lectured on the EMBA programme at
the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Howard was the inspirational
founder of the Unbounded Academy and participated actively in reading groups under its
aegis. He served with great pride on the Advisory Board of Human Dignity and Humiliation
Studies (HumanDHS), a global transdisciplinary fellowship of concerned academics and
practitioners who wish to promote dignity and transcend humiliation.
Howard continued to influence his peers and the wider world through his prolific writings,
with books, journal articles, and his distinctive ‘thought experiments’ being produced even
in the last months of his life.
Howard took his work seriously. He gave of his best for the benefit of humanity, in several
languages. The two decades of his work in South Africa represents watershed thinking and
positionalities on a range of topics. We celebrate his serious engagements on social,
educational, ecological, and economic issues and the differences he made. He was a thought
leader who demonstrated what it means to do impeccable work.
Howard touched the lives of many people, and many continue to benefit from his thinking.
This is an opportunity for people to share their appreciation of all aspects of Howard’s work
and life.
Contributions at the conference
We invite all those wishing to share at the conference to be in contact by email with Prof
Gert van der Westhuizen or anyone else in the Conference Organizing Group.
Conference contributions may take different forms. Some people may make presentations,
while others share narrative accounts of interactions and conversations with Howard as
speaker, supervisor, mentor, or co-author. Some people may wish to share observations
and reflections on his teachings, or reviews of any part of his extensive body of writing.
We encourage presentations to be precise and specific when dealing with readings and
analyses of Howards work. We ask that each contribution should take no longer than 15
minutes, so that there can be adequate time for conversation.
Please note that there is a plan for submissions to be included in a Festschrift publication.
Please advise by email, as soon as possible, your intention to make a submission to the
conference, and the Festschrift.
Coordinating group
Gert van der Westhuizen. westgvdw@gmail.com
Gavin Andersson. m.gavin.andersson@gmail.com
Catherine Odora Hoppers. cohoppers@gmail.com
Crain Soudien. csoudien@hsrc.ac.za
Lebogang Seitshiro. leboseitshiro@asaseharmony.org
Details of the online conference:
Commemorative conference: The life and work of Howard Richards
Date: 21st July 2024
Time: 14:00pm Southern African / 8:00am Santiago Chile
Duration: Approximately 3 hours
To join the conference, simply click on the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8522120515?pwd=VrFuE5iaJUJMmb9czhJbTg6dBofOmx.1&omn=86142719434
Meeting ID: 852 212 0515
Passcode: Ubuntu7!
