Dr. Vuyiswa Lupuwana is an archaeologist, historian and documentary filmmaker. Dr. Lupuwana lectures at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and convenes the Global Diasporas and Archaeologies of the Historical Past course. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa
Social Justice, Community Archaeology and Engaged Scholarship
Vuyiswa Lupuwana’s research is primarily focused on the archaeology of the last-500 years. She is interested in the archaeologies of interaction, colonisation and social exchange.
Her approach to research engages with the complexity of the archaeological record. Dr. Lupuwana further engages with Black feminism as a lens through which she interrogates the archaeological record. Far from simply interpreting the archaeological record, Vuyiswa is interested in the intersection the archaeological record has with the present. Her recent work has engaged with community based participatory research as a critical lens from which the archaeological discipline can engage with issues of social justice.
“My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.”
“Audre Lorde”
Lecturing Profile
Vuyiswa Lupuwana is a lecturer in the department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town affiliated with the Historical Archaeology Research Group (HARG). She received her PhD from the University of Cape Town in 2021. Her research interests broadly span the last 500 years of interaction, colonialism and resistance in Southern Africa.
Lupuwana’s most recent work has focused on the interaction between indigenous communities and colonial communities in the 18th and 19th century northern Cape frontier. Her research questions are mainly situated around the processes of change and continuity, identity formation and disavowal and resistance.
Having majored in film and media production, her research has interrogated the use of documentary film, photography and the creative arts as research tools within archaeology. Her documentary, Prestwich Street, is a measure of the potential of integrating creative methodologies in the field of archaeology. This project additionally spurred her interest in public and community archaeologies and her involvement in the Wild-foods Co-Create Project in the Cederberg.
The project spanned a total of three years (2017-2019) of community-led research and Lupuwana will continue to work under this research banner, with the objective of producing a documentary and short films with the communities in the Cederberg.
Courses Lectured
An eclectic mix of historical archaeology, theory, archaeology and its relationship with film and television as well as decolonisation in archaeology.
Global Diasporas and the Archaeology of the Historical Past
This course is focused on the establishment of the Cape colony and the impacts this had on indigenous communities over the last-500 year period. It engages with issues of frontier, cultural entanglement and the violence of the colonial period
The Theory of Working with Objects
The module is targeted at 4th years students (honours in South Africa). The objective of the course is to engage archaeology graduates with the basic theory on archaeology and its intersection with material artefacts. The course is taught through a seminar style and students are expected to prepare a paper to present in the class.
Archaeology goes to the Cinema
The elective module is offered at the honours level (4th year in South Africa). It engages with the pop-cultural intersection between the archaeological discipline and the mediums of film and television. Through this course, students engage with film texts representing contexts of pseudo-archaeologists, travellers and adventurers through critical discussions of the display of archaeology adjacent material on film and television screens