SAPI / SAPA 2025 Annual Conference

Dear Colleagues

You are invited to register for our annual SAPI/SAPA Conference taking place at the Wave Theatre, 44 Long Street, Cape Town over the three days of 30, 31 May and 01 June 2025.

This year’s conference is titled (De)Colonised? and we aim to explore coloniser/colonised relationships: how we think about them, how we are able to make them conscious in ourselves and others, how we recognise unhelpful or harmful repetitions and how we seek liberation from destructive and entrenched patterns of relating. We will endeavour to scrutinise when and how we colonise, why and how we are colonised, the (im)possibility of what can be or should be decolonised as well as what can and should be embraced and integrated relative to our intrapsychic, interpsychic and sociopolitical worlds.

Our programme includes an exciting and diverse range of speakers including Thando Njovane (Senior Lecturer, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University), Karima Lazali (French/Algerian Psychoanalyst), Sally Swartz (Clinical Psychologist and Emeritus Professor, Psychology Department, University of Cape Town), Brian Watermeyer (Clinical Psychologist and Professor at the Division of Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University), Siona O'Connell (Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria) and Ronald Davies (Psychoanalyst).

We have extended our Conference by a day which will allow for a rich and detailed dive into our theme. Besides the speakers listed above who will be addressing us all, for the first time you will have the opportunity to choose between a range of parallel sessions, with each presenter offering a unique perspective on our topic. We hope that these smaller sessions will allow for the unfolding of inclusive and intimate conversations between all present. Details of these sessions and the mechanism of choosing which you will attend will be sent out closer to the time.

The Conference venue has limited capacity and we encourage you to book your tickets HERE and register soonest.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Warm regards

SAPI/SAPA Conference Committee