The South African Constitution has been hailed as a model document in state formation and consolidation. Yet, if its rational stature seems solid, the diverse human experience across the land that has to respond to it with a collective sense of social coherence and legitimacy may be imagined but seems critically unformed. What would it take to create such experiential coherence and legitimacy? Welcome remarks: Professor Sakhela Buhlungu (University of Fort Hare) Chair: Professor Mashood Baderin (SOAS/CAS) The event will be followed by a reception. Biography:Professor Njabulo Ndebele is Chairman of The Nelson Mandela Foundation, and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. His leadership in South African higher education has seen him serve as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Western Cape, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the North (now Limpopo) and two terms as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. He is currently Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg. He also served as Chair of the South African Universities Vice-Chancellor’s Association; President of the Association of African Universities; and founding Chair of the Southern African Regional Universities’ Association. He chaired three South African Government Commissions on broadcasting, the teaching of history in schools, and the use of African Languages as media of instruction in South African Universities. He has received Honorary Doctorates from universities in South Africa, United States, Japan, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Professor Ndebele is a winning author of fiction and essays.