Adam Haupt

South Africa

Dr Adam Haupt is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town. Haupt is the author of Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion (HSRC Press, 2008). The book tells the story of people defining themselves as active, creative and politically conscious agents in a consumerist society. The author's publisher has afforded him the opportunity to practice what he preaches: they have made Stealing Empire available as a free download from the HSRC Press site. Also visit the site for the podcast, which features poetry performances by Burni Amansure and Caco, the Noble Savage (Marlon Burgess).

Haupt has taught in the English Department at the University of the Western Cape as well as in the English and Drama departments at the University of Stellenbosch. Other past life experiences: Cape Technikon; freelanced for the Mail&Guardian, SL and Y magazines; pay-for-play e-commerce ventures; dabbled in television and video production and experimented in music and spoken word/poetry performance.

Adam's iSummit '08 Keynote Address:
 
Enclosing the Commons - for Dummies: Creativity, citizenship and media ownership
Haupt argues that legal threats issued by SAB Miller and Wiley Publishing to  Laugh It Off Media and Mail & Guardian Online respectively, provide important perspectives on democracy and commons enclosure. Both cases offer insights into corporations' tendencies to employ narrow understandings of IP to protect their own interests - often at the expense of public interest.

Watch this video

See the from this presentation