Academic | Umuzi
Johann Rossouw het op Vrydag, 27 November die stigtingstoespraak gelewer tydens die amptelike bekendstelling van die Afrikaanse Alumni-vereniging. Luidens ‘n verklaring op hul webtuiste is die doel van die Afrikaanse Alumni-vereniging “om as spreekbuis te dien vir diegene wat die voortsetting van uitnemende Afrikaanse hoër onderwys nastreef”. Die vereniging bestaan uit “lojale en besorgde alumni” wat bekommerd is oor onder meer “staatsinmenging, transformasie en die viktimisering en afskaling van Afrikaans by ons universiteite”.
In sy toespraak deel die Verwoerdburg-outeur sy waarnemings oor die toekoms van Afrikaans aan universiteite en vra wat voorstanders van Afrikaans as akademiese taal vandag te doen staan. Rossouw kyk terug oor twee dekades se gesprekke oor Afrikaans en besin oor onder meer staatsinmenging en onvoldoende bevondsing, die FeesMustFall-beweging en die politieke wêreldkonteks waarbinne al die gebeure afgespeel het.
Robertson’s text highlights human rights abuses during two periods in South African history, critiquing the ideology of slavery and the effects of enlightenment scientific experimentation on human subjects. Robertson also portrays the violence of apartheid, contrasted with attempts to act ethically and autonomously. Stobie’s paper used the framework of Ubuntu to evaluate concepts of land, colonialism, slavery, gender, science, religion and apartheid as represented in the novel, with the aim of identifying the lessons of history to illustrate the possibility of an emancipatory praxis in contemporary society. Complete article: UKZN Ndaba Online
Read Chris Thurman’s Paper on “Poison”, by Henrietta Rose-Innes, from the Wits End Times Colloquium
Cosmopolitan Literary Cities and Hybrid Identities – A Graduate Student Explores Imraan Coovadia’s Work
Using selected theories of space, place, and identity, Muller suggests that the novels under discussion reflect an era of globalisation, interconnectedness, and hybridity through the construction of cosmopolitan literary cities and the hybrid identities which inhabit them. He argues that his works can be tentatively labelled as post-transitional texts that strive to craft connections rather than to construct self-isolating communities and characters seen in South African texts such as Richard Rive’s Buckingham Palace, District Six (1986), Aziz Hassim’s The Lotus People (2003), and Phyllis Naidoo’s Footprints in Grey Street (2002). Speaking about the highlights of his research, Muller said he was able to present at two conferences: the first annual Postcolonial Narrations postgraduate forum at the University of Göttingen in October 2013 and the ALA Conference hosted by Wits University in April 2014.
Using David Danrosch’s definition of world literature – “[A]ll literary works that circulate beyond their culture of origin, either in translation or in their original language.” – De Kock and Jackson had a rich conversation in which they look at contemporary Afrikaans writers such as André Brink, Breyten Breytenbach, Antjie Krog, Etienne van Heerden and Marlene van Niekerk and their impact on literature at large. A fascinating conversation ensued, which concluded with the following idea: “Afrikaans literature, as you point out above, might find its greatest moments of worldliness not in its being seamlessly synchronised with a greater planetary consciousness, but in its very dislocation, its global isolation, just as the subtitle of your new book (South African Literature’s Russian Soul: Narrative Forms of Global Isolation) puts it.”
Uittreksel uit Transformations deur Imraan Coovadia: Waarom het JM Coetzee na Adelaide verhuis?
by Amanda on Aug 27th, 2012 4 comments
Transformations bevat ‘n versameling essays oor literatuur, politiek en kultuur deur die skrywer en akademikus Imraan Coovadia. Lees ‘n verkorte, vertaalde weergawe van sy essay oor JM Coetzee wat in Die Burger verskyn het. In hierdie essay skryf Coovadia oor die redes waarom Coetzee na Australië verhuis het: In 2002, ’n jaar voordat hy die Nobel-prys ontvang het, verhuis John Maxwell Coetzee van Kaapstad na Adelaide, ’n onbeduidende provinsiale hoofstad in die suide van Australië met ’n bevolking van 1,5 miljoen.
Op 61 aanvaar hy die titel van ere-navorsingsgenoot aan die Universiteit van Adelaide, ’n keuse wat byna net so ongewoon was as die bestemming self.
Suid-Afrika was nooit baie gemaklik met J.M. Coetzee se teenwoordigheid nie en sy vertrek was selfs meer onthutsend. Hoekom Adelaide? Londen was dan lank die toevlugsoord van welgestelde ballinge. Die komitee vir Maatskaplike Denke van die Universiteit van Chicago was ook eerder die plek wat Coetzee sy intellektuele tuiste genoem het, ’n duidelike klap na die Universiteit van Kaapstad (UK), waaraan hy drie dekades lank verbonde was.
Lees verder: Die Burger
Transformations: Essays deur Imraan Coovadia