Dear Humanities Colleagues 

Congratulations!  Please join me in congratulating:

 • Tuks Camerata for releasing its first music video based on Tshaikovsky’s The Crown of Roses, in celebration of Easter • School of the Arts and all those involved for successfully launching The Octopus Programme and the ARD programme 

• Juan Bornman (CAAC) for being awarded the Stalsprys Vir Multi- En Interdissiplinêre Spanwerk from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns 

• Gizelle Uys (Historical and Heritage Studies) for being crowned Miss Eco International 2020  

Appearances on Media Platforms

 • Hester du Plessis (Dean’s office) facilitated a strategy session for the UNISA Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs 

• Kirsty Bastable (CAAC) was featured in Tukkievaria and on the UP Website about how the Centre is helping people with intellectual disabilities 

• Nompumelelo Zondi (African Languages) presented at a virtual seminar on “Reviving “the Black Archives”: Resurrecting Benedict Wallet Vilakazi with a focus on the utility and meaning of African Languages and Literatures in higher education” at Sol Plaatje University 

• Suléne Pilon and Nerina Bosman (Afrikaans) spoke about the Afrikaans writing aid Skryfhulp on RSG's Taaldinge 

• Roland Henwood (Political Science) has given several interviews on: • RSG about the constitutional court’s decision on whether Zuma can go to prison for contempt of court, on whether Ace Magashule must step aside or risk being suspended, on the adhoc committee that will decide whether the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane can be removed from office, and about China’s military practises on the West and East coast of Taiwan • PretoriaFM to discuss the RET Faction in the ANC, the district development model announced by the Cooperative government and traditional affairs department, and about Ace Magashule confirming divides in the ANC • SAFM about Germany introducing a lockdown over the Easter weekend, about the Russian President having assigned legislation that formally grants him the right to stay in power until 2036, and about the COVID-19 death toll in Brazil   

• Abdi Ismail Samatar (Political Science) was interviewed on SABC News on Somalia’s election deadlock and also wrote an opinion piece for the Daily Maverick titled “Horn of Africa: Turkey’s cosy relationship with Somalia may have an underbelly” 

• Tim Forssman (Archaeology) was interviewed in a podcast for High School History Recap on Southern African rock art 

• Jonathan Okeke Chimakonam (Philosophy) presented a lecture, “Overcoming the three Challenges of Intercultural Philosophy: A Conversational Approach” as part of the GiP Lecture Series and presented “Thinking Society and the Burden of Education” at the National Virtual Seminar 7, Satya Nilayam Institute of Philosophy and Culture 

• Bibi Burger (Afrikaans) co-organised an online conference, Feminist Readings in Motion? with colleagues from Unisa, NWU and NMU and participated in a roundtable discussion at the conference on "Engaged Queerness in African Speculative Fiction". 

• Hein Willemse (Afrikaans) spoke on: • RSG "Praat saam" programme on "Indigeneity" and "indigenous languages", an issue raised in his bi-weekly newspaper column on Netwerk24.com titled “’Inheems’ ander soort apartheid" • ValleyFM about the disappearing Easter Monday rituals in the Boland town of Worcester  

• Noah Nkhoma and Justine Binedell (Historical and Heritage Studies) posted an article on the UP Website where they reflect on a virtual lecture that was presented by Prof Daniel Woolf of Queen's University, Ontario.  

• Yanga Malotana (Political Sciences) covered the departmental webinar 25 Years of South Africa – China Relations: Reflections on a Paradoxical Relationship on the Faculty’s Website  

Publications on academic platforms

 • Charlene Laurence Carbonatto and Nontembeko Joyce Bila (Social Work) co-published an article with Beatrice Kabui Icheria, “Key informants’ perspectives on food security among female-headed households in Kenya” in Social Work, 57 (5) 

• Oscar Eybers and Emma Paulet (Unit for Academic Literacy) published “Embedding Ubuntu Principles into Dialectic Argumentation and Academic Writing” in Alternation Special Edition 36 (2020) 

• Wesly Mwatwara (Historical and Heritage Studies) published his paper “The ‘logic’ of Renamo civil war violence: Trans-border communities and Renamo incursions in Eastern Zimbabwe, 1980s-1992” in the Southern Journal for Contemporary History 

• Hein Willemse (Afrikaans) compiled a short book, entitled "Geskryfde Krokkie / Writing Krokkie - a collection of funerary texts for Enrico G. Pedro (abrile doman, 2021)  

Scheduled Events

 • Virtual Launch of the UP Journals Platform, a joint venture between the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Library Services, is scheduled for 20 April 2021 between 14:30-16:00. To RSVP please click here and for more information please contact Johann van Wyk. 

• Tangible Heritage Conservation programme (School of the Arts) will host the Global Consortium for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage’s annual meeting between 28-29 October 2021.