Dear Humanities Colleagues 

Appearances on Media Platforms

• Sandy Africa (Dean’s Office & Political Sciences) was part of the panel interviewed on Power FM to discuss the failings of the state, including parliament’s handling of the recent unrest
• Mpume Zondi (African Languages) presented a paper on her published book Bahlabelelelani – Why do they sing? Gender and power in contemporary women’s songs at University of Johannesburg’s School of Languages Webinar.
• Antoinette Lombard (Social Work & Criminology) gave a welcoming and the concluding conference reflections addresses at the 22nd Biennial International Consortium for Social Development Conference. She also presented a paper on the Consultation in schools: cross cultural practices for addressing child maltreatment
• Tharina Guse (Psychology) was interviewed on Kyknet to discuss the impact of the recent riots and violence on the psyche of South Africans
• Victoria Graham (Political Sciences) presented the paper titled ‘To Vote or Not to Vote? Exploring Youth Participation and Voter Apathy in Anglophone Africa’ at the International Political Science Association's Virtual 26th World Congress of Political Science

• Roland Henwood (Political Science) was interviewed on:
  • RSG to discuss the French unhappiness with President Putin after he announced that French Champagne may not be marketed in Russia
  • Pretoria FM to unpack the consequences of the High Court’s judgement in the Ace Magashule vs the ANC dispute, whether the RET forces in the ANC will intensify their efforts and the ideals of both the Ramaphosa and Magashule factions in the ANC
  • Pretoria FM to talk about the turmoil that former president Jacob Zuma is causing the ANC, the effect of leaked ANC documents, and South Africans’ reaction to the developments in the country
  • Contributed to the article Onda de saques na África do Sul: mãe joga bebê de prédio em chamas para salvá-lo that was published in the Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense
• Faheema Mahomed Asmail (Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology) and Talita le Roux discussed teaching person-centred care and collaborating with others through the Person-Centered Hearing Network (PCHN) with the IDA Institute in Denmark
• Ben Schoeman (School of the Arts: Music) and his duo partner Tessa Uys released their first of six compact discs under the SOMM Recordings Label in London. These recordings cover the complete Symphonies by Beethoven transcribed for piano duet by Xaver Scharwenka. The first disc includes Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3 (‘Eroica’) and the Six Canonic Etudes, Op. 56 by Schumann (arranged for 2 pianos by Debussy). You can watch the promotional video here.
• Oscar Eybers (Unit for Academic Literacy) presented a paper titled Preventing linguicide in South Africa by translanguaging indigenous languages in academic literacy facilitation at the Conference on Indigenous Awareness  
• Abraham Mlombo and Tinashe Nyamunda (Historical & Heritage Studies) presented a paper titled ‘Nationality and the Appropriation of Space by cross-border travellers: Zimbabwe’s Touchline in South Africa’s Bosman Square Station’ at the Centre of African Studies at Rhodes University. 

• UP Campus Tours Heritage and Cultural Tourism Honours students celebrated Mandela Day on 18 July 2021 with a 64-minute virtual tour using 64 slides.
•  Jacomien van Niekerk (Afrikaans) presented a paper titled ‘Translocating African orality in Afrikaans-language literature’ at the 13th Conference of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) hosted by Moi University
• Hein Willemse (Afrikaans) wrote on the Jacob Zuma incarceration and the KwaZulu disturbances in his regular Beeld and Die Burger column
• Mageshen Naidoo (School of Arts: Music) was involved in the production of the short film Humans Listen currently featured at the National Arts Festival

• Leanne Jordaan (Social Work & Criminology) published the article “Social work students participate in Wellness Project at Life Groenkloof Hospital” in Lentšu la sechaba: The voice of the Community Engagement community (Winter – July 2021)

• Chris Isike (Political Sciences):
  • Presented a paper on No ‘Grace’, No ‘Patience’: How Powerful First Ladies Bring Down Presidents in Africa in the 26th IPSA Virtual World Congress
  • Contributed to a Global Roundtable Panel on Diversity and Inclusion in the Discipline: Roundtable on Research Agendas and Approaches at the 26th IPSA Virtual World Congress
  • Convened and chaired a panel on  The State of Political Science in Africa  at the 26th IPSA Virtual World Congress 
  • Discussed the Ethiopian Election results on TRT World International News and the attempted insurrection in South Africa on Channels TV

Publications on Academic Platforms

• Chris Broodryk (School of the Arts: Drama) published two chapters: ‘The Prismatic Nature of Public Intellectualism’ and ‘William Pretorius and the Public Intellectualism of the Film Critic’ in Public Intellectual in South Africa: Critical voices from the past, a book he also edited.
• Jonathan O. Chimakonam (Philosophy) and L. Uchenna Ogbonnaya published a chapter titled ‘Environmental thinking in African philosophy: A defence of biocentrism using the notion of nma ndu’ in the book Global Epistemologies and Philosophies of Science

Scheduled Events

1. UP Campus Tours will be present a virtual tour to celebrate the women of UP on 9 August 2021 at 11:00. Click here (passcode: 898852) to join the tour.

2. A Call for Papers has been released for the international conference titled Transnational Contact Zones: African and South Asian Sexualities and Genders to be held at Future Africa between 26-28 July 2022. Deadline for submissions is 30 September 2021. For more information please click here.

My congratulations to all our colleagues!