Ali Mazrui Memorial Lecture

Prof Ali A Mazrui passed away on 12 October 2014. With the generous support of the Vice-Chancellor and Rector, Prof Jonathan Jansen, our centre hosted a public lecture on 30 October 2014, commemorating the life and work of this great scholar. Prof Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor and Head of the Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI) at UNISA, was the keynote speaker with a paper titled, “Ali A Mazrui on the Invention of Africa and Postcolonial Predicaments”.

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Inaugural Lecture 2013: Prof Henning Melber inaugurated as Extraordinary Professor in the Centre for Africa Studies during Africa Day Celebrations

The University of the Free State will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Africa Day, focusing in depth on issues affecting the continent. Academics from across disciplines will take part in a colloquium on the Bloemfontein Campus on 22 May 2013 discussing issues that influence the development and history of the continent, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Hosted by the Centre for Africa Studies, celebrations will culminate with the annual Africa Day Memorial lecture to be presented by Prof Henning Melber, who will be inaugurated as an extraordinary professor at the centre. Prof Melber will speak on "Africa and Africa(n) Studies: confronting the (mystifying) power of ideology and identity".

Africa Day marks the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963. The OAU underwent a name change in July 2002 to become the African Union (AU), but the day is still commemorated to symbolise Africa’s independence from foreign political control and affirms Africa’s quest for durable peace and unity.

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Delivering the Africa Day 2013 and also his inaugural lecture, Prof Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor at CAS, spoke about the mystifying power of ideology and identity with regard to Africa and Africa (n) studies.

International Feminist Journal of Politics Conference Keynote Address 2012: Prof Inderpal Grewal

During the First Annual International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFJP) conference (2-4 August 2012), Prof Grewal of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University gave a keynote address entitled: Outsourcing Patriarchy: Media, Violence and Transnational Feminisms.

The website link for the published paper, entitled Feminist Encounters, Transnational Mediations and the Crime of ‘Honour Killings’ is: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14616742.2012.755352 published in volume 15, issue 1 (2013) of the journal.

From the left: Prof Lucius Botes, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities; Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo and Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Institutional Affairs
Photo: Stephen Collett

Inaugural Lecture 2011: Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo

Can the South African Communist Party (SACP) ever become a viable option for the ANC or has it become just a flat spare-tyre of the ruling party? Is there more to expect from the SACP or has it run full cycle? These were some of the questions brought up by Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo at his inaugural lecture at our university on 24 August 2011.

Prof Kondlo, then Director of the Centre for Africa Studies, told the audience that the current SACP (unlike pre-1994) is a party in which theory and intellectual reflection were being eclipsed by politics of pragmatism. He warned that self-interest and ambition have become a problem. Delivering his lecture on the topic, At the Point of a Needle. The South African Communist Party and the Dilemma of the National Democratic Revolution in South Africa, 1994 to date, Prof Kondlo warned that he might ruffle feathers amongst those with ideological commitments and said that as an intellectual it was his job to irritate.

Prof Kondlo told the audience his lecture would re-open old debates, telling them that old questions were making way to the fore, for example, the nationalisation debate.

Please find Prof Kwandiwe Kondlo’s full inaugural lecture in the attached document.

Inaugural Lecture 2009: by Prof El-Sayed Anwar Osman

Prof El-Sayed El-Anwar Abdel-Magid Osman, Senior Professor and Director of the Centre for Africa Studies, delivered his inaugural lecture on 4 November 2009. His lecture was titled, Indigenous Knowledge in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. Prof Osman has spent 21 years doing research and teaching at universities in Western Europe (Norway, Italy and Spain) and northeast Africa.

During this time, he was awarded eight prizes and scholarships. He is a member of eight academic associations and founding Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology and Heritage at Wadi Al-Nell University in Sudan.

Prof Osman joined the University of the Free State in 2007 and assumed the role of Director of the Centre for Africa Studies in 2008. He has participated in different academic and administrative committees and has assumed positions in several academic policy-making boards of higher education and research institutions.

Prof Osman has published one book, co-edited one book, and published/co-published more than 30 articles. He has supervised 14 honours and master’s dissertations, and three PhDs, and was examiner of four master's and three PhD degrees. In July 2010, Prof Osman stepped down as Director of the Centre for Africa Studies.

Please find Prof El-Sayed El-Anwar Abdel-Magid Osman’s full inaugural lecture in the attached document.