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01 January 2018 Photo Charl Devenish
ISG’s Sarah Frank researches impact of historic conflicts on society
Dr Sarah Frank, postdoctoral researcher at the ISG.

History has an interesting connection with society, as we all grow up learning about our country’s history and studying it at school. However, what we learn at school is often a glorified version of events. It can sometimes be challenging for historians to come to grips with the most accurate version of a particular ‘history’. 

Dr Sarah Frank is a postdoctoral research fellow with the International Studies Group (ISG), who fell in love with history at a young age. She says, "I was very lucky to have outstanding history teachers at school who fostered my interest and curiosity." Early on, though, she experienced disappointment. "In school, there was a series of biographies of American leaders and presidents written for children. I remember feeling betrayed when I subsequently learnt that the biographies had not presented a well-balanced narrative. That is when I learnt that history could be debated and interpreted—and it is full of nuances."

Interested in conflict shaping lives

Dr Frank was particularly intrigued by the social and political history of the Second World War (WWII). She describes her interest in this way: "The Second World War looms in popular memory as much as in the historical one. I am interested in how conflict shaped people’s lives during and after the war." Being a speaker of French helped her to focus on the impact of the war on France, and having spent a few years living in West Africa, confronted with the lingering colonial past, she decided to home in on the French empire, with particular attention to colonies, captivity, and the repercussions of war experiences when soldiers returned home. Additionally, she explores the themes of decolonisation, the roots of independence movements, and the lingering ties between the former imperial powers and former colonies.

Although she grew up near Boston, Massachusetts, studied for her master's in Dublin, and has lived in far-flung places such as Guinea (while serving with the Peace Corps) and Dakar, Dr Frank says, "I have lived in a lot of places, but Bloemfontein is definitely one of my favourites!"

“I was very lucky to have outstanding
history teachers at school who
fostered my interest and curiosity.”
Dr Sarah Frank

Colonial POWs her new focus

Currently, Dr Frank is writing a book based on her PhD research, which delved into the experiences of approximately 85 000 soldiers in captivity from across the French Empire, who fought in France from 1939-1940. The Germans decided to racially separate the colonial prisoners of war (CPOWs), taking white prisoners to Germany and leaving the colonial prisoners in camps across occupied France. This created opportunities for colonial prisoners to interact with the French civilians, something which rarely occurred in the strict hierarchical colonial regime. Perhaps surprisingly, considering the racism of both the French and German regimes, Colonial prisoners fared better in captivity in France than their French counterparts did in Germany.

Dr Frank's next project will trace the return of the African soldiers who fought during the Second World War. She seeks to understand what happened to them as well as their families when they returned, and to see if their experience actually impacted the growing independence movements which arose following 
WWII.

News Archive

Researcher in mathematics ranks among world’s top peer reviewers
2016-10-07

Description: Abdon Peer Review Tags: Abdon Peer Review

Prof Abdon Atangana, from the UFS Institute
for Groundwater Studies.
Photo: Johan Roux

Thirty-year-old Prof Abdon Atangana has received the prestigious Sentinels of Science Award 2016. This award honours the highest achievers in peer review across the world’s journals. The elite contributors to scholarly peer review and editorial pursuits internationally are also honoured with this award. Recipients have demonstrated an outstanding, expert commitment to protecting the integrity and accuracy of published research in their field.

Prof Atangana, who ranks number one in the mathematics discipline with a merit of 324, is a professor at the Institute for Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS).

He is editor of 17 international journals, editor-in-chief of two international journals and also reviewer of more than 200 international accredited journals. He has been lead and guest editor of some special issues. He is also editor of 19 journals of applied mathematics and mathematics and has presented and participated in more than 20 international conferences.

Prof Atangana’s research interests are methods and applications of partial and ordinary differential equations, fractional differential equations, perturbations methods, asymptotic methods, iterative methods, and groundwater modelling.

“Editors in more than 100 journals
trust my opinion to assess
whether a submitted paper
can be published or not.”

Peer review requires a respected expert in a given field

According to the professor, reviewers play a central role in scholarly publishing. “In the academic field, peer review is the process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field, before a paper describing this work is published in a journal or as a book. The peer review process helps the publisher to decide whether the work should be accepted, considered acceptable with revisions, or rejected.

“Peer review requires a respected expert in a given field, who is qualified and able to perform the review in a given timeframe. Due to the impact of my research papers in the field of mathematics and applied mathematics, and also my international recognition in the field of applied mathematics, many editors in more than 100 journals of applied mathematics trust my opinion to assess whether a submitted paper in a given journal of mathematics and applied mathematics can be published or not. Only this year I was able to review more than 100 papers from different journals of applied mathematics, applied physics, mathematics, engineering and hydrology,” he said.

A successful peer reviewer displays passion for the development of science

Key to his success as peer reviewer is his passion for the development of science, his ability to write fair reports about a given manuscript, as well as his knowledge on what has been done and what are the challenges in a given field to be able to give a report that will help the advancement of science.

Currently he is developing new mathematics tools that will be used to accurately model statistical problems as well as physical problems with many layers.

“To be the number one peer reviewer in the world in mathematics is a product of love, patience and determination to enhance science,” Prof Atangana said.

His advice to young researchers is to put their trust in God and to work hard. “Not necessarily for money but for love because the future of Africa is in the hands of young Africans,” he said.

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