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19 March 2018 Photo Rulanzen Martin
Prof Solomon writes book on human security in Africa
Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Acting Vice-Rector: Academic; Prof Hussein Solomon; and Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, at the book launch.
An acclaimed academic regarding security issues on the African continent, Prof Hussein Solomon, recently launched the book African Security in the twenty-first Century.

The book, which was launched on 13 March 2018 at the Archive for Contemporary Affairs on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), took three years to complete and has 11 chapters and 300 pages.

“It has been difficult, some of the chapters did not appear, but will be released as journal articles,” Prof Solomon said.

Focus more on human than state security
“This particular book project had its origins four years ago at the African Studies Association conference, which was held in San Diego,” Prof Solomon said. 

This is where he met Stephen Emmerson, co-author of the book. “We attempted to make the book as comprehensive as possible, covering all the major sources of insecurity on the African continent – from resource conflict to conflicting identities to drug-trafficking and terrorism,” he said.

The approach of this book was to focus on human security, which is the security of ordinary Africans, in contrast to that of the state and/or regime security. 

News Archive

UFS hosts international conference on palynology - tribute to Prof Louis Scott
2014-07-23

 

Prof Louis Scott

Some of the world’s eminent palaeontologists and palynologists gathered at the University of the Free State (UFS) to attend a conference held in the honour of one of our own.

Prof Louis Scott, one of South Africa’s leading palynologists and former chairman of the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS, recently retired. In recognition of his great contribution to promoting palynology, an international symposium was held from 7 – 11 July 2014 at the Bloemfontein Campus.

Palynology is the study of pollen grains and spores in archaeological findings.

The symposium, ‘From Past to Present – Changing Climates, Ecosystems and Environments of Arid Southern Africa. A Tribute to Louis Scott’, featured the works and findings of researchers from South Africa, USA, UK, Israel and Tanzania.

Prof Francis Thackeray from the Institute of Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand delivered the keynote address. He said South Africa has a rich palaeontological heritage relating to human evolution within the late Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene.

Prof Thackeray said that the “identification and quantification of changes in climate and habitat are essential for assessing evolutionary processes associated with hominine species in the genera Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo. Attempts have been made to quantify changes in palaeotemperature and moisture using multivariate analysis of pollen spectra from sites such as Wonderkrater.”

Prof Thackeray dedicated his address to Prof Scott.

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