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01 October 2018 | Story UFS | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Prof Charles Ngwena is a former professor in the UFS Department
Prof Charles Ngwena is a former professor in the UFS Department of Constitutional Law and Legal Philosophy in the Faculty of Law.

The meaning of race, culture and sexism in Africa takes a different tone than it does in the West. The West has always tried to create an identity for Africa, but the real question remains: “What does it mean to be an African?’ 

“My aim with this book was to see how discourse is formed and what it means when you say the word ‘African’, which is meaningless. You have to look back to understand how that was created,” said Prof Charles Ngwena.

Prof Ngwena’s new book, asks the critical question,‘What is Africanness?’ Fully titled, What is Africanness? Contesting nativism in race, culture and sexualities is a timely contribution to contemporary South African debates on issues of decolonisation, race, ethnicity, nation building and belonging.

Identity formation a crucial element

“The book speaks directly to African cultural heritage and deconstructs a Western-imposed and homogenising framework for understanding Africanness,” said Dr Nadine Lake from the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof Ngwena foregrounds the importance of intersectionality when approaching issues of race, culture and sexuality and writes: “Genericness is ineluctably homogenising. It can serve to obscure heterogeneities among women, pre-empting the need to explore the implications of differences among women in feminist theory and praxis.

“Identity is being and becoming. It is always changing. What young people think of identity is not the same way their grandparents thought about it,” said Prof Ngwena. He added that his contribution through this book was to underlay identity formation.

The book, published by Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), was launched in a joint venture by CGAS, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria on Tuesday 11 September 2018 at the UFS.

News Archive

UFS medical students reach out to the community
2011-04-16

 

The smiles on the children at Beyang Bana Pele Creche in Mangaung were blindingly bright, after their new classrooms and playground were unveiled on Friday 15 April. The creche was renovated by a group of third-year medical students from the UFS.
Photo: Earl Coetzee

A group of third-year medical students from the University of the Free State was responsible for many smiling little faces when they unveiled a entirely renovated crèche to its little students on Friday, 15 April.

Reinhardt Erasmus, Fathima Vawda, Veneshree Govender, Antoi Roets, Riaan Calitz, Motlalepula Mabizela, Tertius Potgieter and Chanel van der Westhuizen were the students responsible for the massive renovation work that went into the Beyang Bana Pele Creché in Mangaung.

The students tackled the project as part of a community service project and ensured that the 30 children who attend the crèche can look forward to coming to a safe healthy environment every day.

According to Riaan Calitz, they started the project at the beginning of the year by doing a needs analysis and talking to the children’s parents and teachers. They also involved the aid of an architect and quantity surveyor to calculate the needs of the crèche.

Next, they had to search for sponsors for their work, and struck it lucky when the Windmill Casino agreed to donate R100 000 to their project. They also managed to raise a further R5 000 as well as approximately R50 000 in goods and services donated by various other companies.

This money was enough to improve the safety at the crèche, install safe gas equipment in the kitchen, improve the insulation to ensure a warm winter, install new playground equipment and host several health and safety workshops.

“It took a lot of late nights and early mornings,” Calitz said. “Some of us also had to return from our holiday early, but it was worth it.”

He says the gratitude from the school’s children and teachers, as well as community members, who would stop and thank them for their help while they were busy working, makes it all worthwhile.

The students plan to stay involved with the crèche and say the renovation plan was drafted in such a way that when they move along, another group can simply pick up from their work with ease.

Mrs Sarah Mothoana, the crèche matron, thanked the students as well as everyone who assisted them in “creating a wonderful, safe and healthy environment for the children.”
 

 

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