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30 October 2018
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Story Rulanzen Martin
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Photo Peet van Aardt
Some of the student writers who contributed to the anthology that tells their stories in Sesotho, isiXhosa, isiZulu, English and Afrikaans.
How do you transform the higher education curriculum? You involve the exact people the curriculum is intended for. The book, Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN,) illustrates how decolonisation can be achieved through literature for students by students.
iCAN is an initiative by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to mentor students in creative and narrative writing. Under the mentorship of Dr Peet van Aardt, project coordinator, and Ace Moloi, author and UFS alumnus, iCAN Volume 1 was recently launched with 47 short stories written by UFS students.
“The project is a response from the centre for the ever-increasing need for decolonised curricula, steeped in the local cultural perspective of ubuntu,” said Dr Van Aardt.
“This book is an example for how decolonisation can be implemented,” said Prof Francois Stydrom, Senior Director of CTL. The overall aim of the iCAN project is to have the content that materialised from it to be included in the curriculum of first-year students at UFS in the near future.
Book provides multiple voices
Starting in May 2018, CTL presented a series of creative writing workshops on all three of the UFS campuses. “It’s a medium that allows a diverse range of students to express their views and develop their voices as writers,” said Prof Strydom.
It is a form of empowerment, to pass the baton to students to improve the UFS curriculum by writing and publishing their own stories, thereby contributing to larger bodies of knowledge through their lived experiences.
“I believe we as a university need to enable students so that they move away from just being users to becoming contributors to the curriculum,” Dr van Aardt concluded.
Elinor Sisulu to present lecture at the UFS
2008-07-30
Human rights activist, Ms Elinor Sisulu, will deliver a Women’s Day lecture, titled: “Voiceless and voteless, fleeing zanuphobia into xenophobia: A Zimbabwean woman’s perspective of National Women’s Day” at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on Wednesday next week.
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She was invited by the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS to deliver the lecture on Wednesday 6 August because of her stature as an activist and writer and her views on the topical issue of Zimbabwe.
The Vice-Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, Prof Engela Pretorius, said the UFS was keen to engage the larger community on these kinds of issues and invites all interested people to attend.
Ms Sisulu is a writer, human rights activist and political analyst. Born in Zimbabwe, she was educated in Zimbabwe, Senegal and the Netherlands.
She combines training in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory. In 1994 she published an award-winning children's book, “The Day Gogo Went to Vote”.
Her biography about her mother-in-law and father-in-law, titled “Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime”, was published to critical acclaim in December 2002. The book was runner-up in the 2003 Alan Paton Non-fiction Award and won the 2003 Noma Award for publishing in Africa.
Ms Sisulu works in the South African office for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the major umbrella body of Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations.
The lecture will start at 19:00 in the CR Swart Auditorium on the main campus in Bloemfontein.
Light refreshments will be served.
Those wishing to attend must please make a booking with Hettie Beukes at 051 401 2240 or beukeshs.hum@ufs.ac.za.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
30 July 2008