Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

New research forum to serve as interdisciplinary umbrella network

08 August 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin

Indexicality Research Group — The speakers and members of the forum at the colloquium from left; Thys Heidenrich (Drama and Theatre Arts); Dr Martin Rossouw (Art History and Image Studies); Xany Jansen van Vuuren (Linguistics and Language Practice); Kavish Jawahar (Rhodes University); Nessrin Khalil; Prof Kobus Marais (Linguistics and Language Studies); Danilda Els (Centre for Teaching and Learning) and Leon Snyman (Odeion School of Music)

A new research forum launched at the University of the Free State (UFS) hopes to shed new light on social-cultural reality. The socio-cultural tradition looks at the ways we interactively work out understandings, meanings, norms and rules in communication.
The new interdepartmental group called the Indexicality Research Forum (IRF) is the brainchild of Prof Kobus Marais from the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at UFS.

“The forum should be some kind of umbrella network, rather than a fixed group, studying various aspects of the emergence of social-cultural reality,” says Prof Marais. The forum was officially launched on Friday 19 July 2019 at a research colloquium attended by members from various UFS academic departments as well as Kavish Jawahar from Rhodes University.

For Prof Marais the forum will be “studying various aspects of the emergence of social-cultural reality by using the notion of indexicality as conceptualised by Charles Peirce”.
Peirce was a US scientist and philosopher best known as the earliest proponent of pragmatism.

It is structured around these Five research questions.

The forum consists of the following departments in the faculty; Linguistics and Language Practice, Drama and Theatre Arts, Art History and Image Studies, and the Odeion School of Music, as well Curriculum Studies at Rhodes University. “Internationally, the scholars from the Department of Arts and Design from the Federal University of Juis de Fora in Brazil will also take part in the forum.”

The research forum is not solely for Humanities students but scholars of development studies, cultural studies, mathematics, biology and medicine would also benefit.

News Archive

UFS council approves guidelines for reconfiguration of Vista Campus

2005-03-15

Human resource development (teaching and training) will be the primary aim of services to be rendered at the reconfigured Vista campus of the University of the Free State (UFS).

This in-principle decision forms part of a set of guidelines for the strategic reconfiguration of the Vista campus in Bloemfontein that was recently approved by the UFS Council. The Vista campus was incorporated into the UFS in January 2004.

“One of the most important aspects that resulted from these guidelines is that we have come to a point where I can say that the future of staff at Vista is not dependant on the strategic reconfiguration of the campus. Vista staff members will stay staff of the UFS and are being integrated into the functions of the main campus,” said Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS.

“According to the guidelines, the reconfiguration of the Vista campus must occur within the ambit of the UFS as a single institution with three campuses,” said Prof Fourie.

The UFS is currently offering two activities on the Vista campus – the regional Centre for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and the Sesotho Language Research and Development Centre.

According to Prof Fourie no duplication of services or programmes being rendered on the main campus in Bloemfontein will take place. In the guidelines suggestions are made that the Vista campus could be used for activities that are currently offered on the main campus (eg short learning programmes), new UFS activities (mainly of a developmental and entrepreneurial nature), cooperative partnership ventures with other role-players and the renting of facilities for education and training purposes.

“However, no definite decisions have been made about these possible activities – the necessary consultation process with relevant stakeholders and role-players must first take place. A consultative forum for this will be established early in the second term of this year,” said Prof Fourie.

“We are excited about the possibilities that have arised from the guidelines as it fits in with our vision to utilise new resources for education and training and to contribute to higher education in the Free State. This will also contribute to the development of human resources as a propelling force in the Central Region,” said Prof Fourie.

MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
15 March 2005

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept