Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
24 July 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Valentino Ndaba
Dr Lazlo Passemiers
Dr Lazlo Passemiers spent six years conducting research across three continents.

A keen interest in unravelling transnational histories of 20th-century Southern Africa led Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Lazlo Passemiers to spend six years conducting extensive research across three continents. Dr Passemiers sifted through archives in Africa, Europe, and the US in order to convert his PhD thesis into a monograph.

It was on 17 July 2019 that the fruits of Passemiers’ labour were officially launched by the International Studies Group at the University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein Campus. His book, Decolonisation and Regional Geopolitics: South Africa and the ‘Congo Crisis’, 1960-1965, offers an important shift in the historiography of the Congo Crisis. It creatively centres African involvement in the debate by examining this event from a regional geopolitical angle. 

Going back in time 

By providing a three-fold perspective that examines decolonisation, apartheid diplomacy, and Southern African nationalist movements, the book offers a rounded picture of South African involvement in the Congo Crisis.

Dr Passemiers’ fascination with the transnational dynamics of Southern Africa’s history has rippled into two new research projects that respectively explore “the connection between decolonisation and white flight in the region as well as the transnational support networks of liberation movements”.

Finding the missing pieces of the puzzle

Prof Christopher Saunders, Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town, commended Dr Passemiers’ historiographical contribution: “He has identified a major gap in the literature and he has filled it admirably by looking across the spectrum.” As Prof Saunders noted, “what has been missing in the literature is the African angle.” 

Literature’s role in transformation

The process of undoing the profound impact of colonialism on society is long and difficult and important in this process is a clear understanding of history, which Dr Passemiers’ book enhances.

News Archive

NRF Renewals: 2005
2004-09-21

Renewal applications for Masters and Doctoral scholarships for 2005 are due now. Students who were awarded NRF Prestigious/Equity Masters and Doctoral scholarships, DoL/NRF Masters and Doctoral scholarships as well as the NLC/NRF Masters and Doctoral scholarships for support in 2004 are eligible to apply for the renewal of their scholarships for 2005, if the criteria for progress have been met. The NRF will not send individual letters to students reminding them to renew their scholarships. No incomplete or late applications will be considered. Scholarship holders must explicitly request renewal of their scholarships by submitting an application for the renewal of the scholarship on the relevant form. University’s internal closing date: 22 October 2004 at 15:30.

NRF closing date: 31 October 2004. Application forms must be handed in on or before the internal closing date at the George du Toit Administration Building, Room 155 (Mr Maleka, x9263).

Application forms can be downloaded from http://www.nrf.ac.za/students.php. Application forms for the renewal of DoL/NRF scholarships for people with disabilities will be made available on the website in due course.

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