Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
30 May 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Africa Memorial lecture
From left; Dr Stephanie Cawood, Director of CGAS; Prof Francis Nyamnjoh; Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, and Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic
Ubuntu is a word we all know and, to some extent, relate to. Prof Francis Nyamnjoh aimed to delve and explore this African philosophy when he presented the 2019 Africa Day Memorial Lecture with the topic Ubuntuism and Africa: Actualised, Misappropriated, Endangered and Reappraised. 

The memorial lecture is hosted annually by the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to coincide with Africa Month celebrations. Prof Nyamnjoh holds a PhD from the University of Leicester in the UK. He is currently a professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town and has been a scholar in sociology, anthropology and communication science at universities in Cameroon and Botswana. The lecture took place on 22 May 2019 in the Equitas Auditorium on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

“When I saw the topic I thought this was very contemporary. We at the university decided to include the Ubuntu principle in our learning and teaching strategy,” said Dr Engela van Staden, Vice-Rector: Academic. 

Ubuntu as a binding factor for interconnectedness 

We live a world in which we cannot stand alone as the principle of Ubuntu tells us that we are who we are because of our interconnectedness with other people. “It is important to recognise that you stand on others to be tall,” said Prof Nyamnjoh. 

“We are the product of ongoing conversations on interconnectedness."

“I have argued that, in the spirit of Ubuntu, Africans, their identities and mobilities are part and parcel of the experience of being human in a world on the move. And their contributions are needed in today’s world more than ever. 

“I have broached the context of globalisation and histories of unequal encounters that have shaped relations in Africa and beyond under global capitalism."

“Even as it is increasingly seriously tested by opportunism, Ubuntuism, sometimes a reality and sometimes an ideal, brings hope and redemption, and offers a feasible framework for participatory and inclusive emancipatory social change,” said Prof Nyamnjoh. 


News Archive

Sports physician receives prestigious award from SASMA
2009-11-25

 
Dr Louis Holtzhausen, Director of Kovsie Health at the University of the Free State (UFS) was recently awarded an honorary membership of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA). Dr Holtzhausen received this award from the Executive Committee of SASMA, together with prominent names in the profession such as Prof. Tim Noakes, Director of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine and founding member of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Science Academy, Prof. Martin Schwellnus, Professor of Sports Medicine, UCT and Sports Physician at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and Prof. Wayne Derman, also from UCT and recently the Chief Medical Officer of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

This award by SASMA goes to members of the medical and scientific community who have made significant contributions to the advancement of sports medicine. Dr Holtzhausen has been the President of SASMA and over the last two years the membership of this organisation has increased with 30%. He also established essential working relationships with key sports bodies in the country, including Sports and Recreation South Africa, the South Africa Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) as well as with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

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