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28 November 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Dr Peet van Aardt
iCAN read more
The book was launched during the Student Arts and Life Dialogues Festival on the Bloemfontein Campus in October.
In its continued bid to decolonise the academic curriculum at the University of the Free State (UFS) the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) published the second volume of Creative African Narratives (iCAN) short stories written by UFS students. 

iCAN Volume 2 comes after extensive creative writing workshops were presented on all three campuses during the year. The project is coordinated by Dr Peet van Aardt from CTL and is funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation. 

Through the iCAN project, CTL plans to incorporate the students’ written texts as part of the extensive reading component of the first-year academic literacy courses across all faculties. “We are teaching and motivating our students to read, but we cannot keep relying on a curriculum that is foreign to them,” said Dr Van Aardt.

The volume comprises 55 short stories with topics ranging from the Struggle, to campus life, mental illness, family affairs and love, with the students’ lived experiences also a main theme throughout the anthology. The stories are written in Sepedi, isiZulu, Setswana, English, Afrikaans and Sesotho. Some were also performed at the recent Multilingual Mokete, held on the Bloemfontein campus in September.

“We are really proud of this year’s publication, and the project as a whole,” says Dr Van Aardt. “This year we were able to include more student contributions than last year.”

News Archive

Seven from UFS now ASSAf members
2011-10-06

Seven academic staff members from the University of the Free State (UFS) have been elected as members of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). Parliament passed the Academy of Science of South Africa Act in 2001, resulting in the establishment of ASSAf in 2002 as the official Academy of Science of South Africa recognised by government, and representing the country in the international community of science academies.

The key objective of the academy is to promote and apply scientific thinking in the service of society, ultimately determining the quality and scope of the role the academy can play in the country's life and progress.

The new members will be inaugurated by Minister Naledi Pandor on Thursday, 13 October 2011.

The members are Profs. Hendrik Swart, Physics; Andre Roodt, Chemistry; Zakkie Pretorius, Plant Sciences; Max Finkelstein, Mathematics; James du Preez, Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology; Maryke Labuschagne, Plant breeding; and Neil Roos, from the UFS’s Post-graduate School.

Current UFS staff members who are ASSAf members include Profs. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector; Johan Henning, Dean: Faculty of Law; and Frans Swanepoel, Senior Director: Research Development.

Prof. Aldo Stroebel was recently inaugurated as one of 20 founding members of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS), the youth chapter of ASSAf, which seeks to provide a voice to young scientists on international issues that interface with science.
 

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