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iCAN Vol 2 strengthens CTL’s bid to decolonise

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

Shimlas now second on Varsity Cup log

2015-02-25

After scoring nine tries to none to establish a 57-0 win over the Central University of Technology’s (CUT) Ixias in round three of the 2015 Varsity Cup Rugby Tournament, the UFS Shimlas are now second on the overall log.

Despite thunder showers in Bloemfontein on the evening of Monday 23 February, the match at the CUT Rugby Stadium continued. Shimlas’ Arthur Williams opened the scoreboard early with the first try of the evening, after getting his hands on a loose ball to break through the CUT defense line. Only four minutes later, Shimlas’ flank Gerhard Olivier scored another try. Both of these tries were successfully converted by Niel Marais, putting Shimlas in a 16-0 lead within less than seven minutes.

By halftime, the Shimlas’ lead had increased to 39-0. Daniel Maartens started the second-half scoring for the UFS when he crossed the try line in the 46th minute to secure Shimlas’ seventh try. After another successful conversion kick by Marais, the scoreboard read 47-0.

The match began to lose its spark as handling errors and ill-discipline became the order of the day. CUT were reduced to 14 men for the second time in the match, when Boetie Makethlo was sent to the sin bin in the 75th minute for an infringement at the breakdown, inches away from his try line.

Maartens went over the try line again in the 78th minute, scoring Shimlas’ eighth try in the match and taking his team’s score beyond the 50 mark. Shimlas managed yet another try in the last minute, with Niell Jordaan diving over the try line for old time’s sake.

Although the Shimlas’ 2015 Varsity Cup started off with a 29-29 draw against the University of Pretoria’s Tuks in Bloemfontein, they returned the following week to clinch a 24-0 win against the University of Johannesburg at the UJ Stadium. Apart from Tuks, who is at this stage on top of the log, no team has scored against Shimlas thus far in the 2015 Varsity Cup.

Up next, Shimlas will face the Stellenbosch University’s Maties side at Shimla Park in Bloemfontein for round four of the tournament on Monday 2 March 2015.

Our Player that Rocks: Niell Jordaan

Shimlas’ point scorers:

Tries: Arthur Williams, Gerhard Olivier (2), Marco Klopper, Vuyani Maqina (2), Daniel Maartens (2), Niell Jordaan
Conversion kicks: Niel Marais 4

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