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30 October 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
Prof Jacobus Naude
Prof Jacobus Naudè is one of few South Africans who have delivered the Van Selms Memorial lecture at the Southern African Society Near Eastern Studies conference.
To be awarded an opportunity to present a lecture outside the domain of your own university is not only beneficial to attract new postgraduate students but also provides senior researchers with the opportunity to publicise their research on a national and sometimes international level.

This is the impression of Prof Jacobus Naudè, a senior professor in the Department of Hebrew at the University of the Free State (UFS) when he delivered the 2019 Adrianus van Selms Memorial lecture at the Southern African Society for Near Eastern Studies conference. Prof Naudè said such lectures provide an opportunity to academics and researchers to demonstrate that a particular field of study has broad implications for society. “A South African only has the opportunity to deliver this lecture every second year by invitation, so it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. 

His own research seeks to understand alterity (“otherness”) in various systems of ancient culture and to preserve it while representing it intelligibly for modern users. “In my current research I utilise complexity theory to integrate seemingly disparate foci (pre-modern Hebrew linguistics and religious translation).” 

The conference took place on 16 September 2019 at the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics at the Pietermaritzburg Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

South African Bible translations through the ages

The topic of his lecture was, Translations of sacred texts and the shaping, reshaping and circulation of religious knowledge in monotheistic religions with written traditions: A Southern African perspective, in which he provided examples from the history of religious translations in monotheistic religions (Jewish religious tradition, Christianity and Islam) to “illustrate the spreading, circulation, shaping and reshaping of our religious knowledge by translation”.  

Prof Naudè shared some aspects of how religious ideas have travelled via the medium of translation into different cultures and languages. With his focus on South Africa he illustrated how the Dutch East India Company imposed monolingualism in the Cape with Dutch being the only language in church and at school. “There was complete unwillingness on the side of the Dutch to learn the Khoikhoi languages.” The political change in beginning of the 19th century provided strong motivation for Bible translations into indigenous languages. 

There have been many attempts to reconceptualise South African translations of the Bible. The latest attempt was by Prof Kobus Marais from the UFS Department of Linguistics and Language Practice whose work aims to reconceptualise translation within the frame of complexity thinking. “Religious translation will thus need to avoid reductionism and rather focus on the source or the target,” Prof Naudè said.

News Archive

A real indaba it was
2010-09-07

Pictured from the left, are: Prof. Dennis Francis (Dean), Prof. Rita Niemann (Director: Postgraduate Studies and Research) and Prof. Rob Pattman (Keynote speaker: UKZN).

No expert panels! No rubrics! Only a fair measure of healthy anxiety that goes with public speaking!

These features describe the meeting that staff members from the Faculty of Education recently had at Indaba Lodge on the banks of the Modder River. The purpose of this get-together was to create a time and space where staff members could not only celebrate their own research efforts, but also acknowledge, support and validate one another’s work.

The day kicked off with the dean’s research vision for the faculty. Thereafter seven staff members doing their Ph.D.s were introduced. Their presentations were followed by inputs from the guest speaker, Prof. Rob Pattman from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). He congratulated the presenters on their cutting-edge research, their eloquence and the manner in which they managed to communicate complex matters in simple ways. Ideas he shared from his own research on social identities and critical agency (with a focus on gender and race) served to affirm the relevance of the topics presented by the Ph.D. candidates in transforming the education system as well as the South African society as a whole.

A festive lunch, in honour of retiring Prof. Johan van Staden, brought an affective dimension to the Indaba in the form of heart-felt goodbye messages from colleagues who had shared his academic life for more than 20 years.

After lunch five master’s students had the opportunity to share their research in the form of poster presentations. A lively interest among participants and critical, but constructive questions characterised this session. A potpourri session followed, comprising work in progress, completed surveys, research awards and innovative research methods.

The wrap-up by Prof. Dennis in no uncertain terms affirmed that researchers in the Faculty of Education not only crossed the Modder River, but also the proverbial Rubicon on 21 August. It was envisaged that henceforth:
- Supervision will take on a collaborative character.
- Soon a research forum for Ph.D. students and their supervisors will be established where these students and supervisors can start practising their agency.
- Instead of relying on outside experts who come and “tell” faculty staff members what to do, insiders should start building their own vibrant research-based practices by forming reading groups to discuss seminal works (e.g. Foucault and Freire) and research methodologies (e.g. Burke’s Pentad).

The Indaba was aptly concluded by one of the participants who, on behalf of all attendees, thanked and congratulated the dean on the initiative to give impetus to research. Analogous to the 2010 slogan, Feel it, it is here!, he said: “I feel so inspired and empowered, I can almost taste it!”
 

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