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From UFS to Princeton University

19 September 2019 | Story Amanda Thongha | Photo Charl Devenish

Attaining his master’s degree cum laude, completing a PhD degree, and publishing in top academic journals, University of the Free State (UFS) academic, Dr Victor Gwande, has been an outstanding researcher throughout his career.

Adding to his list of notable achievements, the postdoctoral research fellow in the International Studies Group has just been awarded a fellowship at Princeton University, one of the top universities in the world. The US institution was recently ranked sixth in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020.

As a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Dr Gwande will spend two weeks on the Ivy League university’s New Jersey campus in 2020. This will be followed by a weeklong session at one of two collaborating institutions in South Africa and the US, with continuous communication facilitated among selected scholars throughout a two-year period.

Flying high the flag of the African academy
Dr Gwande believes the fellowship will expose him to new intellectual traditions and perspectives. “It will help me create international academic networks across continents, as I seek to put my name out there as an internationally recognised scholar.”

With his research interests in economic and business history of Southern Africa, Dr Gwande says he wishes to become “a great scholar of African economic history, flying high the flag of the African academy, as well as training and producing young scholars for the academy”.

Working with some of the world’s top minds at Princeton University, there will be much to focus on.

“I will be researching, writing, and presenting my research project in which I use the case study of the Anglo American Corporation to look at the histories of capitalism and to understand how monopoly capitalism shaped economic trajectories of Zimbabwe and the broader Southern African region.”

Longer-term plans include completing his monograph stemming from his PhD thesis.

There are many people to thank for his journey from the UFS to Princeton, and the scholar draws attention to some of those who have influenced him.

“God and my family. But in my career, quite a number of people and institutions have really moulded me; the International Studies Group under Prof Ian Phimister has given me an environment to flourish in my young career.

News Archive

Eusebius McKaiser talks about the magic of books

2013-03-19

Eusebius McKaiser
Photo: Johan Roux
19 March 2013

“If you want to turn around this country in terms of the rot in education, you have to start reading. You have to read for your degree."

This was the message from writer and political analyst, Eusebius McKaiser, at a public lecture hosted by the UFS Library and Information Services to celebrate South African Library Week.

Addressing the audience that consisted mostly of students, McKaiser, author of “A Bantu in my bathroom,” said it is not too late to start reading.

"We claim we are too busy as adults, but what is the opportunity cost of not reading? I think we lose our humanity, our sense of awe in the world around us when we stop reading as adults. Instead of saying we are too busy, we will do well to ask ourselves what is the cost of no longer reading as much as we did when we were children."

Reading from some of his favourite books, McKaiser spoke about writing techniques and the magic of books. He read excerpts from JM Coetzee's book “Disgrace,” which he considers to be the most important South African novel. He also read paragraphs from books by Rian Malan, James Baldwin and K Sello Duiker – calling the latter a genius.

Reflecting on the role of fiction, McKaiser said the genre is misunderstood and not utilised sufficiently by academics. "We see fiction as something restricted to the English Department or literary departments. I think fiction can be used as a tool in many departments in the humanities. It gives more real material for exploring complicated questions in the humanities and thought experiments that resemble life."

McKaiser also discussed the role of librarians and writers, saying writers should write what they like, but should not ignore the context. "As academics, librarians, teachers, we have to write for the context in which we teach. We have to order books for the context in which we are librarians and as academics we must not write textbooks for students who live in New York. We have to write textbooks for students who come from townships.”

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