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25 May 2020

The Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) and the UFS will host an Africa Day Webinar on the topic, Reflections on Africa amidst Covid-19, to be delivered by Prof. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, renowned decolonial scholar. The title of his lecture is Revisiting the African idea of Africa during the moment of Covid-19 pandemic.

The crisis delivered by Coronavirus and Covid-19 invites Africans to rethink and even unthink the long-standing dependency on Europe and North America for help. What has dawned on Africa is the equally long-standing aspiration of self-reliance. What is emerging is a new African idea of Africa which takes responsibility for its own challenges. This new African idea of Africa challenges the Mudimbean idea of Africa embodied in the colonial library.

Thus this presentation reassesses how Africa has relied on its own historical experience, its own knowledge, and own people to confront Covid-19. What is of interest here is the proverbial wisdom of necessity being the source of invention. The presentation brings to the fore the decolonial turn as it gestures beyond crisis into post-Covid-19 world order. It ends with a call for decolonial love founded on new ethics of living together and new economies of care.

Bio of Prof Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatshen


Date: Tuesday, 26 May, 2020
Time: 14:00
Duration: 90 min max (45 min talk, 45 min Q&A)

The webinar can be accessed via one of the following links:


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News Archive

We are a true University of the Future
2011-11-07

 

Gavin Dollman, researching the power of brainwaves controlling robots.
Photo: Igno van Niekerk

One of the most interesting studies currently being done at the University of the Free State, is Gavin Dollman’s investigation into how our brainwaves can be used to manipulate a robot which can be connected to a computer.

Gavin is doing research for a master’s degree, and his field of study reminds one of futuristic movies like Star Trek and The Matrix. Gavin uses a computer headset which is commercially sold and used to make computer games more interactive. Gavin has written software that assists a user with the headset in manoeuvring Lego robots in different directions. He is now investigating how several factors influence a person’s ability to direct the Lego robots. According to Gavin, the application of this technology might even assist a person in having an extra sense which can be “controlled” by the power of your brainwaves.

It is when one see this kind of work being done at the UFS that we realize once again why we are a University of the Future!
 

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