Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
01 October 2020

 

Politics in South Africa: ‘Post-COVID-19, Post-crisis’  

As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the third UFS Thought-Leader Series in collaboration with Vrye Weekblad as part of the Vrystaat Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal

This year, higher-education institutions globally are situated within a challenging context of COVID-19. Aware of, and grounded in the reality that the world will not return to the normality of pre-COVID-19, our responsibility as scholars still remains to contribute to public discourse and offer innovative solutions that will impact the lives of people nationally and globally to help them understand and adapt to a new world order. 

Against this background and context, this year’s debates focus on Post-COVID-19, Post-Crisis with Health and Modelling, the Economy, Politics and Predictions for 2021 as the sub-themes. Placed within a COVID-19 context and in lieu of the Free State Arts Festival, the series will be presented virtually in the form of one webinar per month from August 2020 to November 2020. 

Third webinar presented on 15 October 2020

The political landscape in South Africa was in a logjam before the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to deal decisively with the economic crisis. The worldwide COVID-19 crisis has aggravated an already dire situation. 

What should happen politically and economically to get South Africa on the path to recovery? And what are the prospects for the political landscape in South Africa post-COVID-19, post-crisis?
 
Date: 15 October 2020
Topic: Politics in South Africa: Post-COVID-19, Post-Crisis 
Time: 11:00-12:30

RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 12 October 2020


Facilitator:

Editor: Vrye Weekblad 
Biography

Introduction and welcome:

Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:
Deputy Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs
(SAIIA)
Biography

Law Trust Chair in Social Justice, Stellenbosch University
Biography
 
Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Poverty, Inequality and Economic Development, UFS 
Biography

Chairman: Bidvest Group Limited, Chancellor of the UFS 
Biography

 

News Archive

SAMWOP creates space for sharing research
2016-12-06

Description: SAMWOP Tags: SAMWOP 

Dr Kristina Riedel, Head of the UFS Department of
Linguistics and Language Practice; middle:
Prof Nancy Kula, of the University of Essex; back:
from left, Dr Elias Malete, lecturer at the UFS
Department of Linguistics and Language Practice,
Prof Andy Chebanne, from the University of Botswana;
and Lesoetsa Motsamai, from the University of Stellenbosch,
at the SAMWOP workshop on 24 November 2016.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

“The Southern African Microlinguistics Workshop (SAMWOP) creates space for sharing the latest research, networking and building stronger collaboration amongst linguists.”

This is what Dr Kristina Riedel, Head of the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the University of the Free State (UFS), said of the 5th SAMWOP hosted by her department. The workshop, hosted from 24 to 26 November 2016, also provided linguists who work on theory and language description in South Africa, the opportunity to network. “As a free conference it is very important, particularly for students and junior scholars.”

International delegates attend workshop

Participants at the workshop were from eight countries including the US, Botswana, Mozambique, Brazil and the UK. Prof Nancy Kula (University of Essex, UK), who was recently appointed as research associate to the department, presented jointly with Xiaoxi Liu, work on depressor effects (consonants which lower tones) in Bantu languages. Other presenters discussed Bantu languages, Khoisan languages and Afrikaans.

Microlinguistics analyses language and sound

“Microlinguistics focuses on analysing language data that deals with language sounds, structures and meaning, rather than language in society,” Dr Riedel said. “The range and diversity of the research on African languages presented at SAMWOP5 were a true highlight. There is a need for more research into African languages and SAMWOP presents the opportunity to scholars in the field to share their work, including in the accredited open-access proceedings.

“We are happy that we were able to hold a very successful and well-attended workshop despite the disruptions to the academic calendar this year,” the professor said.

The Linguistics Society of Southern Africa supported the cause in the form of a grant with additional support from the Office of Dean of Humanities at the UFS.

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept