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06 August 2021 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo André Damons
Nombulelo Shange - Making a positive impact with writing

Nombulelo Shange is a lecturer in Sociology in the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Sociology and one of our top opinion article writers – regularly quoted by the media. She is also currently a PhD candidate in Anthropology, studying a Cape Town community called the ‘mountain doctors’. 

What is the best thing about your job?

I love my students and have missed them so much during this precarious time. 

What is the best and worst decision you have ever made?

Although I loved teaching English in South Korea, I was young and became extremely homesick, so I ended up coming back prematurely – leaving me unemployed for three years. Later, I was accepted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland for my PhD, but in the end, I sadly had to turn that opportunity down because of finances. I regret not pushing harder in both cases. But the thing with mistakes and bad decisions is that they come together to shape your current experiences. I might not be where I am today had I not made those mistakes. The best decision I ever made was leaving the NGO space and returning to academia in 2018; academia is my calling. I love teaching, writing, and theorising.

What does the word woman mean to you?

I think to be a woman means many different things. But at its core, it should mean inclusion and individual and collective acceptance and expression of our differences. 

Which woman inspires you, and why?

There are so many, and they all inspire me in different ways. My mothers, Prof Pearl Sithole, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Beyonce, Patricia Hill Collins, Sisonke Msimang, Makoma Lekalakala, Nonhle Mbuthuma, and Tarana Burke. My friends, my little niece, and all the black women, living and gone – who gave up their lives so that, one day, a girl like me can enjoy certain liberties. 

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?

Make mistakes, it’s okay, it won’t be the end of the world. You will learn from them, but just focus on being a kid. Stop hiding in the library behind books; you learn more from life by exploring and living it, not only reading about it. Being an introvert is OK, but don’t let it make you fear people. Being an uncool becomes the new cool later, so you’ll be fine, you’ll be great!

What makes you a woman of quality, impact, and care?

My impact has been in my written work, both within academia and the mainstream media. I research, write, and theorise on a variety of topics, mainly decoloniality, indigenous knowledge, and feminism. I see my place as an emerging scholar and leader in this space not just at the UFS, but also nationally, and eventually internationally.

 

I cannot live without … a fully stocked kitchen; love cooking and baking … hate cleaning up afterwards.
My secret weapon is … kindness; I’ve had so many uncertain or tense situations go well, just because I treated people with kindness before even knowing they would be the ones I need/get help from.
I always have … my cellphone; it makes going through life so much easier, especially as a woman. It is more than just a phone, it is my panic button when I am feeling unsafe, my navigator when I am lost and scared, my bank – and most importantly – my way to connect with loved ones.
I will never … knowingly allow certain privileges I enjoy, being used against others who are more socially disenfranchised than I am.
I hope … to see my family and pet bunny Dash soon, I miss them very much.


News Archive

Official opening: UFS earmarks R10-million to support national priorities
2006-02-06

 

The University of the Free State (UFS) is to align key areas of its academic and research efforts with national priorities through the introduction of five strategic clusters which would be funded by seedmoney of R10-million in 2006.

Speaking at the Official Opening of the UFS on Friday (3 February 2006), the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the academic and research work that will be done in the five strategic clusters would contribute to the development of Mangaung, the Free State, South Africa and Africa.

 “It makes sense to concentrate the university’s human resources, our infrastructure, financial resources and intellectual expertise to ensure that the UFS makes a contribution to the country and the African continent,” Prof Fourie said.

“Strategic clusters will be organised on the basis that these areas of knowledge could become in the short term the flagships of the UFS, meaning those areas where the university currently has or in the very near future is likely to have some competitive advantage,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Prof Fourie, this strategic-cluster approach will be in line with the approach being designed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) to take national priorities into account and would enhance the quality of scholarship at the UFS.

The five strategic areas in which research and academic investment at the UFS will be clustered are the following:

Enabling technologies / Technology for the future;
Food production, quality and food security for Africa;
Development;
Social transformation;
Water resource and ecosystem management;

“Such strategic clusters are understood not only as research areas but as areas that also encompass strong undergraduate and particularly postgraduate teaching and a potentially solid scientific basis for service learning and community service research,” Prof Fourie said.

Within each of these clusters specific niche areas will be identified. Clusters could focus on one or more aspects of a particular discipline or could involve more than one discipline in researching a particular issue.

He said not all academic work and research being done at the UFS would be clustered in this way. Sufficient resources and support have been put in place for general research excellence in the past five years.

“Some of the spin-offs can have an important impact on industrial development, for example in the chemicals industry and may also create a basis for cooperation with provincial, national and international partners,” he said. 

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 February 2006

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