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23 August 2021 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Anja Aucamp
Prof Karin van Marle
Legal scholar Prof Karin van Marle.
Karin van Marle – Professor in the Department of Public Law, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Programme Director: Research and Postgraduate Study. As an academic appointed at an institution of higher learning, she regards her main task as contributing to education and scholarship. She does so firstly through her own teaching, supervision of master’s and doctoral students, and research. And secondly, in the position of Vice-Dean and Programme Director, by assisting to strengthen the academic programmes and enhance the research culture and intellectual aims of the faculty.    

What is the best thing about your job?
To be able to live the life of the mind, always challenged by the life of action. Being an academic allows – but more than that – demands constant reading, thinking, reflection, judgment, and bringing it all to bear in enriching the lives of students and the public at large.

What is the best and worst decision you have ever made?
The best decision was to make the trip to go and see Leonard Cohen performing in Barcelona during his last worldwide concert tour. The worst decision was not to go and see Mikhail Baryshnikov giving his last performances in Toronto while I was there to see my doctoral supervisor. 

What was/is the biggest challenge of your career?
The biggest challenge remains the biggest attribute: to respond to the needs and demands of our times in a prudent and constructive way.

What does the word woman mean to you?
“No, woman, no cry.”

Which woman inspires you, and why?
Intellectually, the work of Hannah Arendt remains an inspiration and source of wisdom and ideas.

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?
Keep on reading and creating the world that you want to live in.

What is the one self-care thing that you do? 
Tempted to say reading, but to prevent sounding merely repetitive I will add listening to music, walking, and more recently, doing yoga.

What makes you a woman of quality, impact, and care?
I have a strong work ethic. I am interested in knowing ‘who’ someone is and not ‘what’ someone is (drawing on insightful work by thinkers such as Hannah Arendt and Adriana Cavarero); and I support the freedom to continuous becoming. 
 
I cannot live without … books.
My secret weapon is … coffee.
I always have … a number of notebooks ready to be filled.
I will never … say never, adhering to Njabulo Ndebele’s words: “Hold on to your options.”
I hope … to remain hopeful. 

News Archive

UFS hosts sign language workshop to educate parents
2017-05-22

Description: Sign language workshop to educate parents Tags: Sign language workshop to educate parents

Back row; from left; John Keitsemore from
Bartimea School for the Deaf; Philip Cook,
the headmaster at De la Bat School for the
Deaf in Worcester; Jeannie Cook, De la Bat School
for the Deaf; front, from left; Marisa Vermeulen, mother
of two deaf children and teacher at Bartimea
School for the Deaf in Thaba Nchu; Marianne Kühn,
audiologist, and Susan Lombaard, acting Head of the
Department of South African Sign Language.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

“Ninety percent of deaf children are born into hearing families. When parents first receive the news, they are shocked, angry and confused,” says Susan Lombaard, Acting head of the Department of South African Sign Language at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The department hosted a workshop, “Early intervention options for the child with a hearing loss”, on Friday 12 May 2017 on the Bloemfontein Campus. “It is the first time a sign language workshop of this kind was hosted by the Department of South African Sign Language at the UFS,” says Lombaard, who facilitated the workshop. They hope to make it an annual event.

Parents of deaf children do not always know how they will communicate with their children or where the child must attend school. The workshop aimed to provide parents with the necessary information on different communication options and also touched on school placement.

Support group for parents established
A support group for parents was also established, the first of its kind in the province. It will provide much-needed support, information and guidance for parents of deaf children.

Some of the speakers at the workshop included Anri Esterhuizen, an audiologist; Marianne Kühn from the Carel du Toit Centre, Marisa Vermeulen, who is a mother of two deaf children, and Phillip Cook, the headmaster at De la Bat School for the Deaf in Worcester, in the Western Cape. Jeannie Cook, also a presenter, provided information on sign language acquisition of the small deaf child, which is done through creative play.

Professionals have responsibility
South African Sign Language is a language in its own right and is not international. “Sign language is a visual language with its own grammar and syntax different from spoken language,” Lombaard said.

There has been much controversy surrounding teaching deaf children to speak and teaching them to sign. “We as professionals have the responsibility to provide information on all options. This is to help the parent make informed decisions about communication and school placement.”

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