Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
02 August 2021 | Story Sanet Madonsela | Photo Supplied
Helen Zille unpacking the notion of ‘wokeness’ and its context within the broader South Africa during a virtual book discussion with Prof Hussein Solomon.

The Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State hosted Helen Zille, Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance, to discuss her book #StayWoke: Go Broke: Why South Africa won’t survive America’s culture wars (and what you can do about it). Zille was in discussion with the Academic Head of Department, Prof Hussein Solomon. She unpacked the notion of ‘wokeness’ – also known as the ‘critical theory’, as well as the emergence of a ‘cancel culture’ in broader society.

Zille explained how the woke ideology combines post-modernism and neo-Marxism and why intersectionality often features in the lexicons (vocabulary) of South African universities. 

Wokeness and its threat to our Constitution 

Zille explained that wokeness threatens South Africa’s constitutional democracy. “Unlike America, South Africa’s democratic institutions are fragile and new and may not be able to survive the wave of wokeness,” she said. She further explained how the ‘properly wokes’ request to have separate graduations for African students could not work and how South Africa’s Constitution promotes inclusion.  

Zille believes that the country needs its young people to be critical thinkers, as this can assist in stabilising the country’s economy and internal challenges. She believes that society needs a range of paradigms to make sense of the world, processes, programmes, and history and that it should not be overly reliant on a singular view, as this could have negative implications on the country in the long term. Zille concluded that she remains hopeful for the country, as its citizens are intelligent, sensible, ethical, and rational enough to move it forward and assist in reaching its full potential.  

Wokeness aims to overthrow societal hierarchy 

Zille notes in her book that 'wokeness is an attempt to invert ‘society’s conventional hierarchy of privilege in order to promote marginalised identities.'  This stems from a struggle against inborn attributes of personal identity such as race, sex, sexuality, gender, and disability. It believes that society comprises power hierarchies that determine what should be known and what shouldn’t, as well as how events and actions should be interpreted. It believes that social justice activists need to expose unequal power relations and dismantle them in order to achieve social justice. 

Unequal power relations in this regard include racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, and other prejudices. Moreover, it argues that knowledge needs to be decolonised in order to achieve social justice. Decolonisation would require stripping knowledge of the methods and contents used in Western society. While it ‘seeks’ to promote inclusion, wokeness has begun to symbolise an extreme intolerance and is often used as a tool to enable a cancel culture. As a movement, it has been used to tear down statues, deface paintings, and monitor others’ speech infringements to ensure conformity. Rather than engage in rational debates with those who share dissenting views, online woke communities silence people with opposing views. This threatens social progress. Zille’s book represents a valuable contribution and a necessary attempt to understand the phenomenon and why it would not work in the South African context. 

Having personally experienced the wave of wokeness and cancel culture, Zille is well placed to advise others experiencing such tactics. She advises them to recognise what happened and to remain calm; to question whether they said or did anything objectionable or whether they just undermined the woke narrative; not to apologise or resign, as it feeds into the narrative that they have done something wrong; to seek legal counsel if they can afford it; not to engage online mobs; and not to give up. 

Watch recording of webinar below:


News Archive

Spring graduation ceremony
2008-09-15

Law awards largest number of doctorates 

The Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) this week awarded four doctorate degrees during the spring graduation ceremony, which took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. This is the largest number of doctorates awarded by the faculty during one graduation ceremony. Here are, from the left: Dr Tjaart Maré, Dr Ilze Keevy, and Dr Pierre Rabie. Dr Daniel Mekonnen was absent when the photo was taken. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards degrees
 

The University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week. Altogether 840 diplomas and degrees were awarded. Here are, from the left: Mss Mamokete Marokane, who obtained a B.Com. Human Resource Management degree, Elzaan Jacobs, who obtained a B.Com. Accounting degree, and Mmanyefolo Mosia, who also obtained a B.Com. Accounting degree. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 The University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week. Altogether 840 diplomas and degrees were awarded. Here are, from the left: Mr Roger Potgieter, M.B.A. degree, Ms Amanda Share, M.B.A. degree, Zarita Naudé, B.Com. Accounting, and Mr Kobus van den Berg, M.B.A. degree. Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards extraordinary degree 

Prof. Ivan Horak, extraordinary professor at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Department of Zoology and Entomology, this week became the third person in the history of the UFS to receive the D.Sc. degree. The degree was awarded to him during the spring graduation ceremony which took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. Here are, from the left: Prof. Jo van As, Head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology, Prof. Horak, and Ms Ellie van Dalen, Lecturer at the UFS Department of Zoology and Entomology.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

 

UFS awards doctorate degrees 

Altoghether 29 doctorate degrees were awarded this week during the University of the Free State's (UFS) spring graduation ceremony on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. During the chancellor's dinner are, from the left: Dr Anabela Da Silva, a student from Mozambique who obtained a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding, Prof. Maryke Labuschagne, UFS Department of Plant Sciences and promoter of Dr Da Silva, Dr Edward Jurua, a student from Uganda who obtained his Ph.D. in Astro Physics, and Dr Pieter Meintjes, from the UFS Department of Physics and promoter of Dr Jurua.
Photo: Gerhard Louw

 

Spring graduation ceremony
 

Dr. Meshach Aziakpono (middle) is one of the students of the University of the Free State (UFS) who obtained a Ph.D. (Economics) during the spring graduation ceremony on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. Here he is with Prof. Phillipe Burger (left), Head of the Department of Economics at the UFS and mentor of Dr Aziakpono, and Prof. Stan du Plessis (right), Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University and co-mentor of Dr Aziakpono.
Photo: Gerhard Louw

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