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Prof Rodwell Makombe on Qwaqwa migrants and their connection to home

22 February 2021 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Prof Rodwell Makombe_web read more — Prof Rodwell Makombe’s literary research focuses on a Facebook page that ‘reconstructs home away from home’.

Home is a complex concept, as it is not a physical place. This is according to Prof Rodwell Makombe’s recently published research article titled, Online images and imaginings of home: The case of Qwaqwa Thaba Di Mahlwa Facebook page.

“The article looks at how migrants from Qwaqwa, now living in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and elsewhere, imagine Qwaqwa as home. Because they spend a lot of time away from home, they always have a longing and a sense of loneliness, as they live in places that are not home. They also have to find ways of reminiscing about their homeland. This study is about how they reconstruct home away from home. There are two approaches towards the idea of home. Firstly, home can be conceptualised as a familiar place and a place of origin that offers stability. Secondly, home is within them and they carry it with them wherever they go,” said Prof Makombe.

‘Qwaqwa Thaba Di Mahlwa’

The study focused on a Facebook page created by Qwaqwa migrants, called ‘Qwaqwa thaba Di Mahlwa’. “We looked at the images that were posted on this page and how they seek to construct Qwaqwa as a home. When a person posts a picture from Qwaqwa, everyone from Qwaqwa associates with the picture and are reminded of certain things from home. Migrants make homes out of this Facebook page and the page becomes a place where all can rally together and construct their home,” he added.

The study is part of a broader book project titled Visual Cultures of the Afromontane, funded by the Afromontane Research Unit.

Prof Makombe is an Associate Professor in the Department of English on the Qwaqwa Campus. His areas of research include cultural studies, postcolonial literatures, and cultures of resistance. The article was co-written with Dr Oliver Nyambi.

LISTEN: Prof Rodwell Makombe on Qwaqwa migrants and their connection to home

University of the Free State · Prof Rodwell Makombe on Qwaqwa migrants and their connection to home

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Seminar on mediation and peacemaking in Southern Africa

2011-09-21

Our university will join universities from five other African countries at a seminar in Lusaka, Zambia, from 23 - 25 September 2011, to discuss mediation and peacemaking in Southern Africa. The Osaka University from Japan will also be present at the seminar.

The seminar follows the conceptualisation of a programme entitled the Southern Africa Oasis of Peace Project by Prof. Hussein Solomon, Senior Professor in Political Science at our university, and Prof. Virgil Hawkins from Osaka University. The project aims to build networks between academics across the world who work in the broad field of conflict resolution and to offer good practical suggestions to policy makers on how to achieve sustainable peace in the Southern African region.

Prof. Solomon will deliver a paper on mediation within the context of a war, presenting the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the seminar. Senior academics from the universities of Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Dar-es-Salaam, Stellenbosch and Pretoria will also deliver presentations.

Prof. Solomon said that amongst the envisaged outputs of the seminar are a journal and regular conferences to bring together academics and policy makers.

The Southern Africa Oasis of Peace Project is being funded by the Asia Africa Science Platform Programme and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

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