Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
04 January 2021 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
From left to right: Makashane Ntlhabo (PhD student at the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies), Dr Tascha Vos (Centre for Environmental Management) and Dr Stephanie Cawood (Centre for Gender and Africa Studies).

Two researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) are studying how water quality could be used at informal heritage sites to measure the health of the sites. They are also aiming to test the workability of their Rapid Integrity Appraisal (RIA) bio-cultural screening model as a way to safeguard informal heritage sites and cultural heritage.

Dr Stephanie Cawood from the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies and Dr Tascha Vos from the Centre for Environmental Management,a limnologist with a doctorate in environmental management, hope to achieve wider application for the RIA model beyond the eastern Free State’s sacred sites and to consider the feasibility of RIA to inform the monitoring and management regimes of formal heritage sites as well.

This interdisciplinary research is unique and brings together the science of aquatic ecology (limnology) as well as the cultural and social human dynamics of heritage, pilgrimage and ritual and how they interact.

Sacred sites and places of pilgrimage

“In previous research, we documented a link between the environmental integrity and public health of informal heritage sites in the eastern Free State and the cultural heritage associated with these sites. They are considered sacred sites and places of pilgrimage and include various sacred valleys and caves in the Mohokare Valley in the eastern Free State along the South Africa-Lesotho border.

“We detected a cycle of risk between human, animal and ecological risk factors where water quality is representative of ecological risk and cultural practices associated with the intrinsic heritage of the sites. Based on this cycle of risk and conventional aquatic biomonitoring models, we developed a unique bio-cultural screening model called Rapid Integrity Appraisal specifically designed for the biomonitoring of informal heritage sites such as the eastern Free State sacred sites,” the two researchers explain.

Rapid Integrity Appraisal

According to Dr Cawood, who is very knowledgeable about pilgrimage movement in the Mohokare Valley and has conducted regular fieldwork trips to these sites from 2007-2010, RIA is a bio-cultural screening model to determine the need for intervention at informal heritage sites.

Says Dr Cawood: “Ideally, a complete bio-cultural screening model would include all existing bio-monitoring indices. However, in a country such as South Africa which has immense social challenges, the formal heritage sector is under-resourced. Resources are even scarcer for informal heritage management.”

Dr Vos says this means that the full spectrum of biomonitoring indices simply cannot be justified for informal heritage sites. Therefore, in the specific context of limited resources in terms of time, expertise and funding, a pragmatic view has to be taken to rapidly and efficiently assess the integrity of informal sites.

“We found certain analyses related to water quality more valuable for extrapolation than others and we conceptualised these parameters as forming the RIA model. The idea behind RIA was to find the most expedient and efficient mode to rapidly assess the integrity of a particular informal heritage site. RIA is not meant to be a comprehensive method but is rather aimed at collecting baseline data for immediate decision-making and the possible implementation of a full water-quality assessment, or perhaps a complete bio-cultural screening,” according to Dr Vos.

Great potential

They have recently been funded by the UFS for this interesting interdisciplinary project which started in 2018. They have already completed the fieldwork and are now left with the data analysis and interpretation and the writing of articles. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic negatively affected their progress in this regard, but they hope to finalise the project next year.

According to the researchers the project has great potential for application in heritage management anywhere, not only for the monitoring of informal heritage sites, but for poorly managed tourist sites that may be ecologically compromised.

News Archive

UFS appoints first black woman director
2006-05-03

 The Executive Management of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) has approved the appointment of Mrs Refiloe Seane as Director of Kovsie Student Counselling, and Dr Francois Strydom as Director of Student Development. 

Ms Seane is the first black woman director to be appointed at the UFS and has been acting in this position since last year.

“Mrs Seane’s appointment is the latest in a series of appointments of women in management positions at the UFS.  It signifies our commitment to create a diverse and dynamic institution of higher learning,” said Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

Other appointments of women in management positions include that of Prof Magda Fourie as Vice-Rector:  Academic Planning; Prof Letticia Moja as Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences; Dr Choice Makhetha as Vice-Dean:  Student Affairs and Prof Engela Pretorius as Vice-Dean: Humanities. 

Mrs Seane joined the UFS in 1997 as counselling psychologist at Kovsie Counselling.  In 2003 she was promoted to senior psychologist. She holds a master’s degree in Counselling Psychology at the UFS.

“The need for students to receive counselling is steadily on the increase.  I contribute this to the increasing challenges facing young people of today.  Some of the issues we deal with include among others personal adjustment to the university environment, learning and study skills, career guidance and developmental and psychological problems,” said Mrs Seane.

“I commit myself to develop students and prepare them for their studies and careers ahead. My aim is to improve the efficiency of counselling services at the UFS.  This will help produce balanced graduates who will become role players both nationally and internationally,” said Mrs Seane.

Dr Francois Strydom has been appointed as Head/Director for Kovsie Student Development.  Before his appointment Dr Strydom was senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s (WITS) School of Human and Community Development.  He holds a Ph D in Psychology from Oxford University, after having obtained a BA degree, BA Honours and master’s degrees in Psychology at the UFS.

“This appointment signals the elevation of the function of student development to directorate level for the first time. It reflects the commitment of the University to support students and their academic development in order to improve their academic success rates. The increase of success rates of especially black students from disadvantaged school backgrounds is a key element of the transformation process of the UFS,” said Prof Fourie.

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

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