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Prof Anthea van Jaarsveld wants UFS Drama to shine again

08 July 2021 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Supplied

Prof Anthea_web read more — For Prof Anthea van Jaarsveld, the balance between science, theoretical and practical experience is important for a balanced industry.

Her unique approach to Drama and Theatre Arts makes Prof Anthea van Jaarsveld the most suitable person to take over the reins as Head of the UFS Department of Drama and Theatre Arts. Prof Van Jaarsveld was officially appointed as head of this special department this year.

The Department of Drama at the UFS is one of the biggest in the country, and according to Prof Van Jaarsveld it is also the best, because the department produces some of the finest in the industry. Her main goal as head of department is to bring about a subtle change in emphasis that will ultimately make a real contribution to employability, a greater variety of job opportunities, and practice-orientated research. “My ultimate goal is therefore an approach within which academy and practice will find each other for the benefit of both,” says Prof Van Jaarsveld.

Science, theatre and drama collide

Prof Van Jaarsveld has a scientific approach to drama and theatre arts. She never acted professionally. It is precisely from a scientific perspective that her knowledge of the theorising and contextualisation of drama text, theatre concepts, and the film industry is applied in order to maintain a balance in a profession where the emphasis on practical experience is overwhelming.

She studied Drama at the UFS and was also employed as Drama teacher at Eunice Girls’ School. Following this, she started working as lecturer in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch. “There I focused on the Drama genre in Afrikaans; therefore, I never actually left drama and theatre,” says Prof Van Jaarsveld. In 2018, she returned to the Department of Drama.

Upon her return to the department where she started her studies, her aim is to ensure that the department again complies with the total package of the UFS and to make sure “that our students are prepared for a multifaceted and dynamic industry on a practical level”.

Prof Van Jaarsveld took over from Prof Nico Luwes who retired in 2019.

News Archive

#Women'sMonth: Kovsie entrepreneur making waves in business world

2017-08-25

Akhona Monakalali to take on the business world.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin

Whoever came up with the idea that ‘a woman’s place is in the kitchen’, has definitely not met Akhona Monakalali. Monakalali, a postgraduate student busy with an Accounting diploma on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), is a force to be reckoned with. She was born in Katlehong Township in Gauteng, and moved to Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape a few years later.

Making international waves in business
Monakalali is a Professional Accountant and an entrepreneur who continues to make her mark in the entrepreneurial world. She just recently participated in the Progressive African Network’s (PAN) Annual African Entrepreneurship Expo in Boston, USA, which was hosted by PAN and the Hult Women in Business Club. She was invited to the expo to share her insights on entrepreneurship in South Africa. “I and four other Africans participated in the expo via Skype. It was a very successful event and very insightful,” she says.

Awarded for positive contribution in communities
While she was doing her undergraduate degree, she was elected as the President/CEO of the Golden Key UFS Chapter in 2007. After competing with other universities in the national championships, they won and qualified for the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) World Cup in New York City. SIFE is an international non-profit organisation working with university students who want to change their communities positively, and gain practical knowledge to become socially responsible business leaders.

This international acknowledgement influenced her peers – among millions of other South African teens – to vote for her in the Seventeen Magazine’s Top Teen Achiever Award for her community contribution. Later in that same year, she received a special Service Leadership Award from the Dean of her faculty for her contribution towards creating a better world through business.
She has since established an in-home tutoring foundation called Monakali Academy, which offers parents and struggling students affordable, one-on-one tutoring in the comfort of their homes.
“Tutoring is performed in the student’s home in order to provide a comfortable and non-competitive environment for learning,” says Monakalali.
She will also be involved with various entrepreneurs throughout Africa, working on ways to improve youth entrepreneurship on the African continent.

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