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20 April 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Charl Devenish
Chris Vorster_PhD Graduation
Dr Chris Vorster during the graduation ceremony in the Callie Human Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.


Lees in Afrikaans: 
Chris Vorster se PhD ’n ode aan impak van Egoli-skepper, Franz Marx

‘Very intimidating’, is how Dr Chris Vorster describes his doctorate in Creative Writing. Vorster received his degree during the morning ceremony of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) April Graduations.  He has been a lecturer in Film and Visual Media in the UFS Faculty of the Humanities since 2015. 


The doctorate is also the first PhD qualification obtained in the Creative Writing course in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French – not only a feather in the cap of Dr Vorster, but also this department, as well as his supervisor and promoter, Prof Henning Pieterse. 

The title of his thesis is, ’n Praktykbeheerde perspektief op Franz Marx as die sentrale figuur in die ontstaan van die eerste Afrikaanse TV-dagvervolgverhaal (A practice-driven perspective on Franz Marx as the central figure in the creation of the first Afrikaans daily serial). It is an ode to the work and legacy of Franz Marx, who passed away in 2021.

Doctorate immortalises legacy of Franz Marx 
 
The lack of, or very little information available about Franz Marx and other TV writers compelled Dr Vorster to focus his thesis on the influential Franz Marx. “The influence of Franz Marx on South African television is legendary, and it was a privilege to immortalise his legacy,” says Dr Vorster. 

His PhD research consisted primarily of two phases. The first phase focused on the factors that influenced Franz Marx as artist in the creation of the soapie Egoli: Place of Gold. This was practice-based research through interviews with Franz Marx and 30 TV practitioners, after which he contextualised it within the South African TV industry. 

The second phase was the creative writing component, which materialised in the form of an Afrikaans telenovela hybrid, titled Skietstilstand, focusing on a small production team struggling to produce a new sitcom. “I also put this (research) further into perspective with the help of extensive literature study,” he says. 

Dream of quality television as incentive 

There must be some motivation for any doctoral candidate to conduct intensive research on a given topic. For Dr Vorster, this motivation was his perpetual wish that there would one day be sufficient funding to produce quality television in South Africa. “We have the talent and the will, but without sufficient budgeting, our TV industry will always simply produce boring chat and cooking programmes,” says Dr Vorster. 
The influence of Franz Marx on South African television is legendary, and it was a privilege to immortalise his legacy. – Dr Chris Vorster.

For fellow lecturers and those who intend to attempt a doctorate, Dr Vorster has the following advice: “Put a LOT of effort into your research proposal, make sure that your study is mapped out in detail before you register the title; don’t rush it! Also make sure that the topic is something that you wish to deal with day and night for years on end!”

Prof Henning Pieterse and Dr Chris Vorster
Dr Chris Vorster with his PhD Promotor, Prof Henning Pieterse. (Photo: Prof Angelique van Niekerk)

Follow the UFS Graduations here: https://www.ufs.ac.za/2022-april-graduation 

 

News Archive

“I, too, am an African,” says visiting US drama professor
2013-03-06

 
Africans are of blood and of soil, says Prof Charles Dumas in his inaugural lecture at the UFS. Speaking on the topic I, too, am an African, Prof Dumas reminisced about his life and experiences on the continent.
Photo: Minette Grove
05 March 2013

Lecture (pdf)

What is an African? Is it those born in Africa, defined in racial and genealogical terms, or those who identifies with the continent in nationality and ancestral location? Did the descendants of enslaved Africans in the US, the Caribbean or Brazil lose their Africaness when their ancestors were put on slave ships to the New World?

These were some of the questions raised by Prof Charles Dumas, visiting senior professor in the Department Drama and Theatre Arts, in his inaugural lecture at the university.

Proclaiming attachment to the continent, Prof Dumas told his audience there are two types of Africans: Africans of the blood and Africans of the soil. In a speech titled, “I, too, am an African,” he stated that he lay claim to his ancestral birthright not because of blood relationship to an identifiable ethnic group or birthright to the continent, but because he earned it.

“I suggest another way that one can be an African, is through trial and struggle to be reborn an African in spirit. It is a ritual journey that may be taken by anyone. For, after all, if we are to believe the anthropologists who tell us that human life as we know it began in the Olduvai Gorge, genetically we are all African in origin.”

Prof Dumas, a senior professor at Penn State University in the USA, took the audience on a journey of his experiences on the continent, starting in 1978 when he first came to South Africa as a legal observer. Noticing the changes between Apartheid and today’s South Africa, he said this generation are committed to learn from each other – and that is the most important, he said.

“With their hopes and aspirations they earnestly desire to live in the new South Africa that we promised them. We must support them in their effort. It is time we stored our old baggage in the closet.”

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