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11 February 2022
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Story Leonie Bolleurs and Rulanzen Martin
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After two years of lockdown, online meetings, and limited contact with colleagues, academy at the University of the Free State (UFS) is gradually returning to normal. This month (February 2022), staff, students, and members of related industries will convene on three different occasions to learn about cutting-edge scholarship, to reconnect with each other, and to discuss issues impacting society in the fields of theology, the humanities, and agriculture.
Seminar on ‘The Limits of Decolonisation’ with Prof RW Johnson
Date: 24 February 2022
Time: 09:00-16:00 SAST
Venue/Platform: Equitas Auditorium, UFS Bloemfontein Campus, and Microsoft Teams
Decolonisation has been a heated point of discussion for some time now, but have you ever wondered if there could be limitations hindering the decolonisation project? The Departments of Political Studies and Governance and Philosophy and Classics at the UFS will host an array of academics and experts for a hybrid seminar on the topic The Limits of Decolonisation.
If decolonisation is an important issue for you or if you are interested in the topic and its relevance and influence in the world and academia, you should join or attend the seminar – either online via Microsoft Teams or in person in the Equitas Auditorium – on 24 February 2022 from 09:00.
The keynote speaker is political scientist
Prof RW Johnson from the University of Oxford. Prof Johnson is an emeritus fellow at Magdalen College and is the author of several acclaimed political books. The other speakers are all from the Departments of Political Studies and Governance, and Philosophy and Classics. Terrence Corrigan from the
South African Institute of Race Relations will speak on The relationship between critical race theory and decolonisation.
RSVP: Alice Stander StanderAFM@ufs.ac.za (please specify dietary requirements, as a light lunch will be served)
Africa still yearns for democracy says academic
2009-05-26
Leading academic Prof Achille Mbembe (pictured), says that in spite of substantial changes the African continent is still yearning for democracy.
Prof Mbembe was delivering a lecture commemorating Africa Day at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.
He said many Africans feel that democracy and the law, including the paramount law – the constitution itself - have betrayed them.
“Many have a feeling that they have not yet lived fully or fulfilled their lives, that they might not or might never fulfill their lives.”
Prof Mbembe, who originates from Cameroon and has been living in South Africa for nine years , said that what struck him about this country in this democratic era was that many people are still yearning for a return to the past.
He said many black South Africans know that the advent of democracy has not provided them with the kind of life they hoped for.
“If anything, democracy has rendered life even more complex than before,” he said.
“South Africa is still a nation where too many black people possess almost nothing.
“Real freedom means freedom from race,” he said. “The kind of freedom that South Africa is likely to enjoy because this nation will have built a society, a culture and a civilization in which the colour of one’s skin will be superfluous in the overall calculus of dignity, opportunity, rights and obligations,” Prof Mbembe said.
“This freedom will originate, purely and simply, from our being human.”
Prof Mbembe is currently a Research Professor in History and Politics at the University of the Witwatersrand in the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. He has written extensively on African history and politics.
Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za
26 May 2009