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28 June 2022 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Sonia Small (Kaleidoscope Studios)
Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga is very optimistic about his appointment as the Global Academic Director of the Decolonial International Network.

Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga of the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has been appointed Global Academic Director of the Decolonial International Network (DIN). Dr Mushonga, who is a senior lecturer and programme director of CGAS’s Africa Studies programme, says his vision for DIN is “to work towards a new world civilisation that is opposed to the militarism and war, lawlessness and genocides of other civilisations.” 

Dr Mushonga, who is a leading voice and scholar on decolonialisation, will formally assume his role at DIN in 2023. 

The duality of new technology and scholarly work

Dr Mushonga says it is important for our minds to be decolonised, and he is therefore planning to establish a Centre for Decolonising The Mind (CDTM), which will use 21st-century technologies to achieve the ideal of decolonialisation. “Here pluriversal decolonial chapters and centres will be driven towards developing a decolonial history app,” he says. The aim is also to work towards a decolonial textbook on the history of Africa. 

He says it is commendable to employ technology to address decolonisation, but the real work to achieve the ideal of a decolonial mind lies in the scholarly work done by academics. At the CGAS the entire Africa Studies programme addresses decolonial theory and praxis through several approaches. “These are informed by our identity, which is anchored on two pillars, namely the interdisciplinary nature of all our engagements, as well as the exploration and critique of what it means to be ‘human’, but also in relation to the ‘non-human’ world.” He adds that the Centre’s teaching, supervision, and engagement with its students also challenges academics to think beyond the binaries of ‘coloniser’ and ‘colonised’, ‘white’ and ‘black’, and to reject all forms of fundamentalism. 

UFS’s commitment to decoloniality is a great asset 

Dr Mushonga's tenure at DIN will also reinforce the commitment to decolonial education made by the UFS, which has been noted by DIN. “I am convinced that DIN, the CGAS and the UFS can become the great vehicles to drive the decolonial agenda from the global South in general, and South Africa in particular,” he says. He says the commitment to the ideals of decolonisation displayed by UFS and the CGAS played a large part in his appointment to his new DIN role. 

The CGAS and the UFS will become key players in the DIN project, and Dr Mushonga hopes that more individuals and groups will come forward to join forces with DIN. “I hope this will enable DIN to push for new ethics in living.” 

News Archive

Popular SABC presenter joins the UFS
2007-03-05

Former Lesedi FM Current Affairs presenter, Mr Mangaleso Radebe, has joined the University of the Free State's (UFS) Strategic Communication Division as from today, Monday 5 March 2007.

Mr Radebe is an experienced journalist having worked for the SABC for almost 11 years. He started with the SABC as an intern in 1995 on the now defunct Good Morning South Africa television breakfast show in Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

He also had stints as a general news reporter, sports reporter, freelance producer for SABC Africa, news writer and presenter for the SABC2's Sesotho news bulletin. He joined Lesedi FM in Bloemfontein four years ago as a presenter/producer for Current Affairs programmes.

In his new job at the UFS he will be responsible for media liaison, together with Ms Lacea Loader, with print and electronic media in Bloemfontein and nationally.

According to the Director: Strategic Communication at the UFS, Mr Anton Fisher, the UFS is proud to welcome Mr Radebe as member of staff and look forward to his contribution during this exciting phase of the UFS’s history.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
Cell: 072 207 8334
5 March 2007
 
 

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