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11 March 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Supplied
Dr Ralph Clarke
Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the Afromontane Research Unit.

The African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF), in association with the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) of the University of the Free State (UFS), and the Global Mountain Safeguard Research Programme (GLOMOS), is hosting the first-ever Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022). The theme of the conference is Southern African Mountains – their value and vulnerabilities.

The conference will bring relevant people together into one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity and academic outputs that feed into policy and action. 

The conference will take place from 14 to 17 March 2022 in the majestic Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa and Lesotho. 

According to the SAMC2022 website, this is a truly Southern African regional mountain conference, targeting the African region south of the Congo rainforest (DRC) and Lake Rukwa (Tanzania), but including Madagascar, the Comoros and the Mascarenes (i.e., Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [southern mountains], Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, La Réunion, South Africa, southern Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

Dr Ralph Clark, ARU Director, said the conference would be a high-level international event with UNESCO patronage and very valuable sponsors.

“The programme will have six parallel tracks (one being dedicated to postgraduate students), with about 200 papers being delivered. In addition, we have some very high-profile special sessions, such as an MRI special session on long-term monitoring activities and associated data availability for climate change-related applications across Africa’s mountains, as well as a UNESCO special session on regional collaboration. We also have Prof Julian Bayliss, described as the man who discovered an unseen world, as the guest speaker at the closing event.”

The conference will bring together relevant people in one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies, with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity, and academic outputs that feed into policy and action.

The GLOMOS team, one of the long-term partners of the ARU, spent the week of 8 to 11 March 2022 on the Qwaqwa Campus to strengthen collaboration and pave the way for new research opportunities in Phuthaditjhaba and the Maloti-Drakensberg.
GLOMOS represents an interface between the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Eurac Research. Postdoctoral fellow, Dr Stefano Terzi, said: “It’s very interesting for us to look at the Maloti-Drakensberg area because of its diversity. We are in the process of really exciting collaborations.”
Their projects include an understanding of the root causes of land degradation and improving decision-making processes for current water management within the context of water scarcity in the Maloti-Drakensberg.
• For more information on the speakers and the programme, click here 


News Archive

Africa and her diaspora grace the Africa Century International Writers’ Conference
2012-10-30

30 October 2012

Programme (Pdf format)

The Africa Century International African Writers’ Conference, organised by the wRite associates, in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, the University of the Free State (UFS) and the SABC, will take place on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS from 7 to 10 November 2012.This four-day conference will culminate in the 2012 South African Literary Awards ceremony where winners will be honoured.

The conference is dedicated to the memory and contribution of its special advisor and inspiration, Zwelakhe Sisulu, who passed away in October 2012.

The conference has attracted an array of scholars and artists from around the continent. The African diaspora will be one of the main features of the programme. Keynote addresses, the presentation of papers, dance, visual art, comedy, disc jockeying will all feature the Diaspora.
 
“This event will also mark the 21st anniversary of the then-OAU (now-AU) declared International African Writers’ Day (i.e. 7th November). The theme of this is: From Resistance to Creative Mediation: Celebrating a Century of Writing and Literary Intellectuals’ Influence On The Liberation Struggles & Political Impact on Literary Discourse and Development”, said Raks Morakabe Seakhoa, Managing Director of the wRite associates and Project Director of the South African Literary Awards and the Africa Century International African Writers Conference.
 
The patrons of the Africa Century International African Writers’ Conference include; Prof. Kgositsile Keorapetse, Prof. Chinua Achebe, Dr Nadine Gordimer, DrWanguiwaGoro and Dr Hugh Masekela.

“This prospective historical gathering of authors, literary scholars and historians will, as the then-OAU’s Conference of African Ministers of Education and Culture (meeting in Coutonou, Benin, in 1991) resolved, ‘…afford the African people a moment of pause within which to reflect on the contribution of African Writers to the development of the Continent’ ”,Seakhoa added.
 
He said, “We are delighted at the growth of the prestigious South African Literary Awards, as they are now spreading their wings to inaugurate the Africa Century International African Writers’ Conference and opening up to the continent and Diaspora’s writers.”
 
Other highlights of this four-day programme include:

  • An evening with the National Poet Laureate: poetry reading by Prof. Keorapetse Kgositsile and guest poets
  • Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer discusses her latest work, ‘No Time Like The Present’
  • Poetry, comedy and performances
  • Creative writing skills development programme, facilitated by: Prof.KeorapetseKgositsile, Mr Walter Chakela and Dr Oswald Mtshali
  • Tsebo-Lethabo Primary and High Schools programme
  • Books, art & crafts and clothing exhibitions and more 

For more information,visit www.africacenturyconference.org or www.sala.org.za
 

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