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05 September 2023 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Prof Lesley Green
Prof Lesley Green was announced the winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the category ‘Established Researcher’. She delivered a lecture on her book: Rock. Water. Life: Ecology and Humanities for a Decolonial South Africa.

A group of more than 100 academics and students from universities across South Africa and abroad attended the virtual lecture by Prof Lesley Green, winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the category ‘Established Researcher’, who discussed her cross-cutting book, titled: Rock. Water. Life: Ecology and Humanities for a Decolonial South Africa. 

The lecture is part of a series focused on the Humanities Book Awards, offering award recipients a platform to discuss the motivation behind their books, the societal impact of their work, and the personal influences that shaped their text. Prof Reddy said that academics and students can anticipate a series of humanities book award lectures in the coming months. 

Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation at the University of the Free State (UFS), member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and member of the Book Award adjudication panel, facilitated the recent (29 August 2023) online 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award Lecture. 

Prof Green, Professor of Anthropology and the Director of Environmental Humanities South (EHS) at the University of Cape Town, was announced the winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the category ‘Established Researcher’, for which ASSAf received 31 nominations. She received the award at the end of March this year during a ceremony at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town.

The first ASSAf Book Prize was awarded in 2017, and since then ASSAf has conferred the award on an individual every two years to recognise and celebrate the significance and impact of well-written scholarly writings on human knowledge and intellectual efforts in South Africa. 

Prof Reddy characterised Prof Green's specific work as an outstanding book that makes a formidable contribution to the field.

Justice-based environmental sciences 

Prof Green’s research centres on justice-based environmental sciences in South Africa, with a particular focus on the relationship between knowledge and democracy in the Global South – a central theme in her award-winning text.

In the three parts of her book, ‘Past Present’, ‘Present Futures’, and ‘Futures Imperfect’, Prof Green explores the interwoven nature of the past, present, and future. Within these three parts, she delves into the fascinating array of identity markers, inequality, racism, colonialism, and environmental destruction in South Africa. 

Prof Reddy noted that the text asserts a need for environmental research and governance to evolve, contributing to addressing South Africa’s deep history of racial oppression and environmental exploitation. “The book also offers an in-depth engagement of environmental conflict, shedding light on matters often overshadowed by daily concerns in contemporary South Africa,” he added. 

The book, linking the humanities and social sciences with the natural sciences and applied sciences, touched on an array of important topics, including the history of contested water access in Cape Town, struggles over fracking in the Karoo, the call for the decolonisation of science (#ScienceMustFall), land restitution versus the politics of soil, contests over baboon management, and the consequences of sending sewage to urban oceans. 

Prof Green has observed the landscape of environmentalism for a couple of years and noticed a series of struggles. “Typically, these conflicts were being presented in highly polemic ways, often showcasing tremendous tension between academic environmentalism and activists on the ground. I noticed recurring patterns – what was being presented as the preferred form of environmentalism was not something I could support. For example, the frack-free Karoo campaign. It left me quite uncomfortable due to the erasure of Khoi and San presence in the Karoo,” she added. 

“So, what kind of environmentalism could I get behind? Questions around a just environmental governance begin to arise for me.”

Property, #ScienceMustFall, and black environmentalism 

During the discussion, Prof Green shared particular images from each section of her book that caused her to pause and reconsider her stance on the type of environmentalism she could support.

“We inherited a way of thinking about the world that was separated from nature and society. We have challenged that division of nature and society in respect of race and racism and sex and sexism, but we have not brought that critique to bear on how we relate to the world. Somehow, under neo-liberal governance, we find ourselves in this space where economics and finance are seen as the hero that will bring it all together. 

These comments merely scratched the surface of Prof Green’s insights into her book – which Prof John Higgins, Emeritus Professor who formerly held the Arderne Chair in Literature at the University of Cape Town (now Senior Research Scholar at UCT), referred to in his closing remarks as a rich description of a magnificent book. According to him, this scholarly book not only circulates and makes knowledge public, but also provides an opportunity to question that very knowledge. 

This marked the first instance where ASSAf combined book selection with a discussion on the chosen book, underscoring the value of scholarly literature.

- In the Emerging Researcher category, Dr Rick de Villiers from the UFS Department of English was a shortlisted candidate for his book, titled: Eliot and Beckett’s Low Modernism: Humility and Humiliation. 

News Archive

Inaugural lecture: Prof. Phillipe Burger
2007-11-26

 

Attending the lecture were, from the left: Prof. Tienie Crous (Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the UFS), Prof. Phillipe Burger (Departmental Chairperson of the Department of Economics at the UFS), and Prof. Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).
Photo: Stephen Collet

 
A summary of an inaugural lecture presented by Prof. Phillipe Burger on the topic: “The ups and downs of the South African Economy: Rough seas or smooth sailing?”

South African business cycle shows reduction in volatility

Better monetary policy and improvements in the financial sector that place less liquidity constraints on individuals is one of the main reasons for the reduction in the volatility of the South African economy. The improvement in access to the financial sector also enables individuals to manage their debt better.

These are some of the findings in an analysis on the volatility of the South African business cycle done by Prof. Philippe Burger, Departmental Chairperson of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Economics.

Prof. Burger delivered his inaugural lecture last night (22 November 2007) on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein on the topic “The ups and downs of the South African Economy: Rough seas or smooth sailing?”

In his lecture, Prof. Burger emphasised a few key aspects of the South African business cycle and indicated how it changed during the periods 1960-1976, 1976-1994 en 1994-2006.

With the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an indicator of the business cycle, the analysis identified the variables that showed the highest correlation with the GDP. During the periods 1976-1994 and 1994-2006, these included durable consumption, manufacturing investment, private sector investment, as well as investment in machinery and non-residential buildings. Other variables that also show a high correlation with the GDP are imports, non-durable consumption, investment in the financial services sector, investment by general government, as well as investment in residential buildings.

Prof. Burger’s analysis also shows that changes in durable consumption, investment in the manufacturing sector, investment in the private sector, as well as investment in non-residential buildings preceded changes in the GDP. If changes in a variable such as durable consumption precede changes in the GDP, it is an indication that durable consumption is one of the drivers of the business cycle. The up or down swing of durable consumption may, in other words, just as well contribute to an up or down swing in the business cycle.

A surprising finding of the analysis is the particularly strong role durable consumption has played in the business cycle since 1994. This finding is especially surprising due to the fact that durable consumption only constitutes about 12% of the total household consumption.

A further surprising finding is the particularly small role exports have been playing since 1960 as a driver of the business cycle. In South Africa it is still generally accepted that exports are one of the most important drivers of the business cycle. It is generally accepted that, should the business cycles of South Africa’s most important trade partners show an upward phase; these partners will purchase more from South Africa. This increase in exports will contribute to the South African economy moving upward. Prof. Burger’s analyses shows, however, that exports have generally never fulfil this role.

Over and above the identification of the drivers of the South African business cycle, Prof. Burger’s analysis also investigated the volatility of the business cycle.

When the periods 1976-1994 and 1994-2006 are compared, the analysis shows that the volatility of the business cycle has reduced since 1994 with more than half. The reduction in volatility can be traced to the reduction in the volatility of household consumption (especially durables and services), as well as a reduction in the volatility of investment in machinery, non-residential buildings and transport equipment. The last three coincide with the general reduction in the volatility of investment in the manufacturing sector. Investment in sectors such as electricity and transport (not to be confused with investment in transport equipment by various sectors) which are strongly dominated by the government, did not contribute to the decrease in volatility.

In his analysis, Prof. Burger supplies reasons for the reduction in volatility. One of the explanations is the reduction in the shocks affecting the economy – especially in the South African context. Another explanation is the application of an improved monetary policy by the South African Reserve Bank since the mid 1990’s. A third explanation is the better access to liquidity and credit since the mid 1990’s, which enables the better management of household finance and the absorption of financial shocks.

A further reason which contributed to the reduction in volatility in countries such as the United States of America’s business cycle is better inventory management. While the volatility of inventory in South Africa has also reduced there is, according to Prof. Burger, little proof that better inventory management contributed to the reduction in volatility of the GDP.

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