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English Academy of Southern Africa conference – ‘Ways of Reading: Literature and Literacy’

25 January 2024

The University of the Free State’s Bloemfontein campus played host to the English Academy of Southern Africa’s (EASA) annual international conference on 7-8 December 2023. Attracting 35 delegates from Canada, the UK, Nigeria, Botswana, and South Africa, the two-day conference delved into the theme, “Ways of Reading: Literature and Literacy,” with a diverse group seeking to unravel the intricate relationship between literature and literacy.

The proceedings were inaugurated by Prof Vasu Reddy, emphasising the importance of exploring how literacy shapes our modes of attention, both culturally and socially. He expressed his faith that the conference would be “generatively disruptive,” noting that “where there is disruption, there is also growth.”

Featuring two eminent keynote speakers, the conference saw Prof David Attwell, Emeritus Professor at the University of York (UK), discussing the connection between translingualism and creativity in a lecture titled, “A Ventriloquial Literature: The Art of ‘Throwing the Voice’ in the South African Canon. On the second day, Dr Karen Jennings, author of the Booker Prize longlisted novel An Island, reflected on “how place and identity are crucial to the act of creation,” with her talk whimsically titled, “Bums in the Ground.”

Delegates approached the conference theme in various ways, with some exploring how specific writers or critical movements have shaped scholarly reading habits. Others highlighted the significance of literacy for social justice. This diversity extended to the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, bringing together scholars working in language practice, literary studies and even the medical humanities.

Convened by Dr Rick de Villiers, a senior lecturer in the Department of English and the regional vice-president of EASA, the conference delighted in attracting scholars from different backgrounds and stages of their careers. “We had a wonderful mix of established and early-career scholars. The atmosphere was rigorous and robust but collegial throughout.”

Speaking on behalf of EASA, Dr De Villiers extended gratitude for the financial and administrative support from the UFS, particularly the Department of English.

News Archive

Postgraduate Film and Visual Media Programme at UFS from 2015

2014-12-04

There is great excitement at the University of the Free State (UFS) about the approval of a new honours and master’s programme in Film and Visual Media to be offered at the Faculty of the Humanities as from January 2015.

Prof Suzanne Human, Head of the Department of Art History and Visual Culture Studies at Kovsies and Director of the new programme, says this will be an interdisciplinary Film and Visual Media programme. There will consequently be a strong theoretical-philosophical basis in the training, as well as the practical experiences of students. The UFS will be the only university in South Africa where this much emphasis is placed on the historical and theoretical aspects of film-making.

“The world of images is, in our day and age where we are overwhelmed by images on a daily basis, a central study field relevant across various disciplines and even links the natural and human sciences,” says Prof Human.

“Film, which replaced books in the lives of young people in many ways, is an exciting field of which most people have some knowledge and involves a broad field of information with wide relevance.”

The programme will be presented with the cooperation of international scholars and experienced experts from the local industry. Chris Vorster – better known as Ryno from 7de Laan – with more than 20 years of experience in writing, directing and performance for theatre and TV, was appointed as lecturer in Film-making Theory and Practice in the newly-built film studio as from 2 January 2015.

This new postgraduate programme is developed in cooperation with several UFS departments:
• Prof Suzanne Human and Johanet Kriel (History of Art and Visual Culture Studies);
• Prof Nico Luwes, Dr Pieter Venter and Debeer Cloete (Drama and Theatre Arts);
• Prof Helene Strauss (English);
• Dr Anthea van Jaarsveld and Dr Cilliers van den Berg (Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French).

Specific admission requirements apply. For example, students should have a related BA degree with a minimum achievement level of 65%. Admissions are limited and subject to selection, therefore students that are interested should apply as soon as possible.

Admission requirements

For more information, please send an email to filmandvisualmedia@ufs.ac.za.

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