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30 October 2024 | Story Jacky Tshokwe | Photo Bram Fischer
BRAM FISCHER MEMORIAL LECTURE 2024

Join us as Prof Premesh Lalu from the University of the Western Cape presents this year’s lecture, with a response from Prof Steven Friedman of the University of Johannesburg.

Lecture title: "Bram Fischer's Briefcase: What's Left of Apartheid?"

In a compelling narrative of historical irony, a briefcase exchanged between Bram Fischer and Sydney Kentridge after the Rivonia Trial was later reimagined in the 1997 theatre production Ubu and the Truth Commission, created by Jane Taylor, William Kentridge, and Handspring Puppet Company. Repurposed as the ‘Dogs of War’ puppet, this briefcase transformed into Brutus, Brutus, and Brutus – embodying apartheid’s enforcers and the unspoken tensions beneath South Africa's political history. Through the theatre lens, the lecture will explore whether Bram Fischer’s briefcase revealed apartheid as a tragicomedy that needed dismantling to foster genuine reconciliation.

Date: Thursday 14 November 2024
Time: 18:00 to 21:00

Venue: Albert Wessels Auditorium, UFS Bloemfontein Campus

Click to view documentClick here to RSVP before by 10 November 2024.

The Speaker

Prof Premesh Lalu is a prominent researcher and former Director of the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape, which was awarded flagship status by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSTI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2016. His books include The Deaths of Hintsa: Post-Apartheid South Africa and the Shape of Recurring Pasts (2009) and Undoing Apartheid (2022). He is a respected voice in publications such as History and Theory, the Journal of Southern African Studies, and Critical Times, and serves on various international advisory boards.

The Respondent

Prof Steven Friedman is a Research Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg. A widely published authority on South Africa’s democratic transition, his work focuses on democratic theory and practice. His notable publications include Good Jew, Bad Jew: Racism, Anti-Semitism and the Assault on Meaning, and he writes a weekly column, Against the Tide, offering critical insights into South African democracy.

For further information, please contact Alicia Pienaar at pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za.

News Archive

University is proud of its women in science
2013-08-17

 

Dr Marieka Gryzenhout
Photo: Sonia Small
19 August 2013

Two lecturers in the Department of Plant Sciences received national recognition for their research at the Women in Science Award 2013 function of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on Friday 16 August 2013. Dr Marieka Gryzenhout received the award as Young Women Scientist and Prof Maryke Labuschagne was first runner-up in the category Distinguished Women Researcher, both in Life Sciences.

The third award-winner was Rose Lekhooa in the Doctoral Fellowship category. She is studying toward a PhD in Pharmacology and said the fellowship will enable her to attend seminars and workshops internationally.

Friday’s award was the second, in as many months, for Dr Gryzenhout. She received the TW Kambule NRF-NSTF Award as emerging researcher in June 2013. She was the recipient of the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations’ Outstanding Doctoral Research award in 2010.

Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, said, “Dr Gryzenhout represents one of a growing group of very impressive young scientists at the university who are emerging as leading international scholars in their fields.

“Her international leadership in mycology research has already made significant impacts on the African continent and beyond. The university will continue to invest in these young academic stars through its Prestige Scholars Programme where scholars like Dr Gryzenhout are increasingly well-placed to be the next generation of scientific leaders in the world.”

“It as a great privilege to receive the award, especially as second one in this year,” Dr Gryzenhout said. She established a research programme, Mycotoxigenic and Phytopathogenic Fungi, at the UFS. She is president of the African Mycological Association and general secretary of the International Society for Fungal Conservation. She is also a member of the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi – a permanent committee of the International Botanical Congress.

Prof Labuschagne received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah award for life and earth sciences in 2011, and the National Agriculturalist of the Year Award and the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Award for research-capacity development over the last five to ten years, both in 2008.

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