Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture

22 April 2025

DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture Invitation

Invitation

DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture

You are cordially invited to the University of the Free State’s (UFS) DF Malherbe Memorial Lecture – Afrikaans 100.

View the invitation

Date: Thursday 15 May 2025

Time: 17:30

Venue: Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus

The lecture is a celebration of a century of Afrikaans as an official language and will be a showcase of the language’s rich diversity and an intellectual reflection on the history thereof.

The keynote speaker is Prof Joan Hambidge, the rejoinder is delivered by Prof Hein Willemse, and entertainment is provided by musician Frazer Barry, the UFS Department of Drama and Theatre Arts, and the Odeion String Quartet.

Interpreting services will be available.

Prof Joan Hambidge
Poet, novelist, and a public intellectual. She is currently retired and a fellow (senior researcher) at UCT.

Prof Hein Willemse
Former Head of the Department of Afrikaans, University of Pretoria and a leading language activist.

Frazer Barry
Renowned musician, television and radio presenter, rhymer, producer, and entrepreneur.

Enquiries:
Alicia Pienaar: pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za
Register by Monday 5 May 2025.
Click to register

Datum: Donderdag 15 Mei 2025

Tyd: 17:30

Plek: Ekonomiese en Bestuurswetenskappe (EBW)-ouditorium, Bloemfontein-kampus

Die lesing is ’n viering van ’n eeu van Afrikaans as amptelike taal; dit sal ’n vertoonvenster wees van die taal se ryke diversiteit en ’n intellektuele besinning oor die geskiedenis daarvan.

Die hoofspreker is prof Joan Hambidge, repliek word gelewer deur prof Hein Willemse, en vermaak word verskaf deur musikant Frazer Barry, die UFS se Departement Drama en Teaterkuns, en die Odeion Strykkwartet.

Tolkdienste sal beskikbaar wees.

Prof Joan Hambidge
Digter en romanskrywer, openbare intellektueel en afgetrede senior navorser aan die Universiteit van Kaapstad.

Prof Hein Willemse
Voormalige hoof van die Departement Afrikaans, Universiteit van Pretoria en ‘n toonaangewende taalaktivis.

Frazer Barry
Bekende musikant, televisie- en radio-aanbieder, rymelaar, vervaardiger en entrepreneur.

Navrae:
Alicia Pienaar: pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za
RSVP teen Maandag 5 Mei 2025.
Klik hier om te registreer

Letsatsi: Labone 15 Motsheanong 2025

Nako: 17:30

Sebaka: EMS Auditorium, Bloemfontein Campus

Puo ena ke mokete wa ngwahaketekgolo wa Afrikaans e le puo ya mmuso mme hona e tla ba pontsho ya katleho ya mefutafuta ya puo esita le totobatso ya bohlalefi mabapi le nalane ya yona.

Sebui sa sehlooho ke Moprofesa Joan Hambidge, puo ya karabelo e tla hlahiswa ke Moprofesa Hein Willemse, boithabiso bo tla phethahatswa ke setsebi sa mmino e leng Frazer Barry, ya hlahang UFS Lefapha la Drama and Theatre Arts, esita le Sehlopha sa Likhoele tse ’nè (String Quartet).

Ho tla ba le ditshebeletso tsa bofetoledi.

Prof Joan Hambidge
Moprofesa Joan Hambidge ke sethothokisi, setsebi sa dipale, esita le ramahlale wa setjhaba. Ha jwale o phomotse mosebetsing ebile ke mofuputsi e moholo wa UCT.

Prof Hein Willemse
Moprofesa Hein Willemse ke Hlooho ya mehleng ya Lefapha la Afrikaans, Yunivesithing ya Pretoria ebile ke motataisi le mokgothaletsi ho tsa puo.

Frazer Barry
Frazer Barry ke setsebi sa mmino se tsebahalang, mohlahisi wa thelevishene le seyalemoya, sethothokisi, mohlahisi le setsebi sa kgwebo.

Dipotso:
Alicia Pienaar: pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za
Etsa bonnete ba hore o ngodisitse pele ha Mantaha 5 Motsheanong 2025.
Tobetsa mona ho ingodisa

News Archive

Lecture focuses on how Marikana widows embody the transformative power of art

2015-08-11

Makopane Thelejane

"When I got the news of my husband is dead, I put my hands above my head, as you see me in this picture. I could not bear the ache in my heart." - Makopane Thelejane

A woman looks down on a canvas covered in thick layers of red, dark shadows falling across her face. A brief moment that captures the silently-devastating aftermath of the Marikana massacre that bled into the lives of 34 widows.

It is this silent trauma that was at the centre of the last instalment of the Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture Series for 2015. “These stories of the Marikana widows are important. It is these stories of silence that live behind the spectacular scenes of the violence,” Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Senior Research Professor in Trauma, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS) said at the event.

Panel
The lecture, which took place on Monday 27 July 2015 on the Bloemfontein Campus, took the form of a panel discussing the theme of “Speaking wounds: voices of Marikana widows through art and narrative”. The panel consisted of members from the Khulumani Support Group, including Dr Marjorie Jobson (National Director) and Judy Seidman (Sociologist and Graphic Artist), as well as Nomfundo Walaza, former CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre.

Betty Lomasontlo Gadlela

"Then this dark time came, a dark cloud over me. It made me to have an aching heart, which took me to hospital, from losing my loved one, my husband, in such a terrible manner. " - Betty Lomasontlo Gadlela

Trauma made visible
In a project initiated by Khulumani, the Marikana widows were encouraged to share their trauma through painting body maps – in which the widows depicted their own bodies immersed in their trauma – and narrating their personal stories. Throughout the workshops, the focus always remained on the women. As Siedman put it, “the power of this process is rooted in the participants. The statements of what the participants experienced is what’s important.”

Initially silenced and isolated, this group of women has now moved “into a space where they have become connected to each, and stand up for each other in the most powerful ways,” Dr Jobson said. “Our work is conceptualised in terms of giving visibility and voice to the people who know what it takes to change this country; to change this struggle.”

The transformative power of art and narrative
During her response, Walaza pointed out “how art and narrative can transform traumatic memory and become integrated in the survivors’ life story.” This gives individuals the opportunity, she said, “to step into a space of mutual listening and dialoguing in which people bond together.”

Co-hosted by Prof Gobodo-Madikizela and the UFS Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, the lecture series forms part of a five-year research project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept