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Ruhan Fourie
Dr Ruhan Fourie, former postdoctoral fellow in the UFS International Studies Group and current researcher at Stellenbosch University’s Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, was recently awarded the prestigious Desmond Tutu-Gerrit Brand Prize.

Dr Ruhan Fourie, a former fellow of the International Studies Group (ISG) at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently received the prestigious Desmond Tutu-Gerrit Brand Prize for Debut Work for his book, Christian Nationalism and Anticommunism in Twentieth Century South Africa (Routledge, published in South Africa by Christian Literature Fund).

A media release by the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu Prize Fund stated that the prizes primarily serve as motivation and recognition for writers to produce quality publications of theological and Christian work in all official languages of our country. The awards are given in recognition of extraordinary contributions to unity, reconciliation, and environmental justice in our country.

Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology at the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Theology, Dr Fourie says the award is especially meaningful because of the book’s academic tone. “I hold public accessibility to scholarly work dear; so, to receive this recognition for a more scholarly work outside academia is very encouraging. When I got the call that I’d won the prize, it was met with great surprise and joy,” he says.

 

Challenging Cold War assumptions

In the book, he explores the deep-rooted fears that Afrikaners held about communism during the twentieth century. These fears are often assumed to be Cold War products, primarily shaped by the apartheid state. However, Dr Fourie’s research, undertaken as part of his postdoctoral fellowship in the UFS International Studies Group, challenges this simplified narrative. He approached anticommunism more broadly than merely opposition to the state-centred communist doctrine by focusing on the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), which had the widest reach and deepest influence in the everyday lives of Afrikaners.

The book argues that while the DRC played a constant role in shaping an anti-communist imagination among twentieth-century Afrikaners, its influence shifted over time. “It ultimately concludes that anticommunism functioned as a vehicle for nationalist unity (and uniformity), a paradigm for Afrikaner identity, and a legitimiser of the volk’s perceptions of its imagined moral high ground throughout the twentieth century,” he notes.

Dr Fourie credits his time as a postdoctoral fellow (2022-2023) in the UFS ISG as a key part of developing his book. He describes the ISG as a place offering strong institutional support, valuable mentorship, and the academic freedom he needed to shape his ideas into a full monograph. As part of a research-led, student-centred, and regionally engaged institution such as the UFS – which is committed to development and serves as a hub of impactful knowledge – Dr Fourie found the right space to grow both his research and his contribution to the field of South African history.

 

Impact of UFS' academic environment

He spent a significant part of his emerging academic journey at the UFS. Besides the time he spent on his postdoctoral fellowship at the ISG, he also completed his PhD between 2018 and 2021 – marking a total association of six years with the university. “The ISG’s culture of scholarly rigour, academic freedom, mentorship, and institutional support under the guidance of Prof Ian Phimister, paired with collegiality and collaboration among peers, left a formative impression on me as an aspiring academic,” he comments.

Looking ahead, Dr Fourie is currently working on a project – a biography of anti-apartheid cleric Beyers Naudé. While based on solid academic research, the biography is being written for a wider audience and is aimed at trade publication, an approach that will bring Naudé’s life and legacy to both scholarly and general readers. His interest in Naudé runs deep; his master’s thesis on Naudé’s life was awarded a prize for the best Afrikaans thesis, an early indicator of the path his academic work would follow.

News Archive

UFS council appoints new representatives
2006-06-14

From the left are Dr Vicky le Roux and Mr Jan Grobler, both are former members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Judge Faan Hancke, chairperson of the Council, and Prof. Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
Photo: Stephen Collett

UFS council appoints new representatives   

Three new representatives were elected on the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Council during its second seating for 2006.  This includes representatives from the religious community, alumni, donors and the Minister of Education.

Ms Cheryl Gillwald, former Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, has been appointed by the Minister of Education as ministerial representative in the place of Prof Shirley Walters and will serve for the rest of Prof Walters’ term.

Father Patrick Towe, Roman Catholic priest from Bloemfontein, was appointed as representative of the religious community.  Father Towe is member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and chairperson of the UFS Campus Ministries. 

Adv Mauritz Randlehoff, joint deputy chairperson of the national Kovsie-Alumni Association and deputy chairperson of the Kovsie-Alumni Trust, was elected as one of the three representatives out of UFS alumni on the Council.  Judge Faan Hancke was re-elected as representative of the alumni for a second term.

Mr Klippies Steenkamp as representative of the UFS donors has also been re-elected.  He was, among others, chairperson of the Kovsie-Alumni Association and founding member of the Kovsie-Alumni Trust’s council of trustees.

The university also bid farewell to two members of Council, Dr Vicky le Roux and Mr Jan Grobler.  Both were members of the Executive Committee of the Council.  Mr Grobler represented the UFS Council in the Institutional Forum and Dr le Roux was a representative of the Council in the Institutional Forum and the Senate. Together they have serve thirty nine years on the Council.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
13 June 2006


 

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