The Digital Bookshelf

By Old Rhodian Authors

Rhodes University supports all published literary works by our alumni. However, all views and opinions are the author’s and do not represent the views of the University.

Africa’s Future
by Duncan Clarke (1969)
Africa conceals multiple secrets, including the Holy Grail: explanation of its saga over centuries. Many – economists, experts, politicians, gurus, cognoscenti and glitterati – seek to “fix” Africa. Africa’s Future tells the tale of Africa’s economic evolution, revealing unique prisms for understanding the continent’s panoramic story, one of triumph over the lasting influences of nature and multiple political tragedies. It explains why from Roman times to 1500 CE Africa went backwards, evolving slowly, growing later, improving recently, and how its modern and archaic economies coexist uneasily today. Modern Africa developed diverse economic pathways to betterment - yet survivalist economies litter the landscape. Its paradox of “subsistence with many faces” coexists amidst the tiny middle class, growing rich, with many poorer inhabitants expected in future. Available on: Amazon and Profile Books
Thin Slices book cover
Thin Slices
by Cailin Stobie (2011)
Thin Slices is an explosive collection of experiments in poetry, psychology and science. Flitting between lightness and the literary, Caitlin Stobie explores womanhood and the environment through a multitude of tiny worlds. Set between South Africa and the United Kingdom, each poem acts as a slide containing colourful landscapes and characters. Thin Slices portrays difficult relationships – with ethics, with eating, with reproductive medicine – but cuts through the simple role of victimhood. Rather, these poems ask what it means to relate to others: to guilt inherited from grandmothers, to a blade of jealousy reflected by lovers’ eyes, to violence seen in companion species. Caitlin Stobie tends to animal, vegetable and mineral forms in these poems that demand careful attention to what we see as both human and natural. In this eagerly-awaited debut, the personal is not just political but ecological, too. Available on: Verve Poetry Press
Faith Disciple and servant scholar book cover
Faith Disciple and Servant Scholar
by Prof Mcglory Speckman (1985) and Gerald West
"The volume is as much an honour to Prof Suggit as it is a gift to the laos, God's people, regardless of whether they have any theological training or none at all.  We hope that the various contributions in this collection will be accessible to most readers." ( From the Preface) Orders to: orders@anglicanchurch.org.za Tell: 010 880 4396
Challenging the Apartheid of knowledge bookcover
Challenging the "Apartheids" of Knowledge in Higher Education
by Joana Bezerra, Craig Paterson (2004) and Sharli Paphitis (2004)
In order to understand the relationship between social innovation and the reimagining of the knowledge economy necessary to reorient higher education most fully towards the public good; we must draw from the experiences of those working on the front lines of change. This collection represents diverse voices and disciplines; drawing together the critical reflections of academics; students and community partners from across South Africa. The book seeks to bring together theoretical and practical lessons about how research methods can be used in socially innovative ways to challenge the 'apartheids' of knowledge in higher education and to promote the democratization of the knowledge economy.
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25/25 25 years /25
by Dr Garrath Rosslee (1987)
Written in case study method, the work shares 25 selected studies and empirical inputs covering both local and international change the author his led or been party in the late 25 years. Price of the book: R 180.00 Where to buy the book? At  garrath@garrathrosslee.o.za
Old Rhodian Authors
Dr Garrath Rosslee
Barbara Mutch
Caitlin Stobie
Max Mabuti
Carol Leff
Stuart Stromin
VC's Book Awards
The Social and Political Thought of Archie Mafeje
by B Nyoka
Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa
by S Rowaldt Shell
A Survey of South African Crime Fiction: Critical Analysis and Publishing History
by S Naidu co-authored with Professor Elizabeth le Roux
South Africa’s Border War: Contested Narratives and Conflicting Memories
by G Baines
Antjie Krog and the Post-Apartheid Public Sphere – Speaking Poetry to Power
by AC Garman