Deans Report 2007

The Faculty of Humanities, by far the largest faculty at Rhodes University with about 40% of our student enrolment, had a very productive year.

We took a big step towards establishing a Centre for Graduate Studies in Humanities with the introduction of a faculty-wide PhD Programme in Citizenship, Nation and Identity. Our proposal for funding for this programme to the Mellon Foundation successfully raised R5m to support a total of fifteen PhD candidates over a period of five years. It is envisaged that the Centre will be firmly located within the Faculty with active participation by all departments and schools and the first recipients of the scholarships have commenced their studies this year.
The following is a small sample of the many faculty highlights:

• Chris de Wet was invited by the Refugees Studies Centre at Oxford University to provide expert input at an International Workshop on Population Displacement.

• Andrew Buckland visited the United States, Sweden, Ireland and Rwanda with the "Truth in Translation" project, a theatrical production dealing with the TRC which won an award at the Edinburgh Festival.

• Tshego Tlholoe won the Gauteng MEC Award for Most Promising Female Dancer for her performance in Professor Gary Gordon's work, "Go".

• The South African Society of Music Teachers conference was held in the Music Department. As National President Tim Radloff gave an address on the theme ‘Improvisation Re-visited'.

• The Department of Philosophy hosted the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies Conference. It was the biggest international conference of its kind ever held in South Africa, and it was a resounding success with participants like Kwasi Wiredu, Antjie Krog and Paul Taylor and others from Africa, Europe and North America. A selection of papers will form part of a special edition of the South African Journal of Philosophy coming out in 2008 on the topic of African Philosophy (Guest editor: Pedro Tabensky).

• A special seminar was held at the University of Pretoria on the occasion of Peter Vale’s 60th birthday, in recognition of his contribution to the study of International Relations.

• The School of Journalism and Media was listed as one of 12 centres of excellence in a UNESCO study of African journalism schools.

• Russell Kaschula, Head of the School of Languages was acknowledged by the International Board of Books for Young People for making a special contribution to recent South African children's literature. The School was one of only two nationally to be awarded a national certificate from the PanSALB for promoting multilingualism through the SANTED programme. Only 2 Universities in the country received an award and it also established a Confucius Institute funded by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

• Jimi Adesina of the Sociology Department was an Oppenheimer Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University.

• The Faculty kept up its record by winning the Vice Chancellor’s Book Award for the sixth consecutive year when it was announced that Brenda Schmahmann, HOD of Fine Art, won the award this year for her book entitled, “Through the Looking Glass: Representations of Self by South African Woman Artists and in recognition of how seriously we take our teaching in the faculty, Carla Tsampiras of the History Department was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Medal.

The Faculty continued with its tradition of encouraging an environment of intellectual engagement by hosting an impressive range of seminars at Randell House including:

1. Giovanni Arrighi and Beverly Silver: Adam Smith in Beijing & Karl Marx in Shanghai: Dynamics of China’s Ascent. Arrighi also did a further three seminars on Adam Smith, US hegemony and the Washington Consensus and Silver did one further seminar on Karl Polanyi
2. Chris de Wet, Anthropology, and Mr Ashley Westaway, Border Rural Committee:
   Land Restitution is the only chance to achieve Rural Development
3. Theodore R. Schatzki: Timespace and the Organisation of Social Life
4. Dave Edwards: A methodological framework for establishing evidence-based practice in psychotherapy
5. E. Thomas Dowd: Elements of Buddhist Philosophy in Cognitive Psychotherapy: The Role of Cultural Specifics and Universals
   Hans-Johann Glock: Do Animals Judge?
6. Roberto Buranello: The Whole Chicken: Pietro Arentino's Penchant for Perversion
7. David Theo Goldberg: Neoliberalizing Race
8. The Faculty commemorated the 30th anniversary of the death of Steve Biko by hosting a one-day colloquium on his Intellectual, Political and Social Legacy. The following papers were presented:
   Nkosinathi Biko: 'Celebrating the Legacy of Bantu Stephen Biko'
   Peter Jones: 'Is'Baya: A Living Testimony to Steve Bik
   Saleem Badat/Nomalanga Mkhize: ‘Biko, the South African Students’ Organisation and the Black Consciousness Legacy
   Henry Isaacs: Students and Intellectuals in the Liberation Struggle
   Paul Maylam: 'Racial solidarity vs class mobilisation? Some reflections on Steve Biko's political thought'
   Lindy Wilson: ‘Breaking the Silence’
   The climax of the event was a very well attended public lecture in Barratt lecture theatre by Neville Alexander on “Steve Biko’s last attempt at unifying the liberation forces”.

The Faculty also hosted the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust Partners workshop on:
‘The Role of Intellectuals in Post-Apartheid Development and Reconstruction’ with the following presenters: Ashwin Desai; Ari Sitas; Nomalanga Mkhize and Henry Isaacs. We also organised a public meeting in the City Hall with Adv Dumisa Ntsebeza speaking on “The Concept of Leadership in the Context of Succession in South Africa”