News from our departments: 2008

FINE ART:

• Christine Maree, who graduated with a Master of Fine Art in April, was a joint winner of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum Biennial Award, along with local artist Linga Diko. This is a provincial competition. It has been held twice and the first winner was Brent Meistre, a Fine Art lecturer from Rhodes University.
• MA Art History student, Nomusa Makhubu, won the Abe Bailey Travel Award. She has also been awarded a Mellon lectureship for next year.
• Ruth Simbao completed her PhD.

SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES:

• The School was paid a visit by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor. She came to sit in on our SANTED isiXhosa language learning classes and to give a public address.
• The School was also paid a visit by the Italian Ambassador.
• The School also launched the Rhodes University Chinese Studies Confucius Centre with funding from the People’s Republic of China. Mandarin and Chinese Studies will be taught form 2009.
• The School was awarded 7.5 million rand from the Department of Arts and Culture in bursary funding for Postgraduate Studies in Applied Language Studies and Linguistics (until the end of 2011).
• David Van Schoor and Pam Maseko were awarded their MA degrees.

ISEA:

• In June 2008, the Institute hosted ‘Networking’, a conference for English Teachers from the Eastern Cape which it is hoped will become a regular event, providing an opportunity for English teachers to meet each other, refresh their expertise, and confer on educational issues.
• Growing out of the conference, a move to establish an English Teachers Association for the province.

ENGLISH:

• Day Wylie won VC's book award for his biography of Shaka, Myth of Iron. His new book Elephant is released in the UK this month.
• Mike Marais was promoted by the NRF to a "B" grade human scientist.
• New books by Mike Marais, Malvern van Wyk Smith and Gareth Cornwell are currently with publishers.
• Jamie McGregor (temp Junior Lecturer) won the English Academy's Pringle award for the best literary article published in a South African journal 2006-7.

ILAM:

• The ILAM-University of Michigan African Studies Centre Digital Heritage Repatriation Workshop runs 9-11 December and is the first event to come out of a partnering between ILAM, the UM African Studies Centre and the University of Ghana, Accra.

MUSIC & MUSICOLOGY:

Students:
• Melissa Marsh was awarded the Flanagan scholarship for overseas study in music therapy
• Mia Pistorius: 3rd prize winner in FMR/Pick ‘n Pay National Music competition in Cape Town. Broadcast on FMR. Awarded additional prize of R 15 000 for Rhodes tuition by Mrs Wendy Ackerman. Mia was also selected for UNISA scholarship competition following a high distinction in Grade 8 practical exam, and awarded du Toit van Tonder scholarship at competition which was held in Pretoria.
• Terence Marais: Semi finalist in National ATKV Music competition held in Stellenbosch. Performed recitals in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Alfred, Mossel Bay, Grahamstown festival (Fringe 6 performances), Grahamstown. Broadcast on Algoa FM and FMR
• Jacques du Plessis: Achieved high merit in UNISA Grade 8 examination. Finalist in Rising Stars competition. Awarded prize for Rachmaninoff.
• Cathy Hodgson: Achieved high merit in UNISA Grade 8 examination.
• Theresa Dwyer: Achieved distinction for Grade 7 UNISA examination. Finalist in Rising Stars competition held in Grahamstown.
• Gareth Dwyer: 2nd prize winner in Rising Stars competition held in Grahamstown. Finalist in Eastern Cape National Music competition held in East London. Performed Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2: 1st movement with RU Orchestra.
Staff:
Research:
Ms Fiona Still-Drewett:
• Attended IAML Annual Conference Naples, Italy 20-25 July 2008 (International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres). Paper presented: South African music libraries: collegial, institutional and geographic isolation, an examination.
• Music Libraries Interest Group of Southern Africa Annual Meeting, Port Elizabeth 20 August 2008 (IAML presentation)
Dr Jeff Brukman:
• He is currently engaged in developing the following articles for peer review publication: Hartman-Van der Linde codification of the “Strauss cadence” and its applicability in determining tonal coherence in Bartok’s Suite, Op 14; Bartok’s “supradiatonicism” and its emergence in his Fourteen Bagatelles, Op 6. In 2007 he was accepted as author of a chapter in a proposed South African Peer reviewed art music book, Windows on the Tradition of European Art Music in South Africa edited by Prof B Parker (UKZN) and Prof W Lüdemann (US). In 2007 Dr Brukman was invited to become an associate editor of ex tempore, a peer- reviewed USA journal. Since then he has published an article in the same journal Vol. XIII/2, Spring/Summer 2007 entitled Kápárti’s “Mistuning” Theory Re-considered in the Context of Bartók’s “Supradiatonicism”and Friedrich Hartmann’s Fully-Chromaticized Scales.
Prof Marc Duby:
• Read a paper at ISME (International Society for Music Education) conference Bologna, Italy. Paper published in ISME conference proceedings

Performances were held throughout the year by the following staff members:
Mr Juan Munoz: Promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008.
Ms Catherine Foxcroft:
Mr John Edwards:
Prof Marc Duby:

ANTHROPOLOGY:

In January Rose Boswell published another book, her second in two years Boswell, R. 2008. Challenges to Identifying and Managing Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mauritius, Zanzibar and Seychelles, CODESRIA:
Dakar. ISBN 9782869782150. Rose Boswell was promoted to Associate Professor. Penny Bernard, Joy Owen and Detlev Krige made progress towards their PhDs.

Chris de Wet has been enjoying a rich and varied sabbatical. Even before it began he represented Rhodes at a major development conference in Brazil. Since then he has been in the Netherlands, working with a research partner and giving guest-seminars at major universities, and is presently attending an international conference in New Zealand, with seminars in India to come.

Meanwhile, when not administering his department, Robin Palmer has been experiencing his research site on the Wild Coast differently, training computer science postgraduates from Rhodes and Fort Hare in social survey techniques towards discovering more about 'the community' and getting local people more involved in a long-term ICT project and realising the ideal of the Living Lab.

SOCIOLOGY:

Dr Kirk Helliker co-edited a book with Sam Moyo and Tendai Murisa – its title is “Contested Terrain: land reform and civil society in contemporary Zimbabwe”. It is published by S&S publishers in association with the African institute for Agrarian Studies in Zimbabwe.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS:

Three of our students: Duncan MacFarlane, Christine Marshall (both had just completed Honours at that time) and Philomina Aziakpono (Masters) presented individual papers at the Intercultural Communication& Linguistics Conference held at Stellenbosch University in January. This was an international conference with participants coming from different parts of Africa, Australia, Europe and America. Duncan MacFarlane and Christine Marshall have since registered for the MA degree whereas Philomina Aziakpono gpt her MA degree with distinction.

JOURNALISM AND MEDIA STUDIES:

CueMedia 2008 CueMedia encompasses CueTV, CueRadio, CueOnline, CuePix, CueBlog, Cue newspaper – which are all projects related to the National Arts Festival – and SciCue which is a daily newspaper produced during the annual SciFest. CueMedia overall is staffed by over 150 students and staff.
Centre for Economics Journalism in Africa
The Centre for Economics Journalism in Africa (CEJA), with the Pearson Chair, laid the foundations for the centre’s future activities, as well as starting work in research, teaching and community engagement.
Vulindlela Workshops that guide students through vital information to help them through their first year of university studies.
Alumni Network Our alumni network which is made possible by a grant from Telkom held a graduation tea on the 29th of March and also includes annual regional reunions in the big cities.
JMS Future Indaba The Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) hosted its first ever JMS Future Indaba in August.
Schools workshops Fifteen 3rd and 4th year students assisted the School’s outreach officer in executing 10 Schools workshops. These were conducted in Bisho, King Williams Town, Graaff-Reinet, Port Elizabeth, East London, Uitenhage and Grahamstown with 20 learners participating per workshop.
Citizen Journalism using mobile phone workshops This year marked phase 1 launch of Ljndaba Ziyafika’s cellphone journalism workshops, with 45 Grade 11 learners from four Grahamstown schools participating in 3 workshops as well as sending mini-news stories, Haiku poetry and mini-opinion smses to Grocott’s Mail for possible publication on print edition
UNESCO Consultation Meeting Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies hosted the first ever meeting of leading African journalism schools in March.
Highway Africa Conference The Highway Africa conference took place from 8 – 10 September. Themed “Citizen journalism, journalism for citizens”, the conference dealt with issues like blogging and cellphone journalism. There were also discussions on social networking sites like Facebook and tools like Twitter, among others. Over 700 delegates attended this conference hosted by the Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies and Highway Africa.
Future Journalist Programme The Future Journalist Programme (FJP) is a vibrant networking opportunity for students launched in 2007 by Highway Africa.
Sol Plaatjie Media Institute for +Media Leadership The SPI hosted its latest flagship Africa Media Leadership Conference in Kampala in May – the seventh since the series was launched in 2002.
Students Serving the Community, Interacting with Industry The Photojourn 4 students held a photographic exhibition during National arts festival in the Africa Media Matrix Building. The 3rd RUTV Documentary Film Festival featured documentary video by 4th year TV students, selling out all 3 local cinemas.

PSYCHOLOGY:

• Hosted the Critical Methods conference – a national conference that attracted academics from across South Africa;
• Launched the Social Change project, in which outstanding psychologists who have contributed to social change in South Africa are acknowledged;
• Staff have participated in national committees and structures including the Professional Board’s task team on Neuropsychology, the NRF assessment panel for evaluation and rating of psychologists; the HEQC’s Reference Group of the Participation of Students in Quality Assurance Project;
• Hosted two international guests, Prof Ian Lubek from Guelph University in Canada and Prof Wendy Stainton-Rogers from Open University in the UK;
• Commissioned by the WHO to produce a report on teenage pregnancy;
• Started our schools partnership project, a community psychology project in which masters students are involved;
• One staff member achieved an NRF rating of B3.