Pumla Gqola is the author of What is Slavery to Me?, associate professor of literary and gender studies at Wits University and a steering committee member of the 1in9 Campaign. She has written an article discussing the issues surrounding the proposed Traditional Courts Bill and calling for people to challenge the government before it is passed.
The Traditional Courts Bill is meant to replace the Black Administration Act of 1927 with a law that is constitutional.
Instead, if passed, it will in effect strip between 17 million and 21 million people living in rural South Africa of many of the rights we enjoy in the rest of the country.
The Wits School of Arts invites you to explore Sonic Spaces of the Karoo with Marie Jorritsma and Zimitri Erasmus, lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cape Town, on 10 May. The conversation will be chaired by Donato Somma, lecturer in Music in History and Society.
Event Details: Sonic Spaces
Date: Thursday, 10 May 2012
Time: 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Venue: Room 116, Wits School of Arts,
1 Jan Smuts Avenue,
Braamfontein,
Johannesburg | Map
On 12 May, you are invited to a breakfast discussion centred on the volume Visual Century: South African Art in Context 1907-2007. Johannesburg Art Gallery curators Nontobeko Ntombela and Nessa Leibhammer will be in conversation with artist and cultural worker Judy Seidman in a discussion chaired by Jillian Carman, editor of Visual Century Volume 1.
Event Details: Visual Century
Date: Saturday, 12 May 2012
Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Venue: Humanities Graduate Seminar Room,
South West Engineering,
Wits University East Campus
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Braamfontein
Johannesburg | Map
Visual Century: South African Art in Context 1907-2007 edited by Gavin Jantjes, Jillian Carman, Lize van Robbroeck, Mandisi Majavu, Mario Pissarra and Thembinkosi Goniwe Book homepage
EAN: 9781868145478 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
In an article for the Daily Dispatch, Prof William Beinart and Dr Luvuyo Wotshela, authors of Prickly Pear: A Social History of a Plant in the Eastern Cape, suggest that municipalities in the province should use vacant land to help poor and marginalised people produce prickly pear plantations. During their research Beinart and Wotshela learned that this plant is an “economic lifeline” for many of the province’s rural people:
Long considered an invasive alien plant by many people, a recently written book on the South American prickly pear suggests it is as much a part of the Eastern Cape’s cultural heritage as vineyards are to the Western Cape.
Prickly Pear: The social history of a plant in the Eastern Cape by Oxford Professor William Beinart and University of Fort Hare’s Dr Luvuyo Wotshela, reveals how the plant is such a major economic lifeline for old and marginalised rural people, they have even suggested it be brewed and commercially farmed.
On 30 May 2012, Stellenbosch University‘s Sandra Swart will deliver the keynote address at a symposium entitled “The Human Animal? Investigating the Boundaries of Being Human” hosted by the Warwick Institute for Advanced Studies.
Wits University Press has made available a free electronic copy of New South African Review 1, edited by John Prishani Naidoo, Devan Pillay and Roger Southall.
The book features contributions on a wide range of topics in South African politics, economics and society, including articles on South Africa’s location in the global economic crisis, the mounting environmental challenges facing the country, and the extent of poverty and unemployment through to the state of president Jacob Zuma’s ANC.
New South African Review 1 can be downloaded from the Wits University Press website until 30 April 2012. A second volume of the NSAR, New South African Review 2: New Paths, Old Compromises, was released late last year and follows on where New South African Review 1 left off.
New South African Review 1: Development or Decline? edited by John Daniel, Prishani Naidoo, Devan Pillay and Roger Southall
EAN: 9781868145164 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
New South African Review 2: New Paths, Old Compromises edited by Devan Pillay, John Daniel, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall Book homepage
EAN: 9781868145416 Find this book with BOOK Finder!
In an article for The Scientist, Nicoli Nattrass, author of The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, highlights the good work that members of the pro-science community, such as former editor of Nature, John Maddox, and physician, author, and blogger Ben Goldacre, are doing to counter the negative effects of AIDS conspiracy theories.
They strive to show that claims by AIDS denialists, such as virologist Peter Duesberg’s insistance that antiretroviral treatment is harmful and could even cause AIDS, have no scientific basis.
There is a substantial body of evidence showing that HIV causes AIDS—and that antiretroviral treatment (ART) has turned the viral infection from a death sentence into a chronic disease.1 Yet a small group of AIDS denialists keeps alive the conspiratorial argument that ART is harmful and that HIV science has been corrupted by commercial interests. Unfortunately, AIDS denialists have had a disproportionate effect on efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic. In 2000, South African President Thabo Mbeki took these claims seriously, opting to debate the issue, thus delaying the introduction of ART into the South African public health sector. At least 330,000 South Africans died unnecessarily as a result.2,3
The “hero scientist” of AIDS denialism, University of California, Berkeley, virologist Peter Duesberg, argues that HIV is a harmless passenger virus and that ART is toxic, even a cause of AIDS. He has done no clinical research on HIV and ignores the many rebuttals of his claims in the scientific literature.4,5 As I describe in my new book, The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, this has prompted further direct action against Duesberg by the pro-science community.
Nicoli Nattrass, author of The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, is one of three speakers participating in a talk entitled “The South Africa Project” at The Fugard Theatre on 7 May.
The talk, which forms part of the series PotterTALKS, will consider in detail South Africa’s progress since 1994 and its future. Nattrass will be joined by Thandabantu Nhlapo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, and Potter Scholar Lauren Kohn. Don’t miss this important event!
In a nation as complex as ours, it is often tempting to judge our progress on the basis of press headlines and news bites. There is talk of changing the constitution, shifts in economic policy, and drastic reforms in education. Part of what we hope to do with this evening of talks is to recap just how far we have come since 1994 and then, to gain some clarity on these issues, we thought we’d ask some thought leaders from the fields of economic policy, legislation, and education to come and share with us what they view to be the most pressing issue in each of their respective fields. Are our laws, economic policies, and educational projects aligned with a brighter future for South Africa? And if so, where to from here?
In an interview featured at Columbia University Press, Nicoli Natrass, author of The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, elaborates on the various conspiracy theories surrounding HIV and AIDS and explains the link with AIDS denialism:
Question: What is AIDS conspiracy theory?
Nicoli Nattrass: The central AIDS conspiracy theory is that HIV was created in a laboratory (perhaps with the help of the CIA) to inflict harm. Ironically, the idea that U.S. scientists invented HIV was initially promoted by the Russian KGB and the East German Stasi in a genuine conspiracy to spread misinformation. There are now many local variants of AIDS conspiracy beliefs–for example, in South Africa a common story is that HIV was created by the apartheid government’s chemical warfare program, with assistance from the United States.
Q: Why does AIDS conspiracy theory matter?
NN: AIDS conspiracy beliefs matter because they reflect and reinforce broader suspicions toward medical science. AIDS conspiracy believers in the United States and South Africa are less likely to use condoms, less likely to test for HIV, and less likely to take antiretroviral treatment. Why did you write the book? I was concerned about the way that AIDS conspiracy theories had been promoted at the highest levels in South Africa, and continue to resonate today. The book is the product of my exploration of how these ideas travel and take root, why they resonate socially, and what can be done to fight them.
Wits University Press and The Book Lounge invite you to the launch of Conversations with Bourdieu by Karl von Holdt and Michael Burawoy.
On Monday, 23 April at 5:30 for 6:00 PM, Ari Sitas will chair a discussion between von Holdt and Suren Pillay at The Book Lounge in Cape Town. The topic is: “Domination, resistance or fragmentation?”
Pumla Gqola is the author of What is Slavery to Me?, associate professor of literary and gender studies at Wits University and a steering committee member of the 1in9 Campaign. She has written an article discussing the issues surrounding the proposed Traditional Courts Bill and calling for people to challenge the government before it is passed.
