Archive for the ‘Non-fiction’ Category
by Corina on May 21st, 2013
The fascinating Adler Museum of Medicine was the venue for the launch of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in South Africa, edited by Prof Cora Smith, Dr Glenys Lobban and Prof Michael O’Loughlin. It might sound like a book aimed only at academics, students and psychotherapy practitioners, but this latest title from Wits University Press is meant to appeal to non-medical readers as well. It is described as a must-read for anyone concerned with individual and social change in the South African context and challenges readers to think beneath the surface of South African life.
Professor Cora Smith, one of the editors of this collection, told the launch guests that the book was suggested by Dr Glenys Lobban, who graduated from Wits with a Master’s Degree and went on to do her PhD in Psychoanalytic Studies at New York University. When she returned to South Africa, she made a generous donation to the Wits Medical School and was most impressed with the psychodynamic work being done locally, which led to her suggesting that it be published. Professor Smith approached a number of her colleagues and asked if they would be prepared to share their work.
She described how there has been little formal training in classical psychoanalysis in South Africa and that the vast majority of South Africans could not afford expensive long-term training, or indeed psychoanalysis. Practitioners have had to adapt their models of psychodynamic therapy and adjust their concepts to a diverse context, which they have developed as part of their practice and training.
This has proved to be a positive influence as most countries face financial restrictions and the limitations of managed health care and are now seeking short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy models. Also, with the advent of the digital age, young people have less patience for long-term methods and seek shorter term treatments with quicker results. Globally, the reality of multiculturalism requires psychotherapy models that are more sensitive to diversity. This global pressure to produce effective short-term psychodynamic models in diverse cultural, religious, ethnic and racial contexts has meant that South Africa has come into its own in this area.
Professor Smith described the work of the ten contributors to this publication, who have done work in areas ranging from race and racism, violence, crime and trauma, the relationship between classical psychoanalytic psychotherapy and traditional healing practices, gender relations and domestic violence, serial murder and AIDS orphans, to dealing with post-conflict trauma. She gave special thanks to the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Ahmed Wadee, for his full support for the project, and to the Wadee Trust who provided half the finances for the project, along with the Faculty.
Lastly, she thanked all the patients whose case studies make up this volume. “Grateful thanks to our patients for sharing their lives and their pain with us and for teaching us what we know.”
Professor Wadee said that this publication represents a major achievement for the Faculty. He was most impressed by the indigenous knowledge it contains and how it puts things in perspective.
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by Corina on May 21st, 2013
As part of Africa Day celebrations at Wits University, Wits University Press, Centre for Africa’s International Relations and Wits International Relations Department invite you to a launch and discussion of three recently published books dealing with questions of peace, security and development in Africa.
The books that will be launched are Peacebuilding, Power and Politics in Africa by Gwinyayi A Dzinesa and edited by Devon Curtis, Region-building in Southern Africa : Progress, problems and prospects edited by Chris Saunders, Gwinyayi A Dzinesa and Dawn Nagar as well as The EU and Africa: From Eurafrique to Afro-Europa edited by Adekeye Adebajo and Kaye Whiteman.
A panel of African scholars will discuss these books from the prism of South Africa’s current engagement in African conflicts, Africa’s relations with Europe, and the celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).
Event Details
- Date: Thursday, 23 May 2013
- Time: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
- Venue: Seminar Room
Southwest Engineering Building,
East Campus,
Wits University | Map
- Speakers: Prof Gilbert M Khadiagala, Professor of International Relations at Wits; Dr Adekeye Adebajo, Executive Director, Centre for Conflict Resolution; Prof Siba Grovogui, Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
- RSVP: corina.vanderspoel@wits.ac.za
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by Corina on May 16th, 2013
In his short story, “Propaganda by Monuments”, Ivan Vladislavic describes a South African shebeen owner who writes to Russia to ask for one of their “surplus” statues of Lenin. In her book, Picturing Change: Curating visual culture at post-apartheid universities, Brenda Schmahmann references Vladislavic’s story as she describes how Danie de Jager’s sculpture of four galloping horses, titled “Freedom Sculpture”, was moved from Strijdom Square to the University of Pretoria in 2007.
De Jager’s widow, Elsa, was hesitant about the move, as she was worried that it would be vandalised because of it’s history and meaning, and she suggested the Voortrekker Monument‘s Heritage Centre as an alternative venue. She had previously explained that the sculpture “was related to South Africa becoming a republic and in the process getting away from its British colonial past and the very tragic implications it had in particular for the Afrikaner”.
The new plaque that was attached to the sculpture by the university does not mention its past, leading Schmahmann to ask, “But can such a sculpture be rehabilitated? Is a simple act of decontextualisation sufficient to liberate it from its ignominious past?”
Read the excerpt in the Mail & Guardian:
In his short story entitled Propaganda by Monuments, Ivan Vladislavic imagines a scenario in which a South African shebeen owner secures one of Russia’s colossal “surplus” statues of Lenin to adorn his premises in Atteridgeville.
In response to his letter sent to Russia in early 1992, Boniface Khumalo receives the provisional promise of a 7m-high head of VI Lenin to enable a transformation of his business from the Boniface Tavern into the VI Lenin Bar & Grill. With the letter indicating the positive response to his inquiry in his pocket, Khumalo visits the site in Pretoria formerly known as Strijdom Square.
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by Corina on May 14th, 2013
You are invited to the launch of New South African Review 3: The Second Phase – Tragedy or Farce? edited by Devan Pillay, John Daniel, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall.
On Wednesday 22 May at 5:30 PM for 6 PM, Naidoo will be in conversation with Judith February (head of the HRSC’s democracy, governance and service delivery research programme), David Cooper and Vinothan Naidoo from UCT at The Book Lounge in Cape Town.
See you there!
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by Corina on May 13th, 2013
Sarah Nuttall, co-editor of Johannesburg: The elusive metropolis, will be delivering a Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research (WiSER) seminar titled “Researching the Surface” on Monday 20 May, from 3 PM to 4:30 PM.
The paper for the seminar will be available on the Friday before the talk.
Dont miss it!
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by Corina on May 10th, 2013
Universities are traditionally collectors of artworks, and these often relate to the times in which they were created. Considering the many dispensations that have taken place in South Africa, and the varying reflections of these in the artworks collected over the years, what happens to the art that was collected during past regimes? Federico Freschi, Executive Dean of the Department of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) at the University of Johannesburg, posed this question in his introduction to Brenda Schmahmann, the author of Picturing Change, at the launch of her book at the University’s library on Tuesday night.
Schmahmann has been Research Professor in FADA since March 2013, with three decades of academic experience behind her. Previously she had been Professor of Art History & Visual Culture and Head of Fine Art at Rhodes University and, before that, a staff member in the History of Art Department at the University of the Witwatersrand. Active in research and professional bodies, she has written three other books, many journal articles and contributed chapters to books authored by others. This latest work is a look at how university collections have changed over the years and discusses in a compelling way the paradoxes and controversies that have arisen and how the different institutions have dealt with them.
The guest speaker at the launch was Professor Andries Oliphant, literary theorist and Head of Department for the Theory of Literature at UNISA. Well known as an editor, he has over the years also been Assistant Editor of the Journal of Literary Studies, Editor of Staffrider Magazine and worked as an editor for Ravan Press and the Publishing House of the Congress of SA Writers, as well as contributing to the Arts & Culture White Paper.
Oliphant described how the book opens with an introduction to Willem Boshoff’s work “The Circle of Knowledge”, a series of eleven boulders that reflect the official languages of the new South Africa, commissioned by the University of Johannesburg.
The people who were most often responsible for institutional art collections, including university insignia, were managers, bureaucrats and university councils, and Oliphant outlined how the first part of the book deals with how universities have negotiated the retention of their acquisitions during the apartheid years. For example, the University of the Free State had a sculpture of President Steyn installed in 1929 and also had a Great Trek memorial. Many visitors to the university post-1994 found these statues offensive. The new vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen chose to deal with the issue by maintaining the old works, but supplemented them with new work, by artists such as Maria Mabasa, that reflected diversity and inclusivity.
Oliphant mentioned that during the process of drafting the White Paper, the Voortrekker Museum made a submission for the retention of the Voortrekker Monument, fearing that it would be destroyed. At Rhodes University, a bust of Cecil John Rhodes eventually wound up in an obscure department after black students objected to its connections to imperialism. On the other hand, a Rhodes sculpture at the University of Cape Town managed to survive in its original position despite similar criticism.
The shift to supplement colonial art with more indigenous work has also been reflected in university insignia and coats of arms. An opportunity for change was presented by the mergers that took place between several universities and technikons in recent years. Logos were also developed in accordance with the modern trend to corporatise and brand institutions.
Oliphant mentioned some of the more controversial acquisitions discussed in the book which have been attacked by politicians. An example from Wits University involved works by Colleen Thompson entitled “Useful Objects”. One of these was an ashtray in the shape of a vagina, which resulted in an objection that it depicted a black woman’s vagina, an insulting concept. Oliphant felt that (as with the recent controversy around “The Spear” painting) many politicians are unable to decipher or appreciate the subtleties of visual language!
Oliphant described Picturing Change as a meticulously researched and thoughtful book that illuminates an important aspect of visual culture.
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by Corina on May 10th, 2013
Please join the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences and Wits University Press on Wednesday 15th May for light refreshments at the launch of the new book Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in South Africa edited by Cora Smith, Glenys Lobban and Michael O’Loughlin.
Professor Ahmed Wadee, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Cora Smith, Adjunct Professor and Clinical Psychologist at Wits will be speakers at the event on Wednesday 15 May. The launch starts at 5:30 PM for 6 PM.
See you there!
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by Corina on May 9th, 2013
Wits University Press & Ike’s Books are inviting you to the launch of New South African Review 3: The Second Phase – Tragedy or Farce? edited by Devan Pillay, John Daniel, Prishani Naidoo and Roger Southall.
The launch will feature a discussion on the book between Roger Southall, John Daniel and Kiru Naidoo at Ike’s Books on Thursday 9 May at 5:30 PM for 6 PM.
Don’t miss it!
Event Details
- Date: Thursday, 09 May 2013
- Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
- Venue: Ike’s Books,
48a Florida Road,
Morningside,
Durban | Map
- Guest Speaker: Roger Southall, John Daniel and Kiru Naidoo
- RSVP: Cedric Sissing, cedric@adamsbooks.co.za, 082 873 2702
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by Corina on May 8th, 2013
“Nigeria’s foreign policy has suffered terminal decline and the country’s international voice has become muted”, says Adekeye Adebajo in a recent column for Business Day.
Reflecting on the country’s foreign policy in light of President Goodluck Jonathan’s state visit to South Africa this week, Adebajo comments that it has been under his administration since 2010 that the deterioration of Nigeria’s foreign policy has occurred.
As Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan pays a state visit to South Africa this week, it is worth assessing that country’s foreign policy. Nigeria likes to see itself as the “giant of Africa”: it has impeccable “struggle credentials”, having played a leading role in the liberation of Southern Africa; its peacekeepers helped calm two civil conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s; it was instrumental in building the institutions of the African Union (AU); and it has peacekeepers in Sudan’s Darfur region, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali. Yet Nigeria has become a giant with clay feet, a regional Gulliver tied down by the petty ambitions and often inhumane greed of Lilliputian politicians, who have prevented a country of enormous potential from fulfilling its leadership aspirations in Africa.
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by Corina on May 3rd, 2013
You are invited to a Wits University Press and Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER) Book Talk on The Disorder of Things: A Foucauldian Approach to the Work of Nuruddin Farah by John Masterson.
Masterson will be in conversation with Achille Mbembe (WiSER, Wits University) and Tina Steiner (Department of English, Stellenbosch) on Wednesday 8 May at 6 PM.
See you there!
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