IS IT REALLY THE TIME OF A NEW AMERICANA? Starting with the End of Narnia and Ending with the USA that I’m invested in too Naugle (2002) used a fictious story written by C.S. Lewis of a magical land called Narnia to underscore tha…
What does #PutSouthAfricansFirst really mean? A history professor at Harvard University for over 50 years, Oscar Handlin, wrote ‘Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history…
How does knowing South Africa’s history contribute to celebrating our diverse culture and reinvigorate our vision of social cohesion? South Africa celebrates Heritage Month annually in September, culminating on the 24th. The month, in the aftermath of …
On the 25 June 2020, the National School of Government hosted a webinar with Professor Stan Sangweni, the former Chairperson of the Public Service Commission. The theme of the discussion between several hundred members of…
Climate Change and Covid-19: Has the momentum been lost? In a presentation to the World Economic Forum in 2016, historian Professor Ian Morris posited that civilizations died due to one or more of the following reasons: uncontrollable population …
The furore over Professor Gray and the role of academics in the response by the South African government to the novel coronavirus pandemic reminded me that in late 2019 I was asked to speak on the institutionalized culture of discrimination at the Univ…
In the midst of COVID19 and lockdown in South Africa, there has been much commentary on the class fault lines suggesting a return to ‘normal’ should never be contemplated. In the space of a few weeks, we have seen forced removals under the gu…
Annually since 1995, we commemorate Freedom Day which marks the first South African non-racial, democratic elections held on 27 February 1994. The first democratic president, President Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying ‘for to be f…
What is food safety and how is it linked to food security? A quick scan of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security will demonstrate how inextricably food safety and food security are linked. Food safety is firmly located w…
Is the research we are producing in South Africa locally contextualized, relevant and addressing societal needs? In the 2000s social justice became a buzz word, hence in 2009, the United Nations declared 20 February annually for the international obser…
