Rhodes University: Hosted Journals
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Outing to Somerset East
No full textOn Thursday, 5 October, we had our final outing of 2023. Members started early from their homes for the long drive to Somerset East. We met up at the Walter Battiss Art Museum, a beautiful double-storey settler-era house on a road full of old houses. The very enthusiastic curator, Ros Turner, kindly served tea and coffee on our arrival – it had been a two-and-a-half-hour journey from Port Alfred. She also ran a video, gave us a talk and showed us around
On the Makhanda Education Summit: a community convening for development
Get PDFThe Makhanda Education Summit, a convening of the basic sector in Makhanda, was called by Professor Sizwe Mabizela following more than a decade of deliberate, intentional and collaborative intervention in schools in Makhanda focused on improving learner performance. The Summit sought to be an inclusive space for members of the education sector in the city of Makhanda, and in doing prioritized ensuring that its delegates included representatives from early childhood development centres, primary schools, high schools and non-profit organisations that work in the education sector.In doing so, the Summit has been situated within the context of the city’s education sector as a crucial co-created reflection point by the community on the development of the education sector following its gradual upliftment through engaged partnership. In addition, it served as a strategic space to collectively identify key goals to shape the future of education in Makhanda and map out the shared pathway towards building a city of education excellence.Explored through the lens of Social Movement Theory, the presenters assess how the Summit’s hyper-local approach to bringing together school leaders and educators after impactful engagement over several years enabled the development of an organic community-driven social movement to emerge. The Summit demonstrated the necessity and endless potential of collaboration for common good, and the essential role of higher education institutions in driving community development. The paper will provide an overview of the decade\u27s journey towards convening the Summit, reflect on the strategic approaches taken to mobilise buy-in and build a common purpose within the city’s stakeholder network, and share some of the key outputs that will undoubtedly inform the work of the invested stakeholders for the years to come
Overcoming Community Engagement Hurdles in South Africa\u27s Private Higher Education
No full textThis paper focuses on the challenges and perceptions related to community engagement in private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in South Africa. Community engagement is now considered equally important as teaching and learning, and research and innovation at universities. The Council on Higher Education expects formal engagement from both public and private higher education institutions. However, PHEIs face unique challenges such as resource constraints, conflicting priorities, lack of tradition, and differing perceptions of community engagement. The study used qualitative data collection methods, including desktop research and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five academics from different PHEIs. The findings emphasised the need for PHEIs to develop strategies to build sustainable relationships with their communities despite these challenges
185th Great Trek Celebrations: Freedom Seekers of the Eastern Cape Colony
No full textBasil came to share with LAHS an experience he’d had at the 185th Great Trek Celebrations held at the Karel Landman monument on 16 December 2023. He had been invited to assist F.A.K. with some of the practical aspects of this event, which was a wonderful family gathering where children were able to sing, ride horses and play games. The Bathurst Agricultural Museum and Basil\u27s SABRE (South African Battle Re-enactment Society) members demonstrated bygone skills, games, cooking, and the firing of a 200-year-old cannon. Different parts of the wagon were explained, how the Voortrekkers drew up into defence laagers, the resilience of the women in loading the muskets and treating the wounded in times of battle, and caring for the children in isolated and difficult time
APPROACHES AND METHODS EMPLOYED IN REVITALISING THE SEPEREWA MUSICAL TRADITION IN GHANA: OSEI KORANKYE IN PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFThis article examines how Osei Korankye, a seperewa (a west African harp) player in Ghana, managed to thrive in an often unfavourable environment for traditional musicians. The seperewa is a Ghanaian harp with a likeness to the kora. The article examines Korankye’s efforts to preserve and restore local interest in seperewa music. The conflict between traditional musical practices and the multiplicity of sounds and ideologies brought by globalisation and cultural imperialism after contact with Europe in the fifteenth century is critical to the discourse in this article. As a result of these encounters, Ghanaian communities have lost much of their musical traditions; those remaining are cherished by a small number of individuals. Many see such traditions as a building block to most of Ghana’s cultural heritage, hence the call for cultural revitalisation in many quarters. Drawing on the available literature and ethnographic interviews, I position Korankye, and his methods, as a powerful example of such a strategy for revitalisation while outlining many of the struggles he negotiated. This article corroborates existing arguments made by many that globalisation and cultural imperialism profoundly influenced African civilisations, threatening a loss of contact between communities and their customs
Community Engagement as Publishable Scholarship
Get PDFThe structures that evaluate what counts as novel and fundable knowledge have evolved over a long timeline, primarily driven by traditional forms of explorative, descriptive and critical analysis research. Community Based Participatory Research does not always fit evaluation and funding structures as comfortably as these models of research which are more established in the global academy, and requires careful navigation of, and some further fine-tuning to, review and accreditation processes, to stand beside more traditionally accepted scholarly practices in being readily recognised as producing original scholarly knowledge
The Kat River Valley, Balfour and Hertzog
Get PDFThis article, The Kat River Valley, Balfour and Hertzog, compiled by Margaret Snodgrass, recounts a 2022 visit by historical society members to the Kat River Valley in the Eastern Cape. Drawing on sources by Blackbeard, McCracken, and Ross, it outlines the valley’s history from its early Khoikhoi and amaXhosa occupation to the establishment of the Kat River Settlement (1829–1851) under Sir Andries Stockenström’s plan to resettle Khoikhoi and discharged soldiers as a frontier buffer. The article highlights the settlement’s early prosperity, its leadership under figures like Christiaan Groepe and Andries Botha, and its decline following wars, floods, and rebellion. Key landmarks such as Fort Armstrong and the Hertzog Church reflect the area’s rich social and missionary heritage. The Kat River Settlement remains a significant example of early African landholding, resilience, and emerging political identity within South Africa’s colonial frontier history
Thomas River historical village
Get PDFIn Thomas River Historical Village, Dave Hawkins traces the origins and evolution of this unique Eastern Cape heritage site, named by missionary Jan van der Kemp in 1801 after the death of English deserter Thomas Bentley. Once an outspan station for wagons en route to the diamond and gold fields, Thomas River later became a significant rural hub and historical landmark. The article documents the careful restoration and preservation of its buildings—including the blacksmith’s workshop, post office, trading store, and church—by Jeff and Anne Sansom, transforming the derelict site into a vibrant heritage and tourism destination. Notable for its three royal visits (1860, 1947, and 2016), the village encapsulates South Africa’s layered colonial, agricultural, and cultural past, showcasing artefacts, vintage vehicles, rock art, and memorabilia that reflect the region’s diverse historical narratives
Fish tales on the Kowie: The Rocky: Sandelia bainsii - a Kowie River fish with a rich scientific history
Get PDFThis article traces the scientific and historical journey of Sandelia bainsii—the “Rocky,” a rare and threatened freshwater fish native to the Eastern Cape’s Kowie, Great Fish, Keiskamma, and Buffalo rivers. Its story intertwines natural history, colonial exploration, and taxonomy. The species was first illustrated in 1815 by army ensign Robert Henry Dingle, briefly described by Andrew Smith in 1831, and formally named by Count Castelnau in 1861 after Chief Bains and explorer Andrew Geddes Bain. Once abundant, the Rocky is now near extinction in the Kowie River. Its evolutionary lineage links it to tropical labyrinth fishes of Africa and Asia, offering clues to ancient climatic conditions. Through the Rocky’s story, Paul Skelton illuminates the deep connections between science, colonial history, and South Africa’s unique aquatic biodiversity