Grasping the Regimes of Language, Space and Identity in the Visual of Post‑apartheid Higher Education in South Africa

In 2014, through the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ), three South African universities partnered to collaborate on the pilot phase of a research project focused on understanding whether the Arts could enable social cohesion, as the 2012 National Development Plan (2030) had promoted.  The project, which had been conceptualised by one of the authors of this article in early 2014,1 followed both experience and observation of the challenges with regards thisconcept in the Arts, Culture and Heritage sectors of South Africa. Subsequent reflection and questioning of some of the related challenges, problematised the role that higher education had in societal transformation, and accordingly, in the conceptual development of social cohesion: Were universities creating appropriate conceptual frameworks and praxes required for the post-apartheid South African context

Printmaking at the Dakawa Art and Craft Project : the impact of ANC cultural policy and Swedish practical implementation on two printmakers trained during South Africa's transformation years

In 1998, the national Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology published a document aimed at the growth of culture industries in South Africa (DACST, "Creative South Africa", July 1998). Focussing on aspects of economic growth which this development could generate for South Africa, it nonetheless points to issues of cultural understanding which need to be addressed. Projects aimed at the development of arts and culture in South Africa have followed troubled paths. While projects aimed at establishing discourse for this development have succeeded on many levels, the imperatives of showcasing, rather than implementing cultural concepts appropriate to South African contexts, have tended to dominate. When the Dakawa Art and Craft Project was established by the ANC, in 1992, in Grahamstown, as the locus for the deve! opment of an arts and culture discourse in the liberated South Africa, all seemed set for success. Yet, less than four years after opening, the Project was closed. While speculatory reasons for closure tended to focus on financial and administrative problems, the basis for this closure had its roots in problems of cultural understanding manifesting themselves at the Project. These reflected a lack of cultural understanding on the part of the ANC and SIDA, the Swedish administrators sent to the Project, and the lack of clear cultural guidelines on the part of the trainees to the Project itself. These reasons for the Project's failure are integral to an understanding of arts add culture development and needs in South Africa today. As other projects, aimed at the same issues of development grow, an understanding of the history of the Project's failure is essential, for it poses questions still in need of answers. Part One examines the historical significance of the Dakawa Art and Craft Project between 1982 and 1994, recording the reasons for its establishment, the path of implementation it followed, and the cultural misunderstandings it posed to development. Part Two examines the cultural context of the trainees to the Project, followed by an account of the printmaking teaching practice, and the effects of cultural concepts on two printmakers trained during the Project's initial establishment, at the time of South Africa's political transformation

Leadership for change

This edited volume reveals how the journey of transformation at the University of the Free State (UFS) became interwoven with student leadership development and global learning. The UFS initiated two intersecting co-curricular programmes, namely, the First-Year Leadership for Change (F1L4C) programme in 2010; and the triennial Global Leadership Summit (GLS) in 2012. Although these programmes changed over time, their core focus remained to be the development of transformational student leaders through the creation of global learning spaces. From its inception in 2010 to the last GLS in 2018, the UFS global learning project involved 780 students and 259 staff members from 109 institutions, across four continents. The goal of this edited volume is to create a deeper understanding of how the UFS F1L4C and GLS programmes enhanced student leadership development through global learning, especially in the context of higher education transformation

Leadership for change

This edited volume reveals how the journey of transformation at the University of the Free State (UFS) became interwoven with student leadership development and global learning. The UFS initiated two intersecting co-curricular programmes, namely, the First-Year Leadership for Change (F1L4C) programme in 2010; and the triennial Global Leadership Summit (GLS) in 2012. Although these programmes changed over time, their core focus remained to be the development of transformational student leaders through the creation of global learning spaces. From its inception in 2010 to the last GLS in 2018, the UFS global learning project involved 780 students and 259 staff members from 109 institutions, across four continents. The goal of this edited volume is to create a deeper understanding of how the UFS F1L4C and GLS programmes enhanced student leadership development through global learning, especially in the context of higher education transformation

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children

Autosomal Genes of Autosomal/X-Linked Duplicated Gene Pairs and Germ-Line Proliferation in Caenorhabditis elegans

We report molecular genetic studies of three genes involved in early germ-line proliferation in Caenorhabditis elegans that lend unexpected insight into a germ-line/soma functional separation of autosomal/X-linked duplicated gene pairs. In a genetic screen for germ-line proliferation-defective mutants, we identified mutations in rpl-11.1 (L11 protein of the large ribosomal subunit), pab-1 [a poly(A)-binding protein], and glp-3/eft-3 (an elongation factor 1-α homolog). All three are members of autosome/X gene pairs. Consistent with a germ-line-restricted function of rpl-11.1 and pab-1, mutations in these genes extend life span and cause gigantism. We further examined the RNAi phenotypes of the three sets of rpl genes (rpl-11, rpl-24, and rpl-25) and found that for the two rpl genes with autosomal/X-linked pairs (rpl-11 and rpl-25), zygotic germ-line function is carried by the autosomal copy. Available RNAi results for highly conserved autosomal/X-linked gene pairs suggest that other duplicated genes may follow a similar trend. The three rpl and the pab-1/2 duplications predate the divergence between C. elegans and C. briggsae, while the eft-3/4 duplication appears to have occurred in the lineage to C. elegans after it diverged from C. briggsae. The duplicated C. briggsae orthologs of the three C. elegans autosomal/X-linked gene pairs also display functional differences between paralogs. We present hypotheses for evolutionary mechanisms that may underlie germ-line/soma subfunctionalization of duplicated genes, taking into account the role of X chromosome silencing in the germ line and analogous mammalian phenomena