UCT R&I Highlights 2020-21 High res - Flipbook - Page 19
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FEMALE
POLITICAL
PRISONERS AND
PRISON GUARDS
GIVEN A VOICE
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FOCUSING
ON RURAL
WOMEN TO
DRIVE LAND
REFORM
Rare collection communicates an
UCT researchers play pivotal role
as-yet unseen female perspective
in ruling that rent on communal
on the anti-apartheid struggle.
land has an adverse effect –
The Malibongwe Women’s Archive project –
spearheaded by Dr Janie Cole from the UCT
College of Music, with the UCT Libraries
Special Collection – presents a uniquely
female view of what it was like to be a
woman during the struggle against both
racial discrimination and oppression.
“This cultural-heritage preservation
project will provide a new perspective on
the standard liberation struggle narrative,
by embracing gender issues that historically
have been overlooked,” said Cole.
Presenting interviews, original music tracks
and personal items such as photos, diaries
and letters, the goal of the archive is to chart
the active role of women against apartheid.
Apart from its cultural, historical and
political significance, the Malibongwe
Women’s Archive will also be an educational
treasure chest for future generations.
“It opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities
in education and curriculum development,”
said Cole. “It is particularly aligned in the
wider academic context of decolonisation
efforts in historical musicology,
ethnomusicology and African studies, as well
as in UCT archival collections.”
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mostly on women.
The Ingonyama Trust, based in KwaZulu‑Natal
(KZN), was found to have acted in violation of
the Constitution by giving residential leases
to those who were true owners of the land in
terms of Zulu customary law.
Nolundi Luwaya, director of the Land and
Accountability Research Centre (LARC),
is based at the Department of Public Law.
Her work led to its involvement in the
Ingonyama Trust case.
In 2015, LARC researchers found that the
Trust was downgrading people’s land rights.
LARC was part of a collective challenging the
legality of this practice.
The court ordered the Ingonyama Trust
to refund all lease money paid, and ordered
the granting of rights in terms of applicable
KZN legislation.
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UCT LEADS GLOBAL STUDY
ON DISINFORMATION
An international study on information disorder in the Global South
was launched by Professor Herman Wasserman.
The rising tide of
disinformation about
the COVID-19 vaccine
is a very worrying
development.
Launched in January 2021, the project aims to
map the misinformation space, identify actors
and develop frameworks for intervention.
Wasserman, from the Centre for Film and
Media Studies (CFMS), will coordinate data
submitted from four sub-regions of the Global
South: Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia,
and the Middle East and North Africa.
“The input of stakeholders in these
regions will be crucial to the project, as
they will provide the local expertise and
insights drawing on their work in the area
of misinformation,” he said.
Despite disinformation being a widespread
problem in countries in the Global South,
the study of the phenomenon remains
dominated by examples, case studies and
models from the Global North. This new
study will provide insights from the Global
South that can help fill knowledge gaps
and present opportunities for inter- and
intraregional cooperation.
COVID-19 presented a case for urgency
around researching misinformation – in
particular, the rise of conspiracy theories
and rumours, such as miracle cures and
disinformation around the virus.
“The rising tide of disinformation about
the COVID-19 vaccine is a very worrying
development,” Wasserman added.
This has led some countries in the Global
South, such as South Africa and Brazil,
to criminalise disinformation. However,
these attempts have raised concerns that
governments might use the pandemic as a
smokescreen to stifle free expression and
avoid political accountability.
“In other words, the ‘information disorder’
is a global problem, but has specific
characteristics in the Global South, which
remains under-researched,” Wasserman said.
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