Preview of Africa Month

Africa Month at UCT sees a wide range of activities, from basketball to books, and from Sotho dance to fascinating debates.

• Africa Month kicks off on 1 May with the All-Africa Basketball Tournament, appropriately titled 'Africa United'.
• On 2 May the Africa Day Plaza Event showcases African food, stalls, music, dance, poetry and art. First-year students from Michaelis School of Fine Art construct 'Unibags' symbolising their perceptions of African identity and reflecting the 'Uni-queness' of being African.
• Short scholarly presentations, Sotho dance, Township Jazz and tastes of Africa culminate in 'Youth in Africa – on stage and in research' on 8 May.
• UCT Libraries celebrate the restoration of the JW Jagger Library on 10 May, with some of the highlights including an online exhibition of maps of Africa, poster displays, manuscripts and archives, and an online display of the Land Act of 1913.
• 11 May brings with it music and dance, from countries across the continent, at the Baxter Concert Hall. This concert features Mozambican Chopi xylophone virtuouso Venancio Zango, who is a South African College of Music (SACM) artist-in-residence for the first semester.
• The University of Toronto's Prof Alexie Tcheyuap presents a seminar on his book, Post-Nationalist African Cinemas (2011), on 13 May, followed by his lecture on 'African Child Soldiers' on 14 May.
• 17 May sees a masterclass with filmmaker Akin Omotoso, the Nigerian-born South African actor, writer and director, who shares his local and international experiences in the film industry.
• The Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) seminar on 'Addressing the (In)Visibility of African Research', presented by the Scholarly Communications in Africa Programme, will give insights into the rise of the internet and information and communication technologies in African universities, and the various challenges faced in the race to participate.
• 23 May sees a round-table discussion on Afropolitan Research opportunities and constraints, with an equally exciting DVC Prof T Nhlapo-hosted panel discussion to follow on 24 May, titled 'The Big African Debate'.
• Various staff and student events and series take place over the month, including the IAPO Africa Regional Cup tournament, in which staff face-off in Bola and Volleyball on 17 May, as well as the Annual Candlelight Memorial Ceremony on 9 May, which will call on participants to break down the barriers of HIV stigma on the continent. CHED offers 'Languages for Life and Learning' from 13 May, and the English Department presents the 'Africa, Reading and Humanities' discussion series from 7 May onwards.