Africa month bigger and better

19 May 2014
Africa Month kicked off on May Day with intra-varsity games in the Sports Centre. The theme - Celebrating Africa Through Sport - found fitting tribute, as indoor footballers celebrated goal after goal, while the court next door shook as basketball players slammed some impressive dunks. Teams played under the flags of various African countries, with the flags themselves draped above the courts. While the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Open Squash Tournament was in full swing downstairs in the Sports Centre, Capoeiristas in the hall above displayed an array of gravity-defying moves. Photo by Michael Hammond.
Africa Month kicked off on May Day with intra-varsity games in the Sports Centre. The theme - Celebrating Africa Through Sport - found fitting tribute, as indoor footballers celebrated goal after goal, while the court next door shook as basketball players slammed some impressive dunks. Teams played under the flags of various African countries, with the flags themselves draped above the courts. While the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Open Squash Tournament was in full swing downstairs in the Sports Centre, Capoeiristas in the hall above displayed an array of gravity-defying moves. Photo by Michael Hammond.

There is still ample opportunity to explore your 'Africanness' by participating in the exciting blend of academic, social and sporting events taking place in the remainder of Africa Month.

A headline event was the Celebrate Africa concert, which included performances by renowned musicians and UCT honorary graduates Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya, and UCT alumni Mimi Ntenjwa, Amanda Tiffin and Mduduzi Mtshali, on 16 May at the Baxter Theatre.

The inaugural Traditional African Games and ever popular Mini Africa Cup of Nations have come and gone, with panel discussions, exhibitions and seminars on various subjects related to Africa at various venues all over campus.

If the programme for UCT's third Africa Month is bigger than ever, there's also the opinion that it is better than ever, says Professor Thandabantu Nhlapo, deputy vice-chancellor responsible for internationalisation and realising UCT's Afropolitan vision.

"The scaling-up will, we hope, demonstrate that the idea is getting embedded at UCT," he explained. "And that idea is that for a month we allow space for members of the UCT community - that's all of us - to express our 'Africanness', to express our view of Africa and our place in it.

"It allows us to reflect - through art, through cuisine, through intellectual debate and discussion, through scholarship, through song, through dance, through dress - our experiences of being African," he added.

Exciting forthcoming events include the Big African Debate, on 20 May, which this year centres on sexuality and the law. On 22 May UCT will celebrate 20 years of democracy with a concert featuring Vusi Mahlasela, Mi Casa, PJ Powers and Freshlyground. For more information, go to www.uct.ac.za.

Africa Month Highlights

20 May

The Big African Debate
A discussion around sexuality and the law.
Kramer Quad from 14h00

22 May

20 Years of Freedom
A celebratory concert featuring Vusi Mahlasela, PJ Powers, Freshlyground and Mi Casa.
Rugby Field C from 18h00

28 May

Debate on Accents
An interactive debate on the distictive ways we speak in South Africa.
Mafeje Room, Bremner from 12h00

29 May

Queer in Africa: confronting the crisis
A symposium and festival focused on gender and identity on the continent
CAS Gallery from 18h00

31 May

Critically Queer Exhibition
A panel discussion and walkabout with the artists
CAS Gallery from 11h30


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