Opinion
LitNet contributors voice their opinions about current affairs.
Seductive woman
2014-05-27 Address by Hennie Smith to open an art exhibition of Mimi van der Merwe: Pretoria Art Association, 2 May 2014.
Student protest action on the rise
2014-05-22 "Crimes both violent and malicious in nature are on the rise, but Stellenbosch University student activists are rising in resistance along with it."
C Louis Leipoldt’s orientation
2014-05-12 There has been speculation over the decades about the sexual orientation of the Afrikaans poet C Louis Leipoldt.
Exploring the role of nostalgic brand communication in the Afrikaner market
2014-04-09 Think of Afrikaans music, think of Afrikaans arts festivals. Nostalgia sells. How – and why?
Technology transforms education
2014-03-28 Seven laws and three questions. Bertie du Plessis, member of LitNet’s management committee and one of the founding members of LitNet Akademies, at a presentation at the Stellenbosch University.
South Africa's response to Uganda's Gay Law
2014-02-27"People like you make me ashamed to be seen as a South African."
The crisis of immoral academics
2014-01-06 “In Jean-Paul Sartre’s epistolary novel Nausea, the novel’s misanthropic protagonist Roquentin regards the existence around him in the French ville where he lives. Sitting under a chestnut tree, he becomes enraged at the ‘monstrous lumps of gross, absurd being’ that surround him. ‘Filth!’ he shouts. ‘What rotten filth!’”
RQTN: Simplicity with French flair
2013-11-12 “You probably haven’t heard of RQTN. The name is far from ubiquitous in South African musical circles. However, this regional anonymity is not due to a lack of talent. Far from it. It’s a matter of proximity. The one-man musical project hails from France, some 9 000 km away.”
South Africans should celebrate Halloween
2013-10-28 "After speaking to a few friends and consulting a religious group, it became clear to me that many people think that Halloween is evil."
African languages in the print media
2013-10-23 "The dominant view is that African languages have no future as languages of print. For purposes of this talk the designation 'African language' excludes Afrikaans, and the word 'print' is used inclusively to refer to both paper and digital print."
Rethinking Thinking: Modernity’s “Other” and the transformation of the University
2013-10-10 "This book is about the need for the transformation of higher education in South Africa. It problematises thinking about universities, and thinking in universities."
A response to Jonathan Jansen’s Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture to The English Academy of South Africa
2013-10-08 "One cannot, therefore, have a sustained democracy operating in a language in which most people are functionally illiterate. President Zuma is probably the only post-democratic president to have realised that (and to some extent former President Mandela), often speaking in isiNguni (collectively understood by approximately 45% of the population)."
Why English should be the language of South African universities
2013-10-08Jonathan Jansen, Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture of 2013: "What English does is level the playing fields in the historically Afrikaans universities for common engagement."
Some thoughts on Jonathan Jansen's call for English
2013-10-07 Tessa Dowling, Adjunct Professor of African Languages in the School of Languages and Literatures at the University of Cape Town, responds to Jonathan Jansen's Percy Maneshik Memorial lecture.
In the flesh
2013-10-02 "Back by popular demand, the Body Worlds exhibition returned to South Africa. Kim Harrisberg went to find out why humans can’t get enough of seeing themselves skinned."
Being coloured, a complexity in itself
2013-10-01 "Maybe the problem is not race, but the embracing of one’s roots. Like black South Africans are Xhosa or Zulu, etc, coloured people need to know which “tribe” they come from and celebrate it and live with the South African heritage in all its complexities."
Add hope: Socially conscious advertising
2013-09-27 Two major South African award ceremonies in the advertising industry took place recently: the Pendoring awards on the 20th and the Loeries on the 21st of September 2013. Humour and social commentary on the South African situation seemed to be common themes. After attending the Pendoring awards, Naomi Meyer noted with interest the new marketing campaign of Kentucky Fried Chicken by Ogilvy Johannesburg.
Heritage Day interview: Mamelodi for a Month
2013-09-23 National Braai Day? Nope. A photo taken in Mamelodi by a privileged white South African family (who is under public scrutiny after moving into a squatter camp for a month in an attempt to see how the other half lives).
No more blurred lines – putting misogyny on parole
2013-09-23 "'Suggestive', 'misogynistic' and 'demeaning' are three words which came to mind while I was watching the music video for Robin Thicke’s song 'Blurred Lines'."