Research & Innovation Week article
Sustaining our tomorrows by accessing the African story through research
Africa has many stories to tell and the MARC 2018 class were privileged to hear two days’ worth of these stories at the 7th Research and Innovation (RI) week held at UNISA where aspects of research for sustaining our tomorrows were discussed.
Research and Innovation take many forms and day one of the RI week focused on the “Issues universities need to confront if they are to remain relevant in the tertiary education landscape of tomorrow”.
The first speaker of the day was Dr Green who is a director of the digital resource programme Taylor and Francis (T&F). He reflected on his 10 years of T&F Africa and talked about how South African research publications are growing globally. During his presentation, he mentioned that there was an increase in African authors and that South Africa produced quality articles. It was a great opportunity for us to learn that South Africa’s reputation is growing within the global research community.
The importance of research was further emphasised by Prof Rensburg, the former vice Chancellor and Principle of the University of Johannesburg. Despite the increase in African research he argued that research is underfunded. The solutions to current problems are outdated. Africa needs to understand that research networks are very important, and needs global research networks to solve problems they are currently facing. He further pointed out that we are all linked together and our values and ethics should be consistent with the cosmopolitan world but we should reflect on both African and Western values. We need to welcome the marginalised and sort out public school problems with information coming from research studies.
The importance of research was also highlighted by Ms Eboka, the MD of NTP Radioisotopes SOC Ltd who explained that research is essential for world development. Research and efficient learning for building knowledge is needed. Research can be used to understand various issues in our societies and can prove lies and support the truth. She further mentioned that, if you’re involved in any kind of business operation or institution, research will help you gather necessary data to be successful.
The afternoon provided an interesting perspective on innovation and strategic thinking with the introduction of the concept of foxes and hedgehogs when the Mind of a Fox educational project was introduced by Ms Illbury. Based on the concept “foxes know many things, but hedgehogs one big thing” (Archilochus), Ms Ilbury and her team questioned whether the current education system equipped students with the type of thinking that is required in the 21st century. They questioned whether the South African educational system is globally competitive and asked if the education system creates students who are “like a fox” – characterised as anticipatory, highly aware of the environment and are able to connect dots and think before acting, or a hedgehog who is only comfortable with certainty, control and a single projected future. They further asked if the educational system is producing strategic thinkers? Their conclusion was that education in South Africa was like the hedgehog but needed to be like a Fox, hence their introduction of the Mind of a Fox educational project.
Day two continued with the perspective that research is ‘storytelling’ which can take many forms including different artistic expression. A panel discussion was presented highlighting a dialogue with various artists from different artistic fields. The topic of the morning discussion was “Telling our stories through art: In conversation with creative artists”.
One of the highlights on the second day was when Bra Joe (James Ngcobo), the Artistic Director of the market Theatre Foundation presented his take on the topic of the morning – obviously a subject that was very close to his heart. He said that it is now time for us as Africans to tell our stories in our own languages. As South Africans we must be proud and prepared to share our stories in our different languages. He also went on to say that our narratives have to change according to the time we are in; we do not need to keep going back to our past but move on with times. It was mind opening to know that one can do research through art. Research is everywhere and there is need for researchers in every field.
The discussion moved to the author, Ms. Sephodi. We learnt that Ms. Sephodi was invited to speak in Europe, the US and various parts of Africa as a result of her work as an activist and as an author. In SusMay 2017, Miss Behave was published, a book challenging society’s beliefs on what it means to be an obedient woman. In Miss Behave, Ms. Sephodi described her own journey towards achieving autonomy and self-determination, concepts that are often described as misbehaving as a woman. Ms. Sephodi was tired of everyone telling her on how to be and how to act, and as a result documented her journey on “misbehaving” for us to read. As a final note, a beautiful quote was used by Ms Sephodi: “Embrace the glorious mess YOU are”
Thereafter, UNISA’s own curator of the UNISA Art Gallery, Mr Mkhonza discussed the changes he had seen and the changes that the gallery has gone through. He studied fine arts during the mid 90’s and it was totally different to what he thought art would be. There was nothing that reflected his culture or him. There was no presence of blackness in art collections. He explained that before researching the problems of the world, you should ask, who am I in this world that denies my presence? He asked the question: “How do I question without being disobedient?” When looking at possible reasons he realised that the presence of blackness creates tension and led him to question how art collections are collected to produce blackness? He described his research as a journey that is not conclusive. He explained that he keeps on searching for what can be done. What do you do to fill the gaps, to fill the blackness?
The afternoon commenced with a lively talk by Prof Taiwo Adentunji Osinubi who is from the University of British Columbia. He spoke about feminism and neoliberalism in relation to two novels set in the United States of American and West Africa (Nigeria and Cameroon). The novels, Americanah by Chimamande Adichie and Behold The Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, are from different contexts but there seems to be a dialogue between the two. The way women writers narrate issues to do with women, is different from how male writers narrate them. This difference showcases the level of gender oppression from two different perceptives.
In the final presentation of the day, Ms Nkealah introduced her book of poems on the subject of feminism. It was fascinating to listen to her reading and talking about her journey to creating her book of poems. Her story involved her never having seen herself as a poetry writer but rather a short story writer. She was approached by a publisher from the Eastern cape who was passionate about black writers in poetry and who challenged her to write a poem for him to put in one of his books. Only after writing her first poem did she realise that she had the ability to write poetry. During her presentation she read three poems which simply addressed different types of feminism. Her poetry tackled the popular concepts and myths of feminism and it also challenged them. She emphasised that every woman is allowed to have her own opinions on the type of feminism she wishes to follow and shouldn’t be judged in a negative way for following their individual brand of feminism. Ms Nkealah’s story was indicative of how stories develop in often unexpected ways.
The importance of research for sustaining our tomorrows became clear through the stories of the presenters and the different perspectives they introduced us to. A quote from Mr Mkhonza summed up the two days we attended the RI Week… “We should never underestimate the power of telling stories.”