This understanding, according to the organisers of the upcoming Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Colloquium on Social Justice, aims to critically explore the heavy load of history carried by large, marginalized minorities as well as majorities that struggle against unjustly imposed marginality.
The colloquium will take place on 13 November 2018 from 10:00 - 14:00 at the campus in Vanderbijlpark.
The colloquium, as convened by the Optentia research focus area, will see two world-class experts take to the podium to discuss core ideas of that which is of value to society in order to be and to do. In short: what each person has to convert – from their collection of resources – into valued beings and doings.
The speakers include Prof Puleng Segalo from UNISA and Prof Andries Baart from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Prof Puleng Segalo
Prof Segalo is an associate professor of psychology and the current head of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Human Sciences at UNISA. She is a member of the South African Youth Academy of Science and the president elect of the Forum for African Psychology.
She is an NRF-rated scholar and a recipient of a number of national and international excellence in research awards, among these the 2014 Distinguished Young Women Researcher which was awarded by the South African Department of Science and Technology.
As an expert, she is passionate about African knowledge systems, and her current research work focuses on African women writers and the importance of offering voice to the many muted voices of women. She believes in social justice and the importance of knowing one’s history.
Prof Andries Baart
Prof Baart – who is also an extraordinary professor at Optentia – is a social scientist, philosopher and theologian. He is currently a professor the University Medical Centre Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
He previously held the Chair Presence and Care, at the Department: Ethic of Care at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. As an expert in his field, he developed the theory of presence and the (practice-orientated) presence approach. In terms of research he is the impelling force behind the Presence Foundation, a platform for research and practice innovation in professional health care and welfare.
For more information visit the Optentia website or send an e-mail to Lynn Booysen at lynn.booysen@nwu.ac.za
