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Being Human
focus being the link between present and past, along
with the categories used to best interpret the present.
His third area of research is a focus on the personal
dimension of religious revival. Taking a biographical
approach, he questions what motivates people to join
religious revival groups. These questions are posed to
Muslim activists in South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, and
Muslims and Christians in East Africa.
Land Reform and
Democracy in South Africa
Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza holds the DST/NRF
Research Chair in Land Reform and Democracy in South
Africa. He has conducted extensive research on the
land question in South Africa, specifically on land rights,
democratisation, rural local government, traditional
authorities, and land and agrarianmovements. Professor
Ntsebeza has published
Democracy Compromised:
Chiefs and the Politics of Land in South Africa
(Brill
Academic Publishers, Leiden, in 2005 and the HSRC
Press in 2006). He has also co-edited
The Land Question
in South Africa: the Challenge of Transformation and
Redistribution
(HSRC Press, 2007, with Ruth Hall), and
Rural Resistance in South Africa: The Mpondo Revolts
after Fifty Years
(Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden,
2011, and UCT Press, 2012, with Thembela Kepe). His
current research interests, apart from land and agrarian
questions, include an investigation of African Studies
at UCT and a related project on the political and
intellectual history of the late Archie Mafeje.
Professor Lungisilie Ntsebeza
Research Groupings
associated with this theme
African Cinema Unit
The African Cinema Unit is an initiative within the
Centre for Film and Media Studies that is committed
to promoting the study of African cinemas, taking
account of the richness and diversity of the film
cultures that have emerged from the countries
that make up this vast and complex continent.
Associate Professor Martin Botha’s book
South
African Cinema 1896–2010
(Intellect) was published
in 2012, and represents the first broadly based
text that encompasses the history of South African
cinema in its entirety. Under the directorship of
Associate Professor Lesley Marx, several events also
showcased alternative African cinema (e.g. the first
Alternative Africa film Festival) and brought film-
makers to the university.
Director: Dr I Rijsdijk
E-mail: ian.rijsdijk@uct.ac.za
Website: http://cfms.uct.ac.za/african-cinema-unit/
Centre for Contemporary
Islam
The Centre for Contemporary Islam (CCI) was
established in 1996 to co-ordinate research
conducted at UCT on Islam and Muslim societies,
and the dissemination of findings to a broader
public. The main projects of the CCI include Islam
and Public Life in Africa; Sufism, Gender and Islam;
and the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project. The CCI
publishes the annual
Journal for Islamic Studies.
The centre is based in the Department of Religious
Studies, and has the active participation of scholars
from outside the department.
Director: Professor A Tayob
Email: abdulkader.tayob@uct.ac.za
Web: http://www.cci.uct.ac.za
Centre for Popular Memory
The Centre for Popular Memory (CPM) is an
Africa-focused oral-history research, advocacy
and archival centre linked to the Department of
Historical Studies. Research prioritises multilingual
approaches to the impact of post-traumatic legacies
in Africa and specialises in multileveled technology
outputs through academic journals, exhibitions and
film, including scholarly content for portable media
platforms.
Professor Abdulkader Tayob