The University of Cape Town has acceded to the Rhodes Must Fall movement's
demands to rename university buildings. They are calling for
suggestions.
However, only struggle-era names - Biko, Mandela, Tambo and the like - will probably be approved.
Why only buildings? Why not take this social media process that started with the Rhodes statue's hasty removal to its logical conclusion and rename the university? Other South African universities were renamed after 1994, so there is precedent. And as we have seen with UCT, nothing is sacred - not even history - so its present name should not be too.
Using the arguments of the RMF and their mentors/supporters in administration and council who are championing erasing vestiges of UCT's historical, colonial and apartheid past, UCT was founded by and sits on land bequeathed to it by colonial powers and individuals, including Rhodes. So whatever connection, however tenuous, exists between UCT today and those usurpers must be extirpated - statues, monuments, art, building names, including any manifestation of the Oppenheimer name.
Also, the curriculum, included but not limited to philosophy, history and economics, ought to be Africanised and made relevant to today's African student. In other words, no pre-1994, Euro-centric, Western philosophy, etc must be taught. Entrance requirements - matric being a construct of colonialism - and fees - a "discredited" western economic paradigm of personal monetary obligation (see Chris Maxon) - must fall away too.
So, once the statues and works of art and building names are out of the way, following a proper, but rubber-stamped consultation like with the Rhodes statue, UCT can look at transforming itself to await a brave, new beginning.
My proposal for a name embodying a fresh start that resonates across socio-economic, geographic and post-modern levels is: People's University of the South (PUS).
However, only struggle-era names - Biko, Mandela, Tambo and the like - will probably be approved.
Why only buildings? Why not take this social media process that started with the Rhodes statue's hasty removal to its logical conclusion and rename the university? Other South African universities were renamed after 1994, so there is precedent. And as we have seen with UCT, nothing is sacred - not even history - so its present name should not be too.
Using the arguments of the RMF and their mentors/supporters in administration and council who are championing erasing vestiges of UCT's historical, colonial and apartheid past, UCT was founded by and sits on land bequeathed to it by colonial powers and individuals, including Rhodes. So whatever connection, however tenuous, exists between UCT today and those usurpers must be extirpated - statues, monuments, art, building names, including any manifestation of the Oppenheimer name.
Also, the curriculum, included but not limited to philosophy, history and economics, ought to be Africanised and made relevant to today's African student. In other words, no pre-1994, Euro-centric, Western philosophy, etc must be taught. Entrance requirements - matric being a construct of colonialism - and fees - a "discredited" western economic paradigm of personal monetary obligation (see Chris Maxon) - must fall away too.
So, once the statues and works of art and building names are out of the way, following a proper, but rubber-stamped consultation like with the Rhodes statue, UCT can look at transforming itself to await a brave, new beginning.
My proposal for a name embodying a fresh start that resonates across socio-economic, geographic and post-modern levels is: People's University of the South (PUS).
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