Woensdag 12 September 2018

PhD defence: Participatory approaches to diversification and intensification of crop production on smallholder farms in Malawi. PhD candidate: mr. D (Daniël) van Vugt. Promotor: prof.dr. KE (Ken) Giller. Co-promotor: prof. dr AC Franke. Organisation: Wageningen University & Research, Plant Production Systems

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This seminar will discuss on-going work that is based on a variety of projects that lead to new insights in African firms. The current transitions in Africa generate business development towards unprecedented economic and technological specialization. In the process, new endogenous African firms start to emerge. These are firms that wear a unique African signature because they tap into the resources that make the African business environment typically different from business environments in other parts of the world, namely the diversity of natural resources and the social, economic and cultural systems that build on them. At the same time these businesses have access to knowledge on how to manage businesses in the formal sector of the economy, enabling them to create value from such resources that can stand in the global competitive marketplaces. The seminar will address the questions why Africa needs its own theory of the firm, how the endogenous firm is different from other firms in Africa and why we need a deeper understanding of such firms.

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Mode is hot in Afrika, maar dé Afrikaanse mode bestaat niet. In verschillende steden bestaan diverse bloeiende modescenes. Van streetwear tot couture en van experimenteel tot meer ingetogen: dragers, makers en kenners tonen er hun identiteit, persoonlijke smaak en achtergrond mee. Vaak gelinkt aan de stad waarin ze wonen. De stad die hen een spiegel voorhoudt. Fashion Cities Africa toont de diversiteit aan mode in Casablanca, Johannesburg, Lagos en Nairobi – door de ogen van 15 lokale experts. In Fashion Cities Africa bekijk je de stedelijke modescenes vanuit het perspectief van lokale ontwerpers, stylisten, shophouders, fotografen en bloggers. Zo nemen broer en zus 2ManySiblings je mee naar de markt in Nairobi, waar ze tweedehands designerkleding kopen om te restylen. Ook vind je in de tentoonstelling creaties van onder meer The Sartists (Johannesburg), Said Mahrouf (Casablanca) en het modelabel Maki Oh (Lagos), dat gedragen wordt door onder andere Beyoncé en Michelle Obama. Het Tropenmuseum selecteerde voor deze tentoonstelling Nederlandse experts die hun Afrikaanse roots verwerken in mode: Daily Paper, Karim Adduchi, Lady Africa, Doru Komonoteng Loboka en Nsimba Valene Lontanga. Voor Fashion Cities Africa delen zij hun inspiratie, werkwijze én ontwerpen met de museumbezoeker.

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Artworks MandelaAs part of the 2018 Nelson Mandela Day and Nelson Mandela’s centenary, the UMURAGE Foundation is pleased to present 'We Are The Legacy: Celebrating Nelson Mandela Centenary 2018'. The art exhibition will feature portraits of 100 African legacy makers who, in their own unique way, embody Nelson Mandela’s three key principles – to free yourself, free others and serve every day – and 100 artworks from across the motherland. Featured artists are coming from : Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Brazaville, Congo DRC, France, Madagascar, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Tchad, Malawi, Togo and Zambia. The UMURAGE Foundation is an international non-profit organisation, head-quartered in Amsterdam, which aims at promoting, supporting, connecting, recognizing and rewarding individuals, organizations, businesses and communities shaping Africa’s collective legacy. Its vision is a world embracing and celebrating Africa’s contributions to humanity’s collective legacy.

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The upgraded Tata Madiba exhibition content and objects are meant to stimulate conversation about his life, struggles and extraordinary contribution to protection of South Africa’s rich biodiversity; but also connect to contemporary issues around conservation and sustainability.  The exhibition also includes the many species named after him and those he and his fellow prisoners may have encountered on Robben Island.  The exhibition includes as its central piece the iMadiba Project which is a participatory art project conceptualized and created by artist and photographer Erhardt Thiel. It is endorsed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation The intention of the installation or micro museum is to facilitate dialogue, memory, reflection and forward thinking. The combination of the Tata Madiba exhibition and the iMadiba Project art installation is therefore an apt marriage to celebrate the centenary of this great statesman Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

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Bonile Bam’s photographic exhibition, Nelson Mandela’s roots revisited, hosted by the University of Johannesburg is different from other exhibitions, with its focus on the landscape where Mandela grew up, rather than Mandela himself. The imagery is at once hauntingly beautiful and evocative. Mandela himself hardly appears in the photographs that are exhibited. It is a unique exhibition in this focus on the physical landscape and pastoral setting in which Mandela grew up. Bam’s poetic images take us to the areas and invite us to imagine the young Mandela in the rural Eastern Cape in the early decades of the 20th Century. The photographs share rare moments and places through which Mandela lived. The exhibition is hosted by the University of Johannesburg Faculty of Humanities, in collaboration with the University Library and the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The exhibition will then be simultaneously hosted there and at the three other UJ campuses: Soweto, Doornfontein and Bunting Road for two months.

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Sophiatown the Mix marks September, Heritage Month, with four heritage concerts. September 8 at 20:00 R150 - HALLES KOMET: an international collaboration between SA and Norwegian musicians celebrating contemporary and great jazz musicians across the globe. September 13 at 18:00 invitation only (email us for an invite) - WANDILE MOLEFE TRIO: drawing on South African ‘lates’ Wandile celebrates the sound of the 50s. September 21 at 20:00 R150 - ETUK UBONG – African directions take us to Nigerian trumpeter and composer Etuk’s Septet promising electricity in the house! September 24 at 17:00 R50 - Choir and Orchestra from SA and UK ‘UXOLO’: presents the classical compositions of Todd Matshikiza (1921-1968). Perhaps one of South Africa’s greatest 20th century composers is celebrated as we commemorate his life, 50 years since his death in exile. Writer of the music for ‘King Kong’ the first African opera, this evening explores his classical writings through Uxolo, and other pieces. Visiting Choir from St Martin in the Fields, London, UK, brings another strand of diversity.

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Year on year Joburg’s Arts Alive International Festival attracts tens of thousands of arts lovers to experience its annual arts culture and heritage programme. 2018 Arts Alive International Festival announces a stellar programme with something for all lovers of arts and culture for the Spring season that encompasses different genres and reaches every corner of the city’s seven regions. The programme pays tribute to late and living legends like the late Hugh Masekela, Philip Tabane and Busi Mhlongo and the still living Letta Mbuli, Vusi Mahlasela and Oliver Mtukudzi. The festival will also feature countless events involving school children in theatre development, art and photographic exhibitions, music exhibitions, discussions and forums, dance, poetry, culture and heritage celebrations and more.

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