Research

The feasibility study that has informed the establishment of the Centre suggests a need, both within the University and nationally, for an entity which facilitates, initiates and coordinates scholarship in the field of race and identity: first, by identifying crucial areas for research; second, by providing opportunities for interaction and collaboration between scholars and others working in the field; third, by providing access to appropriate data and other resources. To respond to these priorities, the Centre plans to:

• undertake a major scoping study to identify critical research problems and issues and develop a concerted research agenda for scholars working in the field;
• develop and lead, in partnership with scholars from other institutions, a series of trans-disciplinary research programmes on race and identity, all of which will have the ultimate goal of informing intervention and policy;
• institute a Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme to bring scholars from elsewhere in the country and abroad to the Centre for periods of concentrated research and teaching;
• run a regular on-campus seminar programme to encourage trans-disciplinary interaction in the field, as well as debates on contentious issues; and
• arrange a series of biennial national and international conferences on race thinking and identity.

Image and text from the publication The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People by Marguerite Poland and Leigh Voigt, published by Fernwood Press, www.fernwoodpress.co.za.

Poland, M., Hammond-Tooke, D. & Voight, L. 2003. The Abundant Herds: A Celebration of the Nguni Cattle of the Zulu People. Vlaeberg: Ferwood Press.