Developing our collections and preserving them for future generations.
Published by the Architecture Archives at the University of Pretoria (AAUP), 2021.
BLURB: “This catalogue features archival photographs related to the work of four Dutch immigrant architects: Mello Damstra, Ed Payens, John van de Werke and Jaap van Niftrik. Their various design works in the C20th South African context illustrate hybridity and international exchanges in architecture and serve as evidence of a unique shared architectural heritage.
The Architecture from the Archives series highlights drawings, photographs and other documents from the AAUP collections and related architectural research projects. Archival objects are positioned to be read as ‘texts’ in their own right, but also introduced and interpreted as part of architectural themes and discourses. The aim is to open the archives to a broader audience and place its valuable content at the center of discussions about South African architectural history.”
Johan Swart holds a master's degree in architecture and heritage studies. At the University of Pretoria, he teaches architectural history and leads a heritage-focused design studio for postgraduate students. As curator of the architecture archives at the university, he is also responsible for the safeguarding and interpretation of significant historical drawing collections. His academic interests include the history of design, archival practice, cultural landscapes and adaptive re-use.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1331665983
2025-03-12
Published by Faber and Faber, [1959] 1971.
BLURB: “An amazingly unembittered autobiography of a black man growing up in South Africa. No easy indignation, but the reader us closely involved in the boy’s realization of the injustices behind the poverty, brutality and fear. Honest and with an open sense of humour.”
~ The Observer on first publication in 1959.
Down Second Avenue was banned in South African after it’s publication in 1959 and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1969. This copy was recently donated to our Special Collections.
Es'kia Mphahlele, born on 17 December 1919, was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature. He died on the 27th of October, 2008.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1315540077
2025-03-05
Blackbird Books, 2018.
BLURB: “Born to Kwaito considers the meaning of kwaito music now. Now, not only as in after 1994 or the Truth Commission, but also as a place in the psyche of black people in post-apartheid South Africa.
The collection of essays tackles the changing meaning of the genre after its decline and its ever-contested relevance. Through rigorous historical analysis as well as threads of narrative journalism, Born to Kwaito interrogates issues of artistic autonomy, the politics of language in the music and kwaito as part of a strand within the larger feminist moment in South Africa.
Candid and insightful interviews from the genre’s foremost innovators and torchbearers, such as Mandla Spikiri, Kabelo Mabalane, Robbie Malinga and Lance Stehr provide unique historical context to kwaito music’s greatest highs, most captivating hits and devastating lows. Born to Kwaito offers up a history of the genre from below through its conversations with musicians and fans, engineers, photographers and filmmakers who bore witness to a revolution.
Living in a place between criticism and biography, Born to Kwaito merges academic theories and rigorous journalism to offer a new understanding into how the genre influenced other art forms such as fashion, TV and film. The book also reflects on how some of the music’s best hits have found new life through the mouths of local hip hop’s current kingmakers and opened kwaito up to a new generation.
Highlights from the book include an essay dealing with the history of Tsotsitaal and Scamtho and an inside look at Mapaputsi’s life and the demons that drove him away from music. Esinako Ndabeni writes about the umbilical cords that bind kwaito together with a history of violence and Sihle Mthembu breaks down the endearing influence of TKZee’s Halloween.
The book does not pretend to be an exhaustive history of the genre but rather a present, active analysis of that history as it settles and finds its meaning.”
Esinako Ndabeni pursued her degree in international relations and anthropology at the University of Cape Town, with the intension of studying anthropology in postgraduate studies with a specific focus on popular culture in South Africa, along with its socio-political importance. She is the founder of the blog Don't Call Me Kaffir—a blog which has primarily been an attempt at bringing kwaito music into the forefront of black discourse on blackness. Born to Kwaito is her debut book.
Sihle MTHEMBU is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker born in Mooi River in the Natal Midlands. In 2009 Mthembu enrolled in the Durban University of Technology where he graduated with a BTech in journalism. He has worked as an art critic, a business journalist and a churner of various types of online banter.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1037073482
2025-02-26
Published by CSA &G Press, 2021.
BLURB: “Social Justice Stories: No Longer Silent on GBV is the result of a partnership between young people, the South African Schools Debating Board and the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G) at the University of Pretoria—through its Just Leaders student volunteer programme.
The energy, enthusiasm and sense of justice in young people is infectious, and critical to a functioning society based on freedom of speech, fairness and dignity, determined to redress the imbalances of the past.”
Dr Bettina Buabeng-Baidoo graduated with an MBChB (with distinction) from the University of Pretoria in 2020. She subsequently earned a Master’s degree in Public Health with distinction from the University of Cape Town in 2023, supported by the prestigious Mandela-Rhodes scholarship.
Pierre Brouard is a research associate at the CSA&G. He is a registered Clinical Psychologist. He has worked in HIV since the mid-1980s and at the CSA&G since 2001 as a manager, researcher, writer, facilitator and teacher. His interests include sexualities, gender, diversity, transformation and human rights. From 2001, Pierre was the Deputy Director of the CSA&G and acted as the Director from January 2023 until his retirement in August 2024. His continued work with the CSA&G primarily focuses on the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence for Health, Gender and Sexualities.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1315540112
2025-02-19
Published by Naledi, 2020.
UIT DIE VOORWOORD: “In 2019 is die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) 110 jaar oud en is dit 'n behoefte om opnuut te kyk na die kunsversameling van die Akademie. Prof. Alex Duffey, die voorsitter van die Kommissie vir Visuele Kunste, het die uitnodiging aanvaar om kort lewensketse van die meer as 50 kunstenaars wie se werke tans in besit is van die Akademie op te stel en ook om hul werke kortliks te bespreek. Hierdie boek is saamgestel vir die 110-jarige herdenking van die SAAWK.
Aanvanklik was die verwagting dat kunstenaars wat toekennings van die SAAWK ontvang van hul kunswerke aan die SAAWK sou skenk en van die kunstenaars het dit ook gedoen. Prof. Duffey toon in sy bespreking van die individuele stukke waar moontlik is telkens aan wie die skenkings gemaak het.
Die SAAWK hoop dat dié versameling in die 21ste eeu steeds aangevul sal word deur Suid-Afrikaanse kunswerke wat ons uiteenlopende kunsverlede weerspieël en vir ons nageslag tot verryking sal dien. Die werk van gerekende kunstenaars in hul eie tyd soos Anton van Wouw, Maggie Laubser, Coert Steynberg, Irma Stern en ander het reeds die toets van die tyd deurstaan. Die SAAWK se strewe is dat eietydse kunstenaars se werk deurlopend in die kunsversameling opgeneem sal word.”
FROM THE FOREWORD: The Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK - South African Academy for Science and Arts) turned 110 years old in 2019 and there was a need to take a fresh look at the art collection of the Academy. Prof. Alex Duffey, chairman of the Commission for Visual Arts, accepted the invitation to compile short biographical sketches of the more than 50 artists whose works are currently in the possession of the Academy and also to briefly discuss their works. This book was compiled to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the SAAWK.
Initially, it was expected that artists who received awards from the SAAWK would donate their artworks to the SAAWK and some of the artists did so. In his discussion of the individual pieces, Prof. Duffey shows, where possible, who made donations.
The SAAWK hopes that this collection will continue to be enriched in the 21st century by South African works of art that reflect our diverse artistic past and will serve to enrich our descendants. The work of renowned artists of their time such as Anton van Wouw, Maggie Laubser, Coert Steynberg, Irma Stern and others has already stood the test of time. The SAAWK strives for the continuous inclusion of contemporary artists in the art collection.”
Prof. Alexander Edward Duffey was a lecturer in Art History, Museology and Art Education at the University of Pretoria from 1977 to 2004, and later also head of the Department of Art History. From 2004 until his retirement in 2012 he was Chief Curator of the University of Pretoria’s Art and Heritage Collections. Prof. Duffey has published regularly in academic journals and delivered numerous papers at national and international art conferences. His most recent books include Frans David Oerder (1867-1944): Anglo-Boereoorlogtekeninge en skilderye (2017) and Olifantsfontein Potteries 1907-1962 (2018).
This book was donated to Special Collections by Prof Duffey.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1376491083
2025-02-12
Published by Imprimatvr, 2024.
BLURB: “Shaka kaSenzangakhona (ca. 1781-1828), the first king of the Zulus, is one of the most intriguing figures in the history of Southern Africa. What we today know about him, is determined by the sources about him that developed over a period of nearly 200 years. Other than the oral tradition, only a few of the earliest sources of a textual nature on Shaka and his times have survived, while later sources sometimes tend to distort, slant or fictionalise the available information. Hence, we know very little about what Shaka looked like. One of the few drawings of him, namely that of James Saunders King in Nathaniel Isaacs Travels and adventures in Eastern Africa (1836), for example, contains various unlikely features, but has been used repeatedly by later artists for reference or inspiration.
The question of the accuracy of sources on Shaka confronts contemporary historians and literary critics alike. For the historian, the reliability of sources is even more important than for the literary critic, who often works with texts that have wilfully misrepresented figures and events. The ‘historic distance’ of the present from Shaka's life and times inevitably distorts all current Shaka texts, as Dan Wylie argues. Texts written about Shaka during the era of British colonialism and apartheid are all examples of the way later perspectives tainted a clear understanding of Shaka and his times.”
Johann Lodewyk Marais is a historian, literary critic and writer. He has published fourteen books of poetry and two books on the history of the Eastern Free State town of Harrismith and surrounds. He has also published travel books on Mozambique and Kenya, and numerous academic and popular articles. Currently he is a research associate at the Department of History and Heritage Studies of the University of Pretoria.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1477883623
2025-02-05
Published by ESI Press, 2024.
SYNOPSIS: “In a time when the world stood still, and the regular patterns of life were interrupted by an unforeseen force, this collection of chorale preludes came into being. The Lockdown-Büchlein is more than a set of compositions; it is a reflection of a period when the world was quiet, and the echoes of our deepest thoughts and the ageless tunes of faith were the only sounds that filled the silence. The title pays homage to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), whose Orgelbüchlein has long been a foundational work in organ literature. Like Bach’s collection, this new work aspires to contribute to both the current moment and the future of organ music.”
Theo van Wyk is an Associate Professor of Music at theDepartment of Performing Arts (School of the Arts), University of Pretoria. He served as the Head of Department of UP Arts from 2015 to 2018.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1464946510
2025-01-29
Published by Jeff Woolgar, 2021.
Author’s Note: “This book is about the postal staff, referred to as officials in government papers, of the South African Republic in 1899/1900, who later applied for their pensions from the Transvaal authorities. They are listed here with as much information which could be assembled from official government published papers; noting their last appointment and salaries. Those re-employed following the fall of Johannesburg to British troops, eventually became officials in the Transvaal Civil Service; their salaries are examined and compared with those previously obtained under the Republic. Not all the South African Republic staff were employed by the British administration from 1900 onwards and new men were recruited or brought in from abroad to make up the shortfall. Prosperity was often ephemeral in both the South African Republic and later in the Transvaal, booms and depressions affecting much of the population, particularly married men in the larger towns. The Transvaal's Postmaster General exonerated and defended the concept of the married allowance to help these officials while also attempting to improve efficiency in all postal departments, which resulted in less promotional opportunity for officials recruited after 1902/3. Some of these improvements are cited and examples illustrated. During the Edwardian period, the Postal system pivoted around the General Post Office in Johannesburg where the administrative elite worked. The system would have been much improved but for the buildings which were often inadequate for the purpose, even long before the South African War.
Some of these are examined and illustrated and individual postal officials are listed under the office where they mostly worked. Their drop in wages after 1900 meant that men—there were no women recorded—had no choice but to accept or go hungry. However, some officials accepted government allowances which were given in kind, although this could affect their future circumstances. Having endured a constantly changing political climate, even with a pension, retirement could bring new financial problems and life changing decisions.”
Jeff Woolgar is an ex-officer of the Transvaal Study Circle and has published over 100 articles in their journal over the last 30 years. He recently started an independent Transvaal website. Jeff lives in the UK.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1377012324
2025-01-22
Published by Publiself Publishers, 2009.
From the Introduction: “The list of Nobel Laureates qualifying for inclusion in this book comes from that drawn up by the Israel Institute of Science and Technology. The book describes in great detail the 159 Jewish Nobel Laureates out of 781 Laureates over the period 1901 to 2005. This equates to 20.3% of the total Laureates. Each Laureate has a large photo and the biography of him/her is split into biographical details and Nobel Prize-Winning and other Pioneering Work. This equates to 26% of all Medicine Laureates, 25% of all Physics Laureates, 17.5% of all Chemistry Laureates, 35% of all Economic Laureates, 12% of all Literature Laureates, and 9.7% of all Peace Laureates.
The text on each Laureate begins with the year that they won the prize as well as their name. This is followed by the relevant part of the citation as published by the Nobel Committee that allocated the prize. Thereafter the text for each Laureate is split into two parts. The first records their biographical details. The second part is a description of the work and its relevance for which the award was made. Sometimes other work by the Laureate is also included, especially where this work has become meaningful.”
David Mordant is a retired veterinarian and stockmarket investor. He lives just ourside Johannesburg, South Africa, and in Vancouver, Canada.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1377006177
2025-01-15
Published by ESI Press, 2024.
BLURB: “The text is essentially a storyboard of the fund development process. It follows the stages, the techniques, and the tools involved in attracting and appreciating donor support that both makers and managers should find useful. But instead of being another macro journey through the duties of a fundraiser, this is more of a micro look at the individual responsibilities and descriptions. The variety of checklists, models, 70 accompanying illustrations, along with the downloadable templates help the reader navigate this journey.”
Peter Thuynsma began a parallel career in fundraising in 1976 in Denver, Colorado (USA) for that States largest Catholic parish. In Johannesburg he managed the Centre for Black Education and Research, and the Institute for Human Rights Education and was listed on the UN HRC'S Roster of Experts in Human Rights Education
Among others, he has served on the Board of the International Training Centre of Indigenous Peoples (ITCHP) in Nuuk, Greenland. He modernized and directed the fundraising function at the University of Pretoria and has been a consultant to several Southern and East African universities and local NGOs. He has also undertaken fundraising best practice tours of Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Columbia, New York, Fordham, and Georgia State universities.
He helped develop the first certificated course in Advancement Practice at the Rhodes University Business School, and most recently taught the Philanthropy and Fundraising module for the Wits Business School/CAPSI postgraduate diploma. Formerly Professor of African Literature and later Special Advisor to the Vice Chancellor at Wits University, he has published widely, and guest lecture: at local and international universities including Rutgers, Harvard, and SUNY (Binghamton).
He is the managing partner of Thuynsma Consulting, a fund development consultancy in Johannesburg.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1461736355
2025-01-08
Published by ESI Press, 2023.
BLURB: “Embark on a captivating journey through the enchanting world of time-series analyses with Fiction and Fable: Tales of Time-Series. This extraordinary collection of short stories, penned by undergraduate students from the prestigious Department of Statistics at the University of Pretoria, brings to life the fascinating concepts taught in the time-series analysis syllabus. What began as a mere optional assignment evolved into a remarkable book of stories that blend the realms of creativity and statistics. Stories such as The Shepherd and the Wolf or The Tale of the ARMA Warriors transport readers to the moments of comfort and delight that fables and fairytales hold for all. The fusion of imagination and analytical thinking invites readers to explore a magical realm where mathematical models intertwine with storytelling. Join us on a literary adventure where Fiction and Fable meet the captivating world of time-series, proving that the magic of storytelling knows no bounds.”
Johan Ferreira is an associate professor in the Department of Statistics, at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is also the Junior Focus Area Coordinator for the Statistical Theory and Applied Statistics focus area of the Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Science, based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He is an ASLP 41/4.2 fellow of Future Africa and in 2016, he was identified as one of the Top 200 South Africans under the age of 35 by the Mail & Guardian newspaper in the Education category.
Seite Makgai is a mathematical statistician and senior lecturer in the Department of Statistics at the University of Pretoria. Her qualifications include a BSc in Actuarial and Financial Management Sciences, BSc (Hons) and MSc in Mathematical Statistics. In 2020, she completed her PhD in Mathematical Statistics at the University of Pretoria, with publications that focus on fundamental research platforms.
Link to catalogue: https://UnivofPretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1464951225
2025-01-03