The School of Humanities, at Sol Plaatje University (SPU), successfully hosted the 27th South African Sociological Association Conference (SASA), between 10 – 13 July 2022, which was preceded by a pre-conference doctoral workshop that attracted over 15 doctoral fellows from different universities in South Africa.
The conference was convened under the theme: “Sociology and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Reimagining the Present and the Future”.
The keynote address was given by Professor Sari Hanafi, the President of the International Sociology Association (ISA). This was the first hybrid SASA conference and opens the way for the new mode of hosting conferences. About 120 delegates attended the conference in person and many others logged in online from across the globe. The delegates who attended in person were from several countries including United States of America, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, and Cameroon amongst others.
The discussions covered a wide range of topics presented under various themes. Six postgraduate students and two alumni from SPU’s School of Humanities presented their research projects. This is a significant step towards building a research and postgraduate culture at the university.
The delegates were also impressed with the university’s modern and technologically advanced infrastructure, which enabled SASA to hold a hybrid conference. The conference was supported by the National Institute of Humanities and Social Science (NIHSS), Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) and the Northern Cape Tourism Authority.
Four critical issues were raised at the conference:
- How psycho-social issues negatively affected humanity
- The impact of pandemics on social life
- The importance of African knowledge systems in understanding humanity and social life and lastly;
- The distance/gap between law and justice in holding the government and private sector accountable for atrocities (such as the Marikana Massacre) against the citizens
The conference leaves us with questions we must ponder on as a university. Such as how do we deepen the relationship between the University and the community and how do we position the university to respond to socio-economic issues of the communities in its locale?
