SU’s sport science department and museum present conference on decolonising sport

The Department of Sport Science at Stellenbosch University (SU) and the SU Museum is presenting a two day conference themed “Decolonising Sport Historical Themes”.

The conference, to be held from 15-16 September 2017 at the SU Museum in Ryneveld Street in Stellenbosch, is to all accounts the first of its kind with delegates from various universities and civil society convening in Stellenbosch.

“The conference is held at a time in our country’s history where discourse on decolonisation is a guiding principle. However, the discourse does not always include sports studies. This conference addresses this gap and it is appropriate that it takes place in Stellenbosch with its controversial past”, says Dr Francois Cleophas of the Department of Sport Science, and organiser, together with the SU Museum, of the conference.

The keynote speaker at the conference is Professor Andre Odendaal, Honorary Professor in History and Heritage Studies at UWC and well-known cricket history writer, former Director of the Robben Island Museum, CEO of Western Province Cricket and leading academic and researcher.

According to Cleophas, Odendaal can be regarded as the father of black cricket history writing. His The story of an African game (2006) remains a focal point for all South African cricket history writers. The book was highly acclaimed with a foreword by former president Nelson Mandela. Besides this book, he has authored numerous publications about cricket and black South African history. Odendaal has a historical relationship with SU. He studied up to Masters level here in the 1970s, and was also editor of Die Stellenbosse Student and captain of the league-winning university cricket team in that time. But instead of following the establishment path, he chose instead to join the struggle and pursue his sports career under the banner of the SACOS, thereby associating himself with mass participation.

“It was this reason that he was approached as keynote speaker for this conference and the overall theme of the conference, “Themes in the decolonization of sports history”, therefore also fits in with Odendaal’s oeuvre. The conference can thus be seen as an expansion of his work, where new insights, new methodology and new substantive stories are discussed,” Cleophas said.

Themes at the conference include “Dressed for success: Historicizing Nelson Mandela and the 1995 Rugby World Cup”, “Social media: the last hope for creating a non-racial sport archive”, “The demise of a vibrant school sport programme in a post-Apartheid South Africa”, “A Tale of Two Sports Fields: Contested Spaces, Histories and Identities at Play in Rural South Africa”, and “Muslim women and sport: On traversing the politics of ‘religious’ identity”.

• The book Literature, Life and Cricket, by Yusuf Chubb Garda, will also be launched at the event (information attached).
• Liaise with Dr Francois Cleophas at cell 084 444 6004 for more information

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