THE UCT CHAPTER
VOLUME 1
UNASA EXPRESS
14 MAY 2022
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN [https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2022-04-11-faculty-of-law]
Graduation 2022 – A Celebration Unlike Any Other
ALESSANDRO MARSH
Graduation 2022. A break not only from the strenuous ‘norms’ of the COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps too from the old norms of an outdated and alien tradition, and a step towards a distinctly South African one. On the 30th of March 2022, I was fortunate enough to attend my graduation ceremony in person this year, along with Zvikomborero Nyika, Dale van Reenen, Cameron Perumal and Tajme Maharaj from our UNASA Express committee. In the air there was a sense of returning to real life – proud parents and guardians gathered with proud (and perhaps relieved students) in person on what promised to be a memorable day. The skies threatened some rain at the beginning of the ceremony and indeed followed through with their threat above Sarah Baartman Hall, focal point of Upper Campus at the University of Cape Town. But, as was rightly mentioned by Professor Shose Kessi, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, this was no cause for lamentation.
A rainy day in South Africa is a blessed one, and it has been for many generations among the peoples of Africa. Warmed by comradery, students and parents sought shelter beneath the columns of Sarah Baartman Hall and under umbrellas which almost flew away at the behest strong Cape Town winds, as well as under their academic gowns, smiling at each other as if to say, “we’ve made it through our degree and a worldwide pandemic, a little rain never hurt anyone.” Indeed, UCT has had many graduations since its founding in 1829, though perhaps not like this one. This ceremony was not only a clear demonstration of the best university in Africa’s right to create their own tradition, having had a foreign one imposed on it for so long, but also to show that we can do things better! A ‘walk of celebration’ was introduced by UCT this year. Out with the caps, in with a more efficient system of queuing for the special moment – students were given cards on which their names, degrees and distinctions were written, meaning that one could arrive at any time (within the ceremony) and present the card to the speaker who would then read out the name and degree of the graduate. This made for a far more efficient system and, frankly, a far less tedious one. Out with the monotonous alphabetical name calling, in with praise singing for all students – students were welcomed to a moment they deserved in a traditional South African way as the praises of the student body were sung at the beginning of the ceremony: a feeling of proud familiarity for many, and a warm embrace for true African celebration for everyone concerned.
Out with restrictive seating for the nuclear family, in with open-air accommodation for family and friends. The whole of the plaza was open to the public. This meant that whole families could gather to witness the achievement of their youngest members. Clothes representing every facet of South African culture could be seen – their diversity being inhibited only by their common beauty and elegance. Parents and guardians could walk with their graduates in an area demarcated by ropes, and well ushered by staff up until the stairs of Sarah Baartman Hall where they would witness their sons and daughters ascend to the entrance of the hall, have their name announced and applauded, their picture taken with ViceChancellor Phakeng and then move off back to their loved ones. Legitimacy was given to the presence of family, the beauty of the weather (even if it did ruin your writer’s hair), the proud history of Africa and a chance to redetermine it through new practices. Out with the old, in with the better? I think so. The Walk of Celebration is perhaps only the beginning of our self-determination as a generation of graduates in South Africa.
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