GU Journal no 7 2011

i s s u e 7 | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1

UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

Takes the children’s side Girma Berhanu, associate professor, with a strong sense of justice page 6 Fight against corruption

are we equal?

GU Journal in South Africa

Bo Rothstein is leading a new program

It’s hard to change genus pattern

Stellenbosch University brings hope

page 4

page 5

page 12

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Words from the Vice-chancellor

A journal for the Universit y of Gothenburg’s employees

December

We want to place ourselves internationally!

E d i to r - i n - C h i e f a n d P u b l i s h e r

Allan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se e d i to r & d ep u t y p u b l i s h e r

Eva Lundgren 031 - 786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se p h oto g r a p h y & r ep r o d u c t i o n

Johan Wingborg 031 - 786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.se

e s s t h a n a month ago, we at the University of Gothenburg experienced a historic moment. As a part of our international week, Global Week, we heard four powerful ex-politicians from the former Soviet Union give their version of what actually happened when the empire fell apart 20 years ago. We found them to be a humoristic gang of gentlemen that gave us contemporary history and entertainment at the same time.

It a l s o b ec a m e clear to me how Global Week as an event is a fantastic opportunity for bringing up important and interesting occurrences on the global arena and actively participate in the international debate. It is also a good opportunity for explaining both how we work and what we want in internationalisation issues. The University of Gothenburg not only has an ambition to take our place internationally. We do it. And we do it in several different ways.

During the years, the University of Gothenburg has sent many students to other countries. The first exchange agreements were made in the 1980s with France and Spain. For most of the students, their stay outside the country was an important and instructive time. For some, it led to vital choices in both their professional careers and living outside of Sweden.

An example of our being relatively good at sending out students is the Erasmus program. We are number three, after Lund and Uppsala, with the University of Linköping close behind. But we can definitely be better at increasing mobility, at getting our students to be more interested in reaching out to the world.

In terms of internship abroad, there is no one that beats us. We are best in Sweden in this area. That feels good since it is an important part of many people’s education.

Internship is also decisive for making foreign students want to come here.

T h e r e i s a n ot h e r area in which the University of Gothenburg stands out – teacher exchanges. Here we’re at the top, even outstanding, in comparison with other schools in Sweden. It is also gratifying that interest is growing in spending a period of time abroad among administrative and technical personnel as well.

g r a p h i c d e s i g n & l ayo u t

Anders Eurén 031 - 786 43 81 anders.euren@gu.se contributing author

Helena Svensson contributing graphic designer

Björn S Eriksson T r a n s l at i o n

Janet Vesterlund address

GU Journal University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Göteborg e-post

gu-journalen@gu.se internet

photo: Hille vi nagel

www.gu-journalen.gu.se ISSN

1402-9626

Our student exchanges with other universities all around the world are of course based on agreements. During the past year, we have entered into a number of new and interesting cooperative agreements on a university-wide level. An example is Zhejiang University in the Hanzhou district, one of the best in China. It’s worth noting that it is the home city of Volvo Car’s owner, Geely. Another university with which we have recently signed an agreement is Seoul National University, one of South Korea’s top three universities. South Korea is extra interesting as a cooperative partner since it is one of the countries in the world that sends the most students abroad.

To c r e at e e v e n stronger internationali­ sation work the University of Gothenburg is now coordinating internalisation issues.

This has a lot to do with needing to be better at receiving and giving practical support to the students and researchers that come here.

The goal is of course for them to thrive and want to stay.

On January 25th next year we will hold the last workshop in the University’s ongoing vision work. It will treat how education can be made more international. Don’t miss it.

Finally, I want to take the opportunity to wish you all a happy end to the year 2011.

issues

7 issues/year. Next issue February 14, 2012. deadline for submission

January, 27, 2012 m at e r i a l

The editorial office declines responsibility for unsolicited material.

You are welcome to quote, but indicate the source. change of address

In writing to the editorial office. c ov e r

Girma Berhanu, Associate Professor of Education.

Photography: Johan Wingborg

Reg.nr: 3750M

Reg.nr: S-000256

Contents

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

vice chancellor

2 We’re going to put the University of Gothenburg on the map!

NEWS 4 Fight against corruption is high on EU’s agenda 5 Equality is good, but excellence is better

4

PROFIle

6 Loves fair Sweden Girma Berhanu, Associate Professor of Education global week

Fight against corruption

10 A more sustainable society

9 In retrospect Portrait of a guest researcher

10 Joan Martinez-Alier says we shut our eyes to the consequences of consumption

Bo Rothstein takes home the biggest EU support ever to research in the social sciences.

It has to be possible, according to the internationally known human ecologist Joan Martinez-Alier.

6 Born with a caul Girma Berhanu, born in Ethiopia, thinks he’s had good luck by being able to pursue studies. He came to Gothenburg in 1993 as a guest student and later did his doctorate in education.

Report from South Africa

12 A series of articles on Stellenbosch University, a school that’s spreading hope in Africa 14 Nanofilter that cleans water 15 A dream come true 16 “The best thing that could have happened to me”

15 Anneli Kamfer

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Report from Stellenbosch University.

Are we really as equal as we think?

An investigation shows the opposite.

14 “University of hope”

9

Professor Cloete drinks water cleaned by a unique innovation.

He is a researcher at Stellenbosch University.

This year’s Global Week is over This is how it went.

Editorial: The pedagogy of hope This issue will take you to one of the University of Gothenburg’s partner universities, Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Photographer Johan Wingborg and Allan Eriksson received scholarships from the Jubileum Fund to visit one of the most progressive universities in southern Africa for study and reporting. It is also one of the partner universities with which the management of the

University of Gothenburg hopes for in-depth cooperation.

Stellenbosch has tradi­tionally been an apartheid university but has in recent years undergone a radical change. The pedagogy of hope, the belief in the possibility of changing society and that research can solve some of southern Africa’s most acute problems, is the foundation of the Hope Project,

the project that now pervades the entire university. We met one of South Africa’s best known researchers, Eugene Cloete, inventor of a revolutionary water filter. The project is also interesting to study from the perspective of creating a profile: How do you change the picture of a university? Stellenbosch University has chosen a different path. It would have been simpler to create grand

slogans but would not have been as good.

This issue is also unusually international. The profile has his roots in Ethiopia, we have a Spanish human ecologist and a humanist who studies how the Western world determines what is art. And of course we’ve followed Global Week, although primarily on Internet. This issue gives only bits and pieces.

We’re happy to report that there is much debate in this issue. We’re very happy for the articles, which show that the Journal engages many people.

Continue to write to us. Now we’ll take a little break and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

ALLAN ERIKSSON & EVA LUNDGREn

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News

Fight against corruption is high on EU’s agenda “Two things never cease to surprise me: the enormous suffering that corruption causes in all areas of life and that the measures we take against it are at best ineffective.”

These are the words of Bo Rothstein. In the spring he’ll be leading a research program on corruption, which is the largest EU investment in the social sciences. appreciation of life, everything is connected to the degree of corruption. It is of the greatest importance for a good life that public institutions can be trusted, even more important than democracy,” says Bo Rothstein professor of political science.

Still, corruption is a research area that has existed for only about 15 years. This is in part because many researchers have been unwilling to say that certain countries are more corrupt than

Photogr aphy: Johan Wingborg

T h r ee o f fo u r children who die of diarrhoea in Tanzania do so despite visits to modern hospitals. This isn’t because the diseases are so difficult to cure but because the hospital employees have sold the medicines or that they’re not even there but are working on the black market.

“You can take almost any problem that has to do with human well-being: equality, economic growth, environmental problems, cardiovascular diseases, people’s

others, but also because of the idea that corruption perhaps can in certain cases be good for getting the ball rolling.

“Many also believe that corruption is a problem of developing countries. But both Greece and Italy are more corrupt than several African countries. There’s also an idea that there is corruption because there is a lack of ethics or that it has to do with different countries’ cultures. That isn’t true either. People who live in hopelessly corrupt societies

»It is of the greatest importance for a good life that public insti­tu­ tions can be trusted, even more important than democracy« such as Nigeria or Somalia take strong moral refrain from the phenomenon. But what do you do if you have sick children and can’t get health care unless you bribe the doctor?”

Bo Rothstein

What can be done to reduce corrup­tion in the world?

“Since this is a type of research where we don’t know from the beginning what we’re going to find, I can’t answer that. But among other things it has to do with finding out what corruption actually is – because in contrast to what many people might believe, corruption is the normal state in the world: about 75 per cent of all the world’s nations are more or less corrupt.

And why some countries – like the Northern European countries, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Chile and Botswana – have fairly little corruption isn’t easy to understand.”

About 75 per cent of all countries in the world are more or less corrupt. It is difficult to explain why Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand are not corrupt.

Co r ru p ti o n i s also an important research policy issue, according to Bo Rothstein.

“I’m on the Government’s advisory council for research and can confirm that the Government hopes for more product oriented research that can create new jobs. But the fact that most

people in the world are poor doesn’t have to do with their having too few things but that they live in dysfunctional societies.

However, the positive message is that something can be done about the problems. Sweden was for example considerably more corrupt 150 years ago and Taiwan and South Korea have also made great strides. For example, greater equality seems to lead to less corruption, maybe because groups that traditionally have had power are broken up, maybe also because women are less corrupt than men.”

T h e r e a s o n w h y this EU support is going to the University of Gothenburg is because the Quality of Government Institute is here, with the world’s largest database of corruption in public institutions. The Institute also works together with Transparency International, one of the leading anti-corruption organisations in the world.

“The application was extremely complicated,” explains Bo Rothstein. “But we got the best possible help from the professionals at the research and innovation service at the University.”

EVA LUNDGREN

Re se arc h on corru ption The research project Anticorruption Policies Revisited: Global Trends and European Responses to the Challenge of Corruption is funded by the European Commission’s seventh frame program. The project’s total budget is about 10 million Euros, which make it the EU’s largest investment to this time in the social sciences and humanities.

Twenty-one research groups from 16 countries are included, such as political scientists, sociologists, lawyers, anthropologists and genus scientists. The project is led by the Quality of Government Institute at the University of Gothenburg under Professor Bo Rothstein.

News

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

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In order to become the best, you need to be 100% devoted to your work, something men do better.

At least this is what many people think, according to two studies from the University of Gothenburg.

N o fa m i ly, no pets, no strings attached to your living arrangements – if you fit this description you can go far. Anna-Karin Wyndhamn and Anna Peixoto’s studies on gender equality at the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science show that the perception of a typical successful researcher is hindering the gender equality work.

‘In order to change the system you have to truly understand the norms that the system is based on,’ says Wyndhamn. ‘And our interviews show that the view of what a successful researcher is like still is very traditional.

People usually think of a man whose work is also his lifestyle and who doesn’t have any commitments besides his work. There is no room for women in this view, since they are still considered to have the main responsibility for children and home.’

And it is this view that makes senior co-workers give younger researchers well-meant advice regarding their private life.

‘For example, it is not uncommon for supervisors to recommend their doctoral students to put off childrearing until the research project allows,’ says Peixoto. ‘Especially women are assumed to be less productive when they have small children at home. And excellence in research is super-ordinate to all policy documents and other objectives.’

T h e h i e r a rc h y in academia is obvious: researchers are at the top, with teaching and administration placed below. The fact that women have a harder time climbing the career ladder is legitimised in a surprisingly blunt manner.

‘Some professors state matter-of-factly that women are

Photogr aphy: Johan Wingborg

Equality is good, but excellence is better inferior when it comes to abstract thinking and that they in fact are better suited for teaching and administration,’ says Wyndhamn.

‘And one professor thought that in order to encourage more women to apply for a job, the job ad should state that a sense of imagination and other typical female characteristics are highly valued. We think it’s great that these professors are speaking their minds, although we at the same time of course think it’s terrible if such values and perceptions are influencing who gets to work and make a career as a researcher.’

T h e r e a r e ot h e r consequences of this traditional view of researchers as well.

‘Men who don’t act according to the norms, maybe because they are equality-oriented or because they have other commitments, are excluded too.’

Not only men are reproducing the norms.

‘The higher you get in the system, the more people tend to support it, regardless of whether they are men or women,’ says Anna Peixoto. ‘This might be because those who have made it far are those who have managed to adapt to the system. Those who encounter resistance go elsewhere, away from academia.

Another reason may be that those at the top never really get to hear what the people towards the bottom are talking about.’

seen as the only way to do well in the global competition where articles published in renowned journals and citation indexes are the only things that are important.

‘But the question is whether we are in fact shooting ourselves in the foot by not daring to move in a new direction. True excellence is also a matter of asking those crazy questions that emerge when old ways of thinking and doing things are challenged.’

E xce lle n ce i s a l s o

to question the publishing hysteria. And the

‘ W e a l s o n ee d

No family, no pets, no strings attached to your living arrangements – if you fit this description you can go far. Anna-Karin Wyndhamn and Anna Peixoto’s studies on gender equality show that the perception of a typical successful researcher is hindering the gender equality work.

university management needs to think about what kind of value system we are promoting, whether we should keep doing research only on things of interest to the journals or if we should defy the template.’

‘The fact that we were able to conduct these studies and that we have been asked to provide feedback signals a willingness to be self-critical, and that’s great,’ says Wyndhamn. ‘But we must start taking these issues

seriously. Serving as an equal treatment representative mustn’t simply be something that is mandated by some document. It must be assigned importance.’

‘The norm system is more difficult to deal with,’ says Peixoto.

‘But if we do the simple things first, I think the norms will eventually change too.’

Eva Lundgren Translation: Debbie Axlid

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Profile

Loves fair Sweden

Profile

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

text Bitti Ingemansson | photography Johan Wingborg

”I was born with a caul, a sign of good luck. My mother was convinced that I was chosen for something special.”

Girma Berhanu has made a long trip. He comes from a slum in Addis Abeba but is now associate professor of education. Children who need special help are his speciality. h e st u d e n t s at the University of Gothenburg aren’t exactly spoiled with teachers from Africa south of the Sahara.

“They usually wonder whether I’m the janitor and what I’m doing there.

But after a few minutes they accept me.”

Girma Berhanu is the only African south of the Sahara with a PhD at the Department of Education and Special Education and suspects that he’s the only one at the University of Gothenburg. He receives me in his workroom. It’s late afternoon and he hasn’t had time for lunch until now.

According to Ethiopian tradition, he offers me half his lunch, fruit, nuts and something to drink.

I say no thank you and ask whether I’m being impolite.

“Not at all. I live in Sweden now,” he says.

And that’s the way it is. But Girma moves in several cultural spheres at the same time.

He grew up in Ethiopia, has now been in the Swedish university world for 15 years but has spent a good deal of time in the US, where many in his family now live.

“It isn’t uncomplicated to join the different cultures,” he says.

S o m e o f t h e questions Girma feels warmest about are mapping how different cultures are important for our different ways of learning, interpreting and acquiring knowledge. His primary research area is school performance among student groups with special needs.

His thesis, which he wrote in 2001, dealt with Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Of the relatively few in the group that graduate from

a university, only 15 per cent gain employment in their professions.

“Several factors are at play here. The group isn’t prepared for the monoculture in the Israeli school. The children can’t speak Hebrew, the only school language. They’re brought up to obey adults’ directives and they take no initiative themselves. Parents have great and absolutely unquestioned respect for the teachers.”

G i r m a w r it e s in his thesis that the problems could easily be helped by for example employing teachers with a knowledge of both cultures. He names Sweden as a good example, where people try to reduce the effects of students’ different cultural, social and economic backgrounds.

“Sweden has been a model country in terms of supporting children that have different conditions.”

But it’s a model that is now being seriously threatened.

“It’s a worrisome tendency that children with weak language skills more and more often are given different diagnoses. These students need support and tools. The trend isn’t yet as clear in Sweden as in other European countries but it points in the same direction. A large part of the students who don’t achieve the knowledge goals of the school have an immigrant background.

They’re children from poor parts of the city, where the mean income is low, and unemployment and social ill health are high. The same conditions we find among Ethiopian immigrants in Israel although they’re more accentuated there since Ethiopians are farthest down on the social scale.”

“It isn’t talent that’s lacking when

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8

Profile

of discrimination on streets and in public environments.

“I’m careful not to go home alone late at night in these neighbourhoods. But I believe in mankind. People aren’t evil, only unenlightened and surely frustrated. But, of course, I am careful.”

Ethiopian students in Israel or suburban students in Sweden fail,” says Girma. “The weaknesses are sooner in attracting talent.”

He s pe n d s a g o o d deal of his time responding to researchers, or pseudo researchers, that claim that differences in intelligence have to do with ethic background. He has just published an article that crumbles two authors’ arguments for race differences using scientific methods.

Girma has always had a good measure of self-reliance.

“I was born with a caul. I was the one the family invested in, even though I might not have been the one with the best conditions.

I’m a good example of what expectations mean.”

The family came from a slum in Addis Abeba. Although they weren’t starving, they could only afford to let one of the six children attend school.

“I got the winning ticket. I had to literally wait in line for it. There was only room for every fifth child at the end of the 1960s.”

by Emperor Haile Selassie, with corruption and oppression.

“We lived a long way from the palace. I saw him race by in his car and I saw the lion he had in the palace gardens.”

The emperor was overthrown in 1974.

The new government made a number of reforms but when dictator Mengistu took power the population was exposed to pure and simple terror. At the same time, there had long been war with Eritrea, which wanted independence.

Girma, who had a university degree, was employed in an organisation under the social department in Ethiopia that helped functionally impaired people, the elderly, orphans and prostitutes. The activities were financed partly by foreign help organisations, among them a couple of Swedish organisations.

“I was responsible for external relations.

It was important to get more donations and I was a really good beggar. During the war there were very many people with war injuries, people who were starving and people who were fleeing to us. We sat on an ocean of problems. It was an impossible task.

Everything collapsed.”

G i r m a co m e s li k e most Ethiopians from a Christian environment. He calls himself a humanist with a strong sense of justice. He laughs easily at the dreams he once had of doing something good for all of mankind, like Desmond Tutu. “”Today I do what I can on a micro level.

Like paying for the education of my young cousins in Ethiopia, all of them girls. It’s extremely important to make efforts for the women in developing countries. That’s the only way to achieve development.”

GIRMA BERHANU

E t h i o pi a n wa s ru le d

He p ro u d ly s h ow s a picture on his wall of him together with Mother Teresa.

“I met her twice. Her organisation supported our HIV children. At that time, at the end of the 1980s, we couldn’t talk about HIV but we helped the children. We were full of enthusiasm and trust and I seriously thought that I could change the Ethiopian society.”

Girma came to Gothenburg as a guest student in 1993. “At the same time I worked at a group home in Kungälv and started to learn about children with special needs.”

He’s stayed with Kungälv since then.

“It’s home. It’s where I feel good. But most of the time I’m at my work place, reading, writing, reading, writing.”

Girma does most things in an intensive

Profession: Associate professor at the Department of Education and Special Education. The first (from 2003) and for the moment the only African with origins from south of the Sahara who is permanently employed at the Faculty of Education Sciences.

Age: 47

“It’s God who should be responsible for justice but here there are people who act like God.” way, such as when he exercises: a run every morning before work and time at the gym a couple of evenings each week. Or when he suggests an idea. He likes to question research and looks for more open discussions.

“My temperament doesn’t always fit in here,” he says and gestures with his hands to show that he means the department, the university or perhaps Sweden.

“Sweden can be boring but on the other hand there’s something invaluable here: fairness. I wasn’t happy about the high taxes in my first years. In Ethiopia I was used to everything depending on the family. But now I realise the advantages of taxes. I will get care when I get old, the buses come on time, if I lose my job I’ll get unemployment benefits.

One day a man from the union came to me and said that my salary was too low!

Fantastic! It’s God who should be responsible for justice but here there are people who act like God.” Girma’s enthusiasm over the Swedish society doesn’t mean that he doesn’t see the disgraces. For example, he’s been the object

Family: A sister with a family and a father in Addis Abeba, a sister in Finland, three siblings with families in the US. Reads: In addition to literature in his field, Amos Oz’ A Tale of Love and Darkness and Ohran Pamuk’s Istanbul.

Background: One of six children in a poor family in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. University degree in sociology and education from the university in Addis Abeba. Defended his thesis at the University of Gothenburg in 2001.

Lives: In Kungälv Interests: Reading, work and leisure often go together, and meeting people.

Strengths: Humble, generous Weakness: Hates to clean Afr aid of: Hurting others Makes him happy: Being together with his siblings and when his texts are accepted Is irritated by: Injustices Favourite food: Swedish food: salmon; Ethiopian food: pancakes, injera bread.

Most recent film: The King’s Speech Most likes to listen to: Ethiopian jazz and blues with blue tones, always has music in the computer.

Motto: Everyone’s right to be included.

What you didn’t know about Girma Berhanu: He has translated hundreds of letters written by Ethiopian children who receive support from Amarinja to English and Swedish.

Global Week

9 photogr aphy: helena åberg

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

Another successful Global Week Vytautas Landsbergis, the Republic of Lithuania’s first head of state, Gennadij Burbulis, one of Boris Jeltsin’s closest advisors, Stanislau Sjusjkevitj, Belarus’ first president, and Leonid Kravtjuk, the first president of the Ukraine, talked about the fall of the Soviet Union twenty years ago.

“We probably have to be careful that we don’t compete with ourselves,” says Pernilla Danielsson, international coordinator. “We had two international seminars, one about the fall of the Soviet Union and one on climate. It’s fantastic that the University of Gothenburg is so prominent in the area of the environment that we can arrange a debate with one researcher from each climate panel in the IPCC: Thomas Sterner, Deliang Chen and Ulf Molau. And listening to politicians who were there when the Soviet Union collapsed twenty years ago was very exciting.”

In addition to lectures and seminars, there was also a language course and administrator exchange with different partner universities. Seven alumnae were there who talked about their experiences abroad.

“Thirty persons, primar-

ily administrators but also a few teachers for international students, came,” says Karolina Catoni, international officer at Student Affairs. “In addition to the main program we also offered lectures, workshops and social activities, such as a yoga course. Everybody also had the opportunity for study visits to the department or the unit that they were particularly interested in. The administrator exchange is of course a way to market the University of Gothenburg abroad.

But it’s also an excellent opportunity for our personnel to meet colleagues from other schools, primarily in Europe.”

T h e a d m i n i st r ato r s also contributed to the international atmosphere during the week.

Karolina Catoni heard time and again how impressed they were by the event.

“Even though they may have international arrangements at

home, they were still surprised that Global Week is so big and varied, with lectures and workshops for everyone, both employees and students. Getting to meet colleagues, from Sweden and other countries, in a pleasant atmosphere was also very much appreciated.”

New t h i s y e a r was the TEDx conference, where several researchers held short lectures that were sent live on the internet.

“Our ambition is to test something new at each Global Week,” Pernilla Danielsson tells us. “For next year we’re also going to try to get more people involved who can work with the week.

Our little group has had a heavy responsibility. But otherwise I’m very satisfied.”

EVA LUNDGREN Web tv and references from the event are available at www.globalweek.gu.se

photogr aphy: helena åberg

Maybe there was even too much going on?

photogr aphy: carina elmäng

”I’m very satisfied, everything went above expectations,” says Pernilla Danielsson, catching her breath after an eventful Global Week.

Among other things the week offered a speech

by Thorvald Stoltenberg, a climate debate, activi­ ties at the faculties, a language course and visits to about thirty administrators from other countries.

Upper: Depletion of cod already started during Medieval times, according to historian Erika Harlitz, who spoke during the TEDx conference.

Lower: The climate negotiations in Durban were discussed by professors Thomas Sterner, Deliang Chen and Ulf Molau.

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Portrait of a guest researcher

text helena svensson | photography Johan Wingborg

Human ecologist on the war path A more sustainable society. It has to be possible according to the internationally known researcher Joan Martinez-Alier, whose work deals with ecological economics and environmental economics. h e eco n o m i c c r i s e s can change our routine patterns with respect to how we use energy and materials is Joan Martinez-Alier’s answer to how he believes the ongoing crises in Europe and the USA affect our ecological thinking.

During the fall he’s been a guest professor in human ecology at the School of Global Studies. He’s been invited to speak about the difference between ecological economics and environmental economics, the distribution of the world’s resources and what conflicts arise in connection with them. He also speaks about the fight of poor people for a better environment and how we should be more aware about how we can achieve a more sustainable society.

J oa n M a r ti n e z-A li e r ’ s door is open.

When he looks up from the computer screen I immediately feel welcome and our conversation is on its way. He says that he works a lot.

“I read, write and teach all the time. It’s like a final sprint and with my 72 years I hope to be able to continue for another five, ten years.”

He’s a little self-critical and says that he should listen more than talk and spend more time with his grandchildren, who are in London and Barcelona. Joan was born in Spain but has lived in many countries, primarily in Great Britain but also in Latin America and India. He has a constant desire to learn new things and to be active. He’s frequently engaged all over the world.

Debates, conferences, lectures, publishing articles and books, and his professorship in economics and economic history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Catalonia, since 1975. He’s also a part of the editorial office of the international scientific journal Ecological Economics.

“I also work at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), an institute for environmental science and technology, at the university in Barcelona. There I have ten doctoral

students that are always writing articles for scientific journals. A large part of my work is to support them and push them forward.

But I also travel a great deal – I’m sorry, I contribute to emissions. I work with many environmental activists in several countries, they know what’s going on. I was recently in Mexico and Colombia, where I learned about the mine conflicts and about new dams that are being built. The extraction of coal and gold is horrible. People complain and some are killed. We in the importing

“We in the importing countries suffer from consumer blindness and don’t know what the social and environmental costs are of the products we import” countries suffer from “consumer blindness” and don’t know what the social and environmental costs are of the products we import.

I’m very interested in debating “degrowth” in rich countries,” he says.

Degrowth is a concept that stands for an equal de-escalation of production and consumption.

Last year he participated in a large conference in Barcelona on the subject of “economic de-escalation for ecological sustainability and social equality” together with authors such as Serge Latouche in France, Herman Daley in the US and Tim Jackson in Great Britain. In Sweden, Christer Sanne and Kenneth Hermele write about zero growth.

“I’ve also met people here in Gothenburg who share this view. The other day, Stellan Tengroth gave me a little book in Swedish that’s called Tillväxt till döds (Growth to Death) when he came to one of my open lectures. Unfortunately I don’t know any Swedish but it was a nice gesture.”

It ’ s n ot t h e fi r st time Joan Martinez-Alier has been in Sweden. He says that ecological economics, which is a cross-disciplinary approach, first came about partly in Sweden with Anne-Mari Jansson at Stockholm University and Carl Folke and Karl-Erik Eriksson at Chalmers. There have been many trips during the years.

“I’m interested in Sweden and would very much like to know more about the environmental movement and development of social welfare. I remember one visit particularly. It was in connection with a meeting for ecological economists ten days after the Tjernobyl catastrophe in May 1986.

The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining but the cows were kept indoors.”

T h i s ti m e , lec t u r e s and a course for doctoral students are on the agenda.

“The last time I was in Gothenburg, 1991, I had time for some sightseeing, but I haven’t had time to look much at the port – I’ll have to take a closer look some other time. When I’m travelling, I mostly work and read. At the moment I’m concluding the writing of a book on the relationship between energy production and energy use.”

He also works cooperatively with Professor Alf Hornborg at Lund University, who is one of the parties in a large research project that is being started, called EJOLT (Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade). The purpose of the project is to make an inventory of conflicts in resource extraction and waste management and will continue up to 2015.

He looks at my necklace, which is a seahorse, and I think immediately that it might be a piece of jewelry that was produced in an unecological chain, but Joan calms me and says that by wearing it I bring attention to an endangered animal. It’s how we think and discuss issues such as the environment and our common resources that can get us to change our views. How we spread knowledge and inform each other. Questions on ecological economics, human ecology, have to become mainstream, he says. It has to do with questions such as: Who owns the air into which all excess carbon dioxide is emitted? Are ecological values only valid when they’ve been translated into economic terms or do biomass and biological diversity

Announcements

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

New transitional rules set

(bildtext) During the fall, Joan Martinez-Alier has been guest professor at the School of Global Studies. He is one of the world’s best known human ecologists who contintue to read, write and teach despite his 72 years.

have a value of their own? He uses social media to reach out, and several of his interviews are on Youtube. He also has a Facebook page but hasn’t yet opened an account on Twitter.

“In the modern food industry, more and more energy is used when we produce and transport food. If all people’s basic needs are covered, we don’t need to increase consumption. It is these types of questions that we in the human ecology group at Global Studies discuss.” meet teachers and students at the School, they tell me how rewarding and inspiring it is to listen to and meet Joan MartinezAlier. They feel that he puts words to what they’ve thought and explains concepts they’ve heard about. Here they speak of a “Tranströmerish” aspect of human ecology’s meanderings, a way to make the unfathomable and the unspoken large, clear and understandable.

On my way out of his workroom I turn and ask the question I feel I have to, whether he believes that the world can be saved.

“Yes, I’m convinced of that,” he answers. With those words I move hopefully on. Joan continues to work at his computer.

W h e n I l at e r

JOAN MARTINEZ-ALIER At the present: Guest professor in human ecology, School of Global Studies Subjects: Degrowth, ecological economics, political economics, environmental history Work pl ace: Autonomous University of Barcelona in Catalonia Age: 72 Lives: in Barcelona Family: Divorced, three children Most recent book: Maria by Jorge Isaacs Most recent film: Sucumbios, tierra sin mal (documentary) Music he listens most to: Bach’s cello sonatas Favourite food: Paella (with quinoa) Motto: “Libertas perfundet omnia luce”. “Plus est en vous”. (Freedom spreads light to all. There exists more in you.)

Pending the new rules for the University of Gothenburg, the University Board set a number of transitional rules at the meeting on December 14 that will apply until July 1, 2012. These are provisions that regulate how to appoint the new faculty and department management, which will be chosen at the latest by April 30, 2012.

The decision means a coordination of today’s rules. What is new is that all employees will have the right to vote, unified rules will be introduced on the department level, the number of members in the faculty board will be determined and the mandate periods will be the same throughout the University of Gothenburg. A faculty board shall have 11 members, of which three will be students. The dean and vice dean will be included in the faculty board and a majority shall be “scientifically or artistically competent”. All members except for the students will be appointed through an election. After the election, the Vice-chancellor will appoint a dean and vice dean. The departments will be led by a department council that consists of at least nine members. A majority must be scientifically or artistically competent here as well. The students have the right to two to three members, depending on the size of the department. The right to vote to the faculty board and department council is conferred to employees who have a half-time employment and who have worked for at least two years.

An exception from the rules was also decided upon at the meeting. Departments that consider that they have special reasons can apply with the Vice-chancellor to be exempt from the requirement of electing members for the spring elections. As there is little time, the current faculty and department boards will appoint a panel that includes at least one student.

At the next meeting on February 20 the Board will make a decision on rules to apply until July 1, 2012.

No new promotion system yet First in the spring will the University of Gothen­burg be able to introduce a system with a clear career path for teachers, according to Ulf Broberg at the Human Resources Department, who is leading the work on a new employment structure.

“We’re in a time of waiting. The basic idea is to introduce a so called tenure track system that includes a four-year permanent employment. To be able to do this, however, today’s conditions for contracts and constitution must be changed, which hopefully will take place early in the spring.

LAS provisions about time-limited employment apply today. SUHF (the Association of Swedish Higher Education) however shall manage the question of special provisions for university teachers.

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12

Report from South Africa

text allan eriksson | photography Johan Wingborg

In November, GU Journal visited one of the University of Gothenburg’s partner universities in South Africa, Stellenbosch University.

The university Before, Stellenbosch University was seen as an old apartheid university – admittedly successful, but traditional and conserva­ tive. Now everyone’s talking about the university that wants to spread hope and contribute to a better world.

T h e H o pe P rojec t was launched on July 21, 2010. This was to put Stellenbosch University on the map as a prominent University that through its research helps to solve some of Africa’s most acute problems.

Preparations had been going on for over two years.

It all started in 2007 with the appointment of Professor Russel Botman, the first Black rector at the University. As a theologian he had studied the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire and been inspired by his liberation pedagogy about how human liberation can be achieved by practically and theoretically acquiring knowledge. The pedagogy leads to insight about the oppression to which one is exposed and, not least, how to come out of it.

Highest up in the administration building we meet Arnold Van Zyl, Vice-Rector (research), who has been in Gothenburg several times. He explains that the Hope Project is based on helping people to bridge “a learned helplessness”, to see what is possible instead of staying caught in an attitude that paralyzes their actions.

“It’s never someone else’s fault. Either you blame what you’ve inherited from apartheid or the current political situation. But how can we together create a better South Africa? We who are in academics have to think in a new way, dare to break old patterns. The question is how we best use the knowledge to be able to generate new knowledge that changes people’s lives for the better, so that we can instil hope. Research has to respond to the needs of society.”

“Science for society” has become the University’s motto. The hope concept is a guiding principle for research, education

and cooperation with society. The whole philosophy is based on hope leading to change.

By putting their efforts into education, people gain the power to liberate themselves from fear and prejudices, according to Arnold Van Zyl, who maintains that the university has a responsibility and an obligation to do research, to spread knowledge via teaching and, not least, to use knowledge to develop society.

W e p ro cee d to meet Senior Director of Communication and Liason Mohamed Shaikh, who is advisor to the chancellor. He was the first coloured student in the middle of the 1980s to be accepted into the journalist program during the apartheid racist educational system. He has been deeply involved in all steps in the conversion of the University.

“The question is how to change the picture of a strong and successful university that is not experienced as crucial by the large majority of the population. It was a university with a divided personality. It had to do with going from success to significance and contributing to solving problems in society. Yes, it was an enormous challenge,” says Mohamed Shaikh.

The management chose to work on five themes based on the UN’s millennium goals, where the university could make the greatest difference in the needs in southern Africa: eradicating endemic poverty and related conditions, promoting human dignity and health, promoting democracy and human rights, promoting peace and security and promoting a suistanable environment and become a competitive industry.

T h e n it wa s time for a great call, looking for projects that would best respond to these goals. The management invested almost R350 million (270 million Swedish crowns). In a screening process, 22 projects were chosen that received funding for three years, with a requirement that they would

be self-sufficient the final two years.

In that way the chancellor was able to get academics on the wagon, according to Mohamed Shaikh, who admits that it all sounds positive and idealistic, while in reality it was an effort that met with scepticism. Many people wondered whether the university would be changed into a charity organisation.

Arnold Van Zyl is Vice-Rector (research) at Stellenbosch University.

of the Hope Project was never that all research should fit into that profile but to start up a multi­disciplinary effort where researchers from different disciplines come together to present solutions to problems. But it also had to do with changing the traditional picture and strengthening the University’s position inter­nationally.”

At the same time, a gigantic fundraiser was held to bring in R1,7 billion by 2015 – the largest fundraiser ever among African universities.

“But the purpose

Report

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

13

Zimbabwe Botswana Namibia

Mozambique Pretoria

Swaziland

Johannesburg

South Africa

Lesotho

Stellenbosch University Capetown

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSIT Y Stellenbosch University, 40 kilometers east of Cape­town, is beautifully situated at the foot of high mountains and is surrounded by green vineyards.

Stellenbosch is a small city (population of 60 000) that is almost completely dominated by the University and study life. The city is known for all the oak trees that were planted by the Dutch during the 1600s, which has given the place the nickname of Oak City. Most of the buildings are whitewashed and have a typical Cape Dutch architecture.

Stellenbosch University is ranked as one of South Africa’s best universities – perhaps the foremost research university on the African continent.

Stellenbosch University was originally a university for the white, Afrikaans-speaking portion of the population. It formally became a university in 1918 but was founded over 150 years ago. The University is broad and covers all the larger scientific areas, with a total of ten faculties distributed over five campus areas. The largest campus area is located in the middle of the city.

Number of students: 28 000. The students are called “maties” (pronounced “maatis”). Very many, 10 000, pursue graduate work. Half of the newly accepted research students are Black.

Student profile: 67% white, 16% coloured, 15% Black and 2% Indian. The goal is to increase the proportion of Black students, which takes place among other ways via quotas.

The most famous place at the University is JS Marais square, which is named after the University’s largest donor, Jannie Marais. It’s also called Red Square and is the big gathering place for students. It’s the site of JS Gericke Library, which is the only library in South Africa that is built entirely underground.

“We need investments so that the Hope Project will continue. It’s completely necessary for us to be able to recruit the best researchers and the best students. It also means more scholarships to students who come from poor environments with little experience of study.

After having worked in silence for two years, the Hope Project was launched in July of 2010 for the public. The whole project was backed up with brochures, newspapers and homepages. One and a half years later, measurements showed that it had been a successful effort that changed the picture of the University,” says Mohamed Shaikh. “ E v e ry t h i n g i n d i c at e s that we’ve succeeded. We’ve been given great and positive exposure in the press. We’ve changed the discussion about the University. Now everyone talks about us as the university that spreads hope.”

According to Mohamed Shaikh, the great-

“We’ve changed the discussion about the University.”

MOHAMED SHAIKH

Language: Without doubt the question that arouses the strongest feelings and the most debate. Teaching is held in both Afrikaans and English.

According to the new language policy, which was revised last year, students can choose between Afrikaans and English or both. A little more than half of the students in the undergraduate programs have Afrikaans as their native language. On an advanced level, activities are generally run only in English.

Number of employees: 2 800

est challenge was to create a profile that was both easy to absorb and believable. The message was “hope”, which could be adapted and interpreted in many different ways. And which is repeated over and over again.

“Branding usually has to do with formulating fancy and grandiose slogans that you use in all communication and marketing, but we chose to take a completely different path. People don’t believe in messages like that – they have to be anchored in reality and have a real effect on the role of the university in society. It’s obvious that we’ve had problems in the past, but we’re concentrating on the future: How can we create a better world and how can we instil hope?”

International students: A total of 3 650, from 100 countries. 57 % come from other African countries (primarily Namibia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria). The majority of the foreign students study on an advanced level or graduate level. The proportion of foreign students increases by 10 to 15 % each year.

Mohamed Shaikh is Senior Director of Communication and Lia­son and is also a member of the chancellor’s manage­ ment group.

The University has over 1 200 students that study for shorter time periods, 3 to 6 months. About 1 300 are exchange students, of whom most come from Germany, Holland and the USA. The University of Gothenburg sends two or three students each year to Stellenbosch, but no South African student has yet come to GU. To deal with this imbalance, the partner universities are encouraged to subsidize guest students’ costs.

Report from South Africa Photogr aphy: Johan Wingborg

14

Nanofilter that cleans water A group of researchers at Stellen­bosch University has developed a filter that can clean contaminated water directly from the bottle. The invention, which has become world news, came at the right time and fit perfectly in with the Hope Pro­ ject. It also became a success­ ful start for the Stellenbosch University Water Institute.

O n e o f t h e country’s leading water researchers, microbiologist Eugene Cloete, became Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences in 2009. We meet at his office, which has a view of Red Square and the library, this grey but mild early summer day in November.

We ask him to tell the whole story from the beginning. He doesn’t object at all, even though he’s been interviewed a countless number of times, by for example BBC, Euronews and CNN. We have one hour – then he has a meeting with investors.

Eugene Cloete mentions that a series of coincidences was behind the invention. Already in the first week when he went around the faculty he came into contact with a chemist’s work on nanofibers, which stirred his curiosity. He himself did research on enzymes to inhibit the growth of sludge that collects on wet surfaces, which is a large problem in industry.

“When I saw the nanofiber, I thought it could be possible to make a membrane of nanofiber and why not incorporate the enzymes in the fiber. I suddenly found that you could combine the two techniques.”

The other decisive occurrence was when two microbiologists who had recently completed their doctorates, Michéle de Kwaadsteniet and Marelize Botes, came by his office and asked whether he could offer them a position.

“I could hardly believe it

was true, one of them had even worked with nanofibers. I hired them on the spot. When we started to do tests in the laboratory with small filters – the size of tea filters – we saw that it was very effective.”

The bag is manufactured of nanofibers and is treated with biocides, which kill bacteria; activated carbon is added to remove chemicals.

“What I already knew was that if people didn’t have the possibility to take responsibility for their own water supply where they were, it would never work.”

T h e l ac k o f c le a n water is one of the largest health problems in the world. About 1.2 billion people in the world, of whom there are 450 million in Africa, don’t have access to clean drinking water. There are 10 million people in South Africa alone. Every fifth child in Africa dies before the age of five years of diseases related to water.

The patent is owned by the University, the licence has been sold to a South African company that will manufacture the filter and the plastic bottles are mass produced by a Chinese company.

Things have gone quickly since the idea was developed in October of 2009. A little more than two years later it’s time for commercialisation on a large scale.

He tells us proudly that the American journal Scientific American listed the invention as one of the ten world-changing ideas in 2010.

“What we’ve done is completely new and opens new possibilities for research,” says Eugene Cloete, who is now working further on other applications, of which the most important is cleaning sea water.

“We’ve already developed particles that can clean sea water of salt. I think that we’ll achieve a breakthrough within two or three

Eugene Cloete maintains that water supply and sustainability have to go hand in hand. But not just that: “With the filter it will also be possible to achieve the millennium goals. What is needed now is political will,” he says enthusiastically while we walk over to the laboratory.

Allan Eriksson Simple technique. Research assistant Michéle de Kwand­ steniet and Professor Eugene Cloete show the machine that weaves nanofiber into filters. The research team has deve­ loped a filter that fits onto the neck of a bottle, which filters chemicals and kills bacteria. The filter is a combination of nanofibers, biocides and activated carbon.

WATER INSTITUTE

years and in that case we’ll be the first in the world.”

Eu g e n e C lo e t e lists the advantages of the filter: it’s portable, simple, cost effective and environmentally acceptable.

“The really poor people can’t afford the filter, even if it only costs a couple of crowns, but they’ll receive it for free from humanitarian and voluntary organisations and other phil­ anthropists. The rich countries will have to pay more, the poor ones less.”

Eugene Cloete founded the Stellen­ bosch University Water Institute, which is an umbrella organisation in the Hope Project, in 2010. The ambition is to take on the great challenges that have to do with water supply in Southern Africa. A number of research areas have been initiated on the basis of different themes. The Institute gathers researchers from 6 faculties and 17 departments that all work with water in different disciplines. A total of 56 graduate students are tied to the Institute. There are plan for increased cooperation with the University of Gothenburg.

Report

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2011

A dream come true Young, black, lesbian and poor.

Against all odds, you could think. But Anneli Kamfer, 24 years old, is one of many who have gotten the chance to follow a preparatory music program at Stellenbosch University.

“It’s changed my life completely,” she says.

A n n e li K a m fe r has just gotten off the plane from Johannesburg, where she performed at the music gala Hyde Park. It was the second time in her life that she has flown, an experience that she still hasn’t really gotten over.

“A frightening experience,” she says while we walk toward the white conservatory with its palm trees swaying in the breeze.

She shows us the concert hall, where rehearsals are being held.

Anneli comes from a township outside Swellendam, a fairly small city along the beautiful Garden Route on the way to Port Elizabeth. It takes almost three hours for her to travel back and forth each week.

or less by chance that she came to the University.

She sang at a concert in her home town and the vice-chancellor for research, Arnold van Zyl, who also comes from that city, heard her. Shortly after she received an invitation for an audition.

“I still remember that conversation today. It changed my life.

I sang a lot when I was little but I couldn’t dream of being accepted to a university,” says Anneli.

Her face breaks into a broad smile when she talks about how much Arnold van Zyl’s support has meant to her.

is jazz.

“When I was little I kept myself awake late a night and listened in secret to music programs on tv.”

She wouldn’t have been able to study without a number of sponsors who paid her study fees, student room, food and other living costs.

“I really didn’t know anything about music before I started. I also thought that the university would be very white, but there are many different people and cultures here.”

She’s already established herself as a jazz singer who attracts a public.

She became aware of her sexual preference fairly early, although it took a long time before she dared to tell the people around her.

“I’ve probably always been lesbian. But I kept it a secret. When I finally decided to come out of the closet my mother said that she’d always had a feeling that I was A n n e li ’ s pa s s i o n

Fun and interesting Åsa Linghede, a law student at the University of Gothenburg, was an exchange student at Stellenbosch University during the fall. It’s been an exciting time, she tells us.

“I’ve really appreciated the time at Stellen­ bosch. Before I went I was a little doubtful and wondered whether this was really something I want to do, but now I’m unbelievably happy that I came. It’s been a lot of fun and interesting! I’ve really enjoyed it and Stellenbosch is a good university.

Although of course there are also things that have been hard. The worst one I think is the big differences that there are in South Africa and the segregation and racism that are so obvious here. South Africa is one of the world’s most unequal countries. Stellenbosch is a well to do and mostly white city, but like with almost all South African cities, there’s a shantytown close by. Sometimes it feels like we live in a little rich bubble and I can have a bad conscience over having so much when so many others, who are so close by, have so little.

W e g o d ow n the stairs to a little studio. Anneli sits at the piano and starts to sing Autumn Leaves.

Growing up in the new South Africa gives hope, she says.

“We have to accept that it takes time to change a country.

Fifteen years is too short a period to fix all the injustices that were created under apartheid. Most people don’t understand that.

But we should be better at taking care of the cultural treasure that this country has and using it in a positive way. Then the future would look very bright.”

allan eriksson Photogr aphy: Johan Wingborg

It wa s m o r e

“The world needs more people like him.”

Anneli is one of over 200 students who follow the “Certificate Program for Music Literacy”, which is formed to educate students who lack formal music training.

lesbian and hugged me. But the reactions of my family and friends have been mixed. It isn’t anything that’s socially accepted in South Africa and I’ve had to pay a high price for going public,” says Anneli with tears in her voice.

“I lost many friends. My family turned their backs on me. People still think that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured.”

Despite the fact that she lives in one of the few countries in the world that recognize the rights of homosexual, transsexual and bisexual persons and whose constitution guarantees all people’s equal value, reality is different.

Music has been what’s saved her, she thinks.

“When I sing I forget the difficult moments. My dream is to achieve such a high musical level that people will remember me. One of my big idols is Ella Fitzgerald.”

Anneli Kamfer wants to be a jazz singer. She’s one of 200 students from poor environments where there is no experience of studying who has gotten the chance to study music at Stellenbosch University.

It’s also difficult that I feel less free and independent in South Africa than in Sweden.

It’s harder to get around without a car and because of safety I don’t like going home alone in the evenings. But, in terms of safety, I don’t think that people who are thinking about studying here should worry.

The courses I’ve followed have mostly been interesting. For instance, I took a course in transitional justice that has to do with the transition from dictatorship to democracy, which is particularly relevant for South Africa, from apartheid to a non-racist representative democracy.

The atmosphere on campus has been good and I’ve met a lot of nice people. The sad thing is that I’ve met almost only other exchange students because it’s hard to get into contact with South African students.

“One thing I really like about studying at Stellenbosch is that it’s given me possibilities to travel around in South Africa and neighbouring countries on vacations and weekends. Southern Africa is fantastically beautiful and interesting. If someone is thinking about studying here, I warmly recommend it!”

15

Report from South Africa

Photogr aphy: Johan Wingborg

16

“The best thing

that could have happened to me” Khotso Mpitso, 30 years old, is a part of the new generation of Black South Africans. Who could have believed it? He grew up in a poor province in northeastern South Africa and came to Stellenbosch four years ago. It was a true clash of cultures. But it’s a choice he’s not sorry that he made.

He ’ s m a d e a long journey: Khotso Mpitso comes from the city of Qwa Qwa in the Free State region in northeastern South Africa, 1 300 kilometers east of Stellenbosch. But as of four years ago, he’s a graduate student in polymer chemistry at Stellenbosch University.

We sit down in a busy conference room at International Office. Khotso has brought his girlfriend with him to the interview, Thepiso, 29 years old, who is studying food science. He studied earlier at the University of Free State but when it was time to continue he wanted first to study at the University of Western Cape, one of the country’s best universities.

But his supervisor suggested Stellenbosch University.

about Stellenbosch University. But I wanted to give it a chance and I’m not at all sorry I did. It’s one of the best universities in the country and the best in my field.”

But the first meeting with Stellenbosch was a true clash of cultures.

“The first week was awful.

I’d come to a traditional white Afrikaans-speaking university.

The entire culture was different.

For example, they play rugby but I play soccer. At the start I missed home all the time, but then I met a student from Lesotho who talks the same language (Sotho) as I

“ I ’ d h a r d ly h e a r d

do and we became friends right away. He helped me to come into the environment. It took a while but I realized that change isn’t so bad after all.”

I a s k w h e t h e r he’s gotten used to the culture after four years. He nods and says that Stellenbosch is a completely different world than the rest of South Africa.

“You get used to it. But I love life here, no doubt about it.”

It doesn’t bother him that Afrikaans is mostly spoken around the university. He says that he manages passably in Afrikaans, but no more than that.

“But, luckily enough, English is what we use in our research group. That is the beauty of it!”

With a doctoral degree in chemistry he has good hope of finding a job in industry. Perhaps to Johannesburg, which is South Africa’s largest industrial, trade and financial center.

“I don’t want to stay here in Stellenbosch. Change is good.

It’s then that you develop. I could also consider travelling to Europe, but I belong here in South Africa.”

K h ot s o i s t h e first in his family to get a university degree. He comes from a rural area around Qwa Qwa, in northeastern South Africa on the border of Lesotho.

“I come from very poor conditions. It’s difficult to imagine, but life there is a constant fight,

“You only get one chance.

I realized that early.” not only for getting food but also managing school fees and paying for the school uniform.

Many people leave school before they’ve finished their studies, but I was disciplined and went to school despite being hungry and got myself out of bed in the morning in spite of freezing temperatures during the winter.”

He says t h at he was lucky to have role models, teachers who believed in him and who inspired and encouraged him to continue.

“You only get one chance. I realized that early.”

Although it’s 1 300 kilometers to his home, he tries to visit as often as he can.

“I miss home all the time, my family and all my friends. My parents have supported me the whole time, stood behind me 100 per cent. They’re of course very proud of me today.”

He doesn’t feel that he’s been treated differently because of his skin colour. But that certain peo-

ple are arrogant and ignorant is something you have to live with, he says.

K h ot s o h a s st ro n g belief in the new South Africa. There are possibilities today that didn’t exist before during Apartheid – Black people were doomed to a life of poverty and the few that could educate themselves could only choose to be policemen, nurses or teachers.

“South Africa’s constitution guarantees all people’s equal value and rights. It’s fantastic.

Skin colour doesn’t play such a big part anymore. The future belongs to us, young and well educated people. South Africa has to invest much more in education – it’s education that’s the key.”

Khotso turns to his girlfriend.

Smiles and puts his hand on her.

“In spite of some problems, this country is going in the right direction. We’re very optimistic about South Africa’s future,” they say and go out toward Red Square on the campus area to be photographed. The sun breaks through the clouds.

allan eriksson