“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity”.* This will be my last blog regarding the Winter School 2011. Today is the Wednesday of the week following the ending of the School, and I need to round off things for my own sanity. On the 4th May my closest friend was in a motorbike accident. For nearly 6 weeks he was in Intensive Care, fighting internal injuries. He was healing. He was getting better. On the 14th of June 2011 an infection attacked his weak body, he grew weary, and he could no longer fight. That evening, he passed away. For 4 weeks I walked in a world that had been stripped of colour, a grey world of fog and shadows. I didn’t mourn, I didn’t weep. Something in me died along with him that night. I couldn’t bear the idea of the Winter School starting on the 11th...

- While writing this blog we are listening to Arshad’s Bollywood music online radio channel –We are drinking ‘Dutch courage’ (formerly known as beer: We developed our own slang within this very month) - ‘Born stubborn meWill always beBefore you countOne two threeI will have grown my own private branchOf this tree’ The course is over. I am really tired: Lack of sleep. I couldn’t sleep early because I had to digest impressions. If I was able to sleep early, I woke up early to study. ‘You gardenerYou disciplinerDomesticallyI can obey all of your rulesAnd still be, be’ I think I am having a crisis. A crisis: a situation were normal habits are no longer sufficient to cope with things of important matter. Please believe me: It is not that I am begging for attention. It doesn’t hurt, at least, not too bad. Is this the pluralism effect? This ís the designated result of a course like this.  ‘I thrive best hermit styleWith a beard and a pipeBut now I can't do thisI ne...

The last day of lecturers was full of excitement as people prepared to receive their certificates, no lectures, no discussions, no group work – at last. But before the certificates were given out, Dewi presented a 10 minute Indonesian dance (Golek Ayun-Ayun) regarding the princess who was admiring her beauty. It was amazing how she gracefully twisted her fingers, feet, legs and eyes. This confirmed the prejudice that Indonesian people especially the Javanese are humble people. The music sounds like a lullaby and I almost went to sleep had it not been because of the amazing moves Dewi was making. This dance was is completely the opposite of all the Ugandan dances I know of, full of “African energy” with lots of waist and chest fast moves.  Then came time awarding certificates, as the reader had clearly stated that only those who meet the requirements of the winter school would receive certificates. For the one month of the winter school I kept wondering if someone could miss the...

Today was a great day indeed for it marked the end of the participants’ group presentations that began the previous day, Wednesday 3 August 2011. There were four ‘thematic‘ groups named according to the themes of the Pluralism Programme i.e. i) Reconciliation, ii) Sustainability ,iii) Identity, and iv) Pluralism Effect. The supervisors of the groups were JC de Merwe, Prof. Henk Maschont, Dr. Caroline Suransky, and Prof. Ram Kakarala respectively. As per the tenets of the Pluralism programme itself the composition of the groups was ‘cosmopolitan’ for each group had to have a minimum of three different nationalities. It is no doubt this international mix which added flavor to the internal debates and dynamics as the group members charted out the different perspectives and modalities to follow in presenting their case studies. The topic for this morning’s presentation was Identity and it included case studies by Jimmy and Teresa, both from Uganda, Phumzile from South Africa, Agus from...

What does it mean to be different? Does difference make you an alien (foreigner) to the present society. Does it mean you will never be accepted as an "alien" by this society?Being gay and different, am I an "alien" because I'm so different? Does this difference mean I'm not a part of society? These are the daily questions that I believe gay people or other different people ask themselves. This might be a generalization on my side, because I'm gay or "alien", yet I do ask myself these questions now and then.Does difference mean exclusion of the other? Does difference mean you are not part of us? Does difference mean we are not equal?Lihlumelo Toyana