The professorial inaugural lecture is for the university an occasion to celebrate - celebrate in the full meaning of the word, i.e. to perform publicly and duly, to observe and honour with rites and festivities, to publish abroad, praise and extol. Through the custom of the inaugural lecture the university celebrates and affirms its basic function, that of creating, preserving, transmitting and applying knowledge, particularly scientifically-based knowledge. The university appoints to the position of professor one who has attained excellence in the handling of knowledge in her or his discipline, and through a jealous watchfulness over the dignity and esteem of this time-honoured position of excellence amongst scholars, defends the capacity of the university to advance human knowledge and human progress. The University of the Western Cape is particularly honoured to celebrate by way of this address the inauguration of its first ever Professor of Human Rights Law. We take pride from both the position and the incumbent: the post demonstrates our commitment to scholarly relevance, the incumbent to the pursuit of excellence. This university has distinguished itself amongst South African educational institutions for the way that it has grappled with questions of appropriate intellectual and educational responses to the demands of the social and political environment. That search involved debates and contests over what constitutes knowledge or valuable knowledge, over the nature of the process of knowledge production, over the relationship between theory and practice, about autonomy and accountability, about the meaning of "community" and about how the activities of a university are informed by the definition and conception of "community". The decision to establish a chair in Human Rights Law was arrived at as part of that process of searching for the appropriate forms of curricular transformation. South African society with its history of colonial conquest and latterly apartheid rule is one bereft of a rights culture; and where the discussion of a bill of rights and the general establishment of an awareness of human rights had been started in recent times, it has often been motivated by a concern with the protection of traditionally advantaged sectors of society. A university like ours has an obligation to contribute to the debate about and the promotion of human rights in ways which will also be concerned with healing, reparation and reconstruction in this severely brutalised nation. In this address marking his formal assumption of the University of the Western Cape’s Chair in Human Rights Law, Kader Asmal gives testimony of the depth of scholarly rigour and the breadth of humane concern brought to and emanating from this position. The integral coming together of Asmal the international scholar, the anti-apartheid activist of long standing, the seasoned international solidarity worker, the spirited publicist is evidenced in this address which is sure to stand as a signal point of reference in our national debate about this complex subject. The University had been privileged to attract to its staff some of the finest scholars from the ranks of the formerly exiled South Africans; this inaugural ceremony provides the institution with the opportunity to welcome into its midst one of those in the person of Kader Asmal. / Publications of the University of the Western Cape ; series A, no. 64
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:29513 |
| Date | 25 May 1992 |
| Creators | Asmal, Kader |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape Printing Department |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, book |
| Format | 30 pages, pdf |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape, No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher |
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