1988-2018 Heather Dugmore
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1988–2018
30th Anniversary of
Grantmaking in South Africa
(1988–2018)
Cover Image
Diana Hulton, Mountain XII, 137.5 x 158.5 cm, centre canvas of Mountain Triptych,
oil on canvas, 137.5 x 568.5 cm, 1985–1991
The Constitutional Court Trust and Iziko South African National Gallery
Artist’s Statement
“These are the main concerns of the work: a combination of the deliberate and
scientific with a love of the subject, its ambiguity and elusive meaning, together with
a love of paint, its suggestive potential and the challenge of colour structures in
relation to natural light, atmosphere and the lie of the land. Treated in a series, the
same landscape yields its own unpredictable structures and metaphors.”
Diana Hulton is a professional painter working in oils, acrylic, watercolour, and
other media. She was born in Cape Town, 1945. She painted under the name of
Kenton from 1974 to 1991.
Contents
INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................5 BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCHOLARS AND ARTISTS...............................83
Human Flourishing for Diverse, Democratic Societies..............................................................................................5 The Inclusive Humanities Professoriate Initiative..................................................................................................... 84
Focused on the Future and the Common Good.........................................................................................................6 Academic Career Tracking for Exceptional Students: The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship............ 93
Higher Education and the Humanities as Engines of an Emerging Democratic Society in South Africa.........8 Honours Programme in Curatorship.......................................................................................................................... 97
Message from South Africa’s Minister of Higher Education and Training............................................................ 12 Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra: Education and Outreach ............................................................................ 98
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation............................................................................................................................. 13 A New Generation of Black and Women Academics............................................................................................ 101
30 Years of South African Grantmaking....................................................................................................................... 14 Reimagining Humanities Education Development for a Postcolonial South Africa ........................................ 104
Overall Key Achievements of South African Grantmaking..................................................................................... 22
A Tribute from the University of the Western Cape............................................................................................... 26 CONSERVATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT........................................................................105
A Tribute from Wits University ................................................................................................................................... 27 Fortuitous Fish and Chips............................................................................................................................................ 106
A Tribute from the University of Cape Town ........................................................................................................... 28 A Game-changer for South Africa.............................................................................................................................. 108
A Tribute from the University of Pretoria.................................................................................................................. 29 Bill Robertson and the Kruger National Park......................................................................................................... 109
A Tribute from Rhodes University............................................................................................................................... 30
In Memory of Nelson Mandela and Jakes Gerwel.................................................................................................... 31 PUBLIC ARTS AND HUMANITIES...........................................................................................111
A Conversation with Stuart J. Saunders...................................................................................................................... 32 Becoming Human: the Humanities in Africa............................................................................................................. 112
Celebrating 30 Years: Special Events and Programming........................................................................................... 36 Experimental Art, Connected Communities............................................................................................................ 115
NEW KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION.........................................................................................39 ARTS AND CULTURE.................................................................................................................117
Reviving African Languages at Risk of Extinction...................................................................................................... 40 A Nation of Unique Voices........................................................................................................................................... 118
A Very Creative Moment................................................................................................................................................ 42 Rich, Provocative Interaction in the Arts and Academia....................................................................................... 120
Curating the Past in the Present.................................................................................................................................. 43 The Sophistication of African Rock Art.................................................................................................................... 122
Trauma, Memory, and Representations of the Past.................................................................................................. 44 African Arts Revolution................................................................................................................................................ 124
Love, Fear, Desire, Resistance, and the Politics of the Everyday............................................................................ 47 Protecting Cultural History and Heritage By Caring for Art............................................................................... 126
The History of Rhodes University: Colonisation and the Transmission of Knowledge................................... 50 Conserving Africa’s Vulnerable Cultural Heritage ................................................................................................. 128
Decolonising and Africanising Philosophy................................................................................................................... 53 New Ways of Seeing, New Ways of Conserving..................................................................................................... 130
The New Student Movement in South Africa........................................................................................................... 54
Indexing the Human........................................................................................................................................................ 55 SHOWCASING SPECIFIC GRANT PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS....................................131
Advancing Women Academics....................................................................................................................................... 56 The Everyday is the Aesthetic..................................................................................................................................... 132
The Legacies of Historical Trauma............................................................................................................................. 134
INNOVATION IN POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION.................................................................57 Indexing South African Transformation..................................................................................................................... 136
African Cities and the Lived Complexities of Contemporary Urbanism............................................................ 58 New Ways of Seeing and Holes in the Ground....................................................................................................... 138
Demography, Population, Refugees and Forced Migration...................................................................................... 60 Radically Innovating Historical Knowledge Production......................................................................................... 140
Boldness of Vision From Activist PhDs....................................................................................................................... 61 Sappers at Work and Fresh Dynamite Tamped....................................................................................................... 141
Rethinking Historical Knowledge Production........................................................................................................... 64 Transforming African Cityscapes................................................................................................................................ 142
Thinking From and For The Global South.................................................................................................................. 66 The Longest Running and Largest Humanities Institute in Africa....................................................................... 144
Giving Voice to History’s Silenced People................................................................................................................ 146
SCHOLARLY INFRASTRUCTURE.............................................................................................69 A Global South Lens on Media and Society............................................................................................................. 148
Centres and Chairs – Wellsprings of Thought........................................................................................................... 70 Proving the Effectiveness of Group Supervision..................................................................................................... 150
Honouring Africanness and a Brilliant, Influential Academic................................................................................... 72 Exploring African Popular Literature and Culture.................................................................................................. 152
Libraries and the Intellectual Landscape of Post-apartheid South Africa............................................................ 74 A Different Understanding of Narrative................................................................................................................... 154
Whose Heritage? A Pioneering Master’s Programme.............................................................................................. 76
The Success of Strategic Areas of Scholarship ......................................................................................................... 78 SHOWCASING SPECIFIC SCHOLARSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP HOLDERS AND
The Social and Political Role of Archives in a Democracy .................................................................................... 80 THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS............................................................................................................155
Access Is Everything........................................................................................................................................................ 82 Showcasing Specific Scholarship and Fellowship Holders and their Achievements ....................................... 156
SHOWCASING SPECIFIC SUPRANATIONAL COLLABORATIONS................................161
Precolonial Musical and Human Migrations in Africa and Asia............................................................................. 162
Repositioning the Humanities and Social Sciences in Africa................................................................................ 165
Growing African Research and Researchers............................................................................................................ 166
A Generative Intellectual Space.................................................................................................................................. 167
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Introduction Introduction
Introduction
Human Flourishing for Diverse,
Over the past 30 years, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
has supported various projects at these and other South African institutions: Democratic Societies
Elizabeth Alexander, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The story of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s ourselves, again and again: How do we render and express
grantmaking in South Africa begins 30 years ago, experience? How do we tell our own stories? How do
well before our 21st century mission statement was we make sense of our individual and collective histories
established. Yet it comes as no surprise to me that our in order to shape a better future?
highest purpose was largely the same then as it is today:
The Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where As I ponder the Mellon Foundation’s history of support
necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the for this extraordinary part of the world, I am reminded
arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and that – not unlike democracy itself – our work is a living
democratic societies. being, constantly regenerating in an effort to refresh, to
restore, and ultimately, to thrive.
In his introduction to this celebratory publication, my
predecessor, Earl Lewis, notes that although apartheid We are deeply grateful to have shared this journey with
remained persistent in 1988 when our grantmaking our South African partners and grantees. With gratitude
was launched in South Africa, so too did the Mellon also to our passionate and dedicated International Higher
Foundation’s vision that in order to transform society, Education and Special Projects programme team, I join
we must recognise the critical role of higher education. you in celebrating this important milestone.
After all, transformative experiences take place on
campuses and in classrooms daily – if quietly – at first.
And so, even in the face of a profoundly complex
historical, social, and political situation, the Foundation’s
leadership held steady to our core values, knowing from
experience the individual and societal impacts of the
humanities and the arts.
Indeed, as peer-to-peer collaborations and university and
other partnerships supported by our funding in South
Africa took root, other seeds were planted: among
them, advancement of research capacities in the service
of new knowledge production and dissemination; access
to scholarships and faculty appointments for new and
diverse generations of South Africans; and support for
talented emerging scholars and artists.
In the pages that follow, we discover the many and varied
achievements that blossomed over time and continue to
grow, sometimes in new directions, as a result of those
seeds. We also learn about the contributions of Mellon
grantmaking to local institutions and individual scholars
and students. While each accomplishment has its own
special dynamic in the South African landscape, taken
as a whole, the 30-year history of grantmaking reminds
Elizabeth Alexander.
us of the broader questions we as humanists must ask
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4 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 5
Introduction Introduction
Focused on the Future
and the Common Good
Earl Lewis, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 2013–2018
In the 1988 Mellon Foundation annual report, then University of Cape Town. Photo credit: Paul Grendon.
Foundation President William Bowen outlined the
rationale for making grants to three “open” universities From 2003 the South Africa programme had a previously, the Higher Education and Scholarship in the
in South Africa. Although the edifice and artifice of the particular set of features. First and foremost, Mellon’s Humanities programme area had overseen relations
racially exclusive policies that undergirded the state had representative on the ground in South Africa was the with the American University in Cairo and the American
started to crumble, apartheid was still very much the former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, University of Beirut, with the redesign, both institutions
law of the land and adherence to its dictums was still Stuart Saunders. From the initial list of three universities, became part of a larger Middle East-North African-East
ruthlessly enforced. Nonetheless, Bowen and the board Saunders would guide the programme to include Rhodes African-West African cluster. Rounding out that list are
could see beyond the moment and envision a day when University, Stellenbosch University, and the Universities Makerere University in Uganda and the University of
racially exclusive policies and practices would end. In this of KwaZulu-Natal, Pretoria, and the Free State. Nor did Ghana in Accra. The new IHESP programme included
new day they imagined a critical role for higher education he limit himself to just higher education. He supported institutionally centred projects, national projects, and
in the transformation of South Africa. the Constitutional Court, arts programmes, and other supranational projects.
areas that aligned with Mellon’s focus and mission.
At the time he wrote, “appropriations to the University of Throughout, the goal remained the same: support
Cape Town (UCT), the University of the Witwatersrand vigorous programmes, headed by able people, and give As always, the emphasis
(Wits), and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) them the assistance for success.
were designed to support their libraries and to assist remains a focus on
– through faculty-development programmes – with Following Saunders’ retirement in 2013, then Vice- the future and an
the critical task of maintaining faculty morale during Chancellor of Rhodes University, Saleem Badat, accepted
exceedingly hard times. The broader objective was the invitation to head the South African programme. articulated sense of the
to raise at least a small flag in support of beleaguered Badat’s arrival coincided with two important changes.
educational institutions of high standards, working First, a decision was made to regularise the appointment,
common good.
hard and courageously on behalf of core values which which had Badat working from the Foundation’s New
we share: opportunity for all, without regard to race, York office rather than as a part-time consultant One can say that three elements link these efforts. First,
and freedom of inquiry and expression under the most based in South Africa. Second, he arrived just as the there has been a decided and subtle shift from a priority
difficult conditions.” Foundation outlined a new strategic plan, one calling for being given to solo projects, to a primacy being given
an international higher education programme. to projects that enhance institution building and contain
As a result, there commenced a three-decade-long some likelihood of sustainability. Second, steps have been
engagement between the country of South Africa As always, the emphasis remains a focus on the future taken to support and encourage reciprocal practices of
and its higher education institutions, and The Andrew and an articulated sense of the common good. With the knowledge production. Third, Mellon’s work in South
W. Mellon Foundation. Over the ensuing years the world’s fastest growing and youngest populations, an Africa has long included attention to an alignment with
number of grantees changed, the range of programmes investment in education and allied institutions is critical the larger themes of the arts, humanities and higher
expanded, the focus on South Africa came to embrace for inhabitants of the African continent and the world. education. Today that entails more active cross-partnering
other regional nodes across the continent, and a new The new International Higher Education and Strategic between programme areas, firstly in South Africa, and
programme on international higher education began to Projects programme (IHESP) absorbed the earlier work ultimately in all the sites of our continental engagement.
take shape. From the outset the focus was on the future in South Africa, with its emphasis on faculty development, These are early days for the new programme but there
and the common good. Earl Lewis. curricula enrichment, and social transformation. Whereas are ample reasons for optimism.
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6 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 7
Introduction Introduction
Higher Education and the Humanities as
Engines of an Emerging Democratic
Society in South Africa
Mariët Westermann, Executive Vice President of The Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Photo courtesy of Wits University.
Africa. Acknowledging the moral necessity of ending society organisations. Thus the Foundation’s support for
As the Mellon Foundation is an American philanthropy, I apartheid, he proposed there were more effective ways democratic transition in South Africa has often taken
am often asked how we came to launch and sustain such for Princeton in its capacity as a university to push for forms the Foundation would not have contemplated in
a robust programme in support of higher education and social transformation. Bowen did not delineate those the United States, such as developing fundamental digital
the humanities in South Africa. Since its creation in 1969, strategies, but immediately upon joining the Foundation infrastructure, basic societal data gathering capabilities,
the Foundation has always made international grants, began to seek opportunities to strengthen institutions a recording service for court decisions across Southern
but it predominantly supports institutions based in the that were resisting white supremacist policies, and could Africa, and a first serious opera school. Recognising the
United States. The only other international initiative that lay the foundations for democracy and social justice after South African National Parks as a resource for scientific
received major investment from the Foundation over time the ending of apartheid. Although he did not present research that would be unique to the country, a special
supported population studies in several countries. The Mellon support for South African institutions as an initiative invested in the development of research
South Africa programme is the Foundation’s international alternative to divestment, the divestment debate helped infrastructure in the Parks that has helped them become
initiative that has lasted the longest and is most squarely shape his commitment to accelerating change through a major international site of savanna ecosystem studies.
focused on one country. Why South Africa, what have we such grantmaking.
tried to accomplish, and how have we done?
Mellon support for South African educational and civil
When he joined the Foundation in 1988, President society institutions increased rapidly after the release The South Africa
William G. Bowen was a strong proponent of investment of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and the subsequent process programme is
in progressive South African institutions that could help of dismantling apartheid, and especially after the 1994
set the country on the path to democracy, with full civil transition to democracy. Critical to the programme’s the Foundation’s
rights for all people. As president of Princeton University, developing strategy was the engagement in 2003 of
Bowen had opened channels of communication with the Saunders as senior advisor. The first order of business for
international initiative
leaders of the Universities of Cape Town (UCT), the the Foundation was the training of PhDs and early career that has lasted the
Western Cape (UWC), and the Witwatersrand (Wits). scholars, and especially finding pathways for increasing
Stuart Saunders, vice-chancellor emeritus of UCT, the numbers of postgraduate students and professors of longest and is most
vividly recalls these conversations in his interview in this colour. These emphases were closely aligned with Mellon squarely focused on
publication. At the time, campuses across the United grantmaking for higher education in the United States,
States were debating divestment from companies with although at home our support was dedicated more single- one country.
significant business interests in South Africa as a strategy mindedly to the humanities and the arts than it was in
to apply pressure on the South African government to South Africa.
end apartheid. Most grants, however, have gone to the development
The Foundation took the view that higher education in of higher education in the humanities and related social
In a 1985 address to a Princeton campus forum, Bowen the country had been so badly compromised by apartheid sciences at the country’s research universities, including,
had laid out a set of arguments against divestment as a that our grants should underwrite a broad effort to once they showed signs of change, the historically white
viable mechanism for inducing political change in South Mariët Westermann. build humanities, social sciences, policy studies, and civil universities that had been most closely associated
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8 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 9
Introduction Introduction
help strengthen other higher education systems on the students of colour and to women, the professoriate
African continent, where the production of PhDs and remains disproportionately white and male.
new professors is an urgent need. The Foundation has
supported modest efforts of this kind, for example by While South African society has made real progress in
underwriting the training in South Africa of PhDs from ensuring the civil rights of its citizens with a progressive
other African countries, with the expectation that they constitution and a robust Constitutional Court, the
take up faculty positions in their countries of origin. In country has a difficult road ahead as it continues to
the past few years, South African universities have begun build its democracy and an education system to support
to play an important role in Mellon-supported university it. Under the leadership since 2014 of Saleem Badat,
collaborations across Africa. Their humanities professors the former vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, the
and graduate students also contribute to the Foundation’s Foundation has redoubled its efforts to help South
new efforts to support postgraduate education and African universities become inclusive places of study
research exchange at the University of Ghana and and work for the full range of South Africa’s people,
Makerere University. with curricula that speak to their interests and concerns
while also promoting the highest calibre of humanities
With many challenges to be resolved in South Africa, research. And the Foundation is focused with new
however, the country has not yet been able to deliver vigour on connecting universities within the country
fully on its potential as an anchor for educational and in collaborative projects that can help build a truly
research transformation on the continent. Much work representative faculty, and make common cause with
remains to be done before South African universities universities elsewhere on the continent.
will form a fully equitable and inclusive system of
higher education that can be a beacon on and beyond On this 30th anniversary of our engagement with South
the African continent. Thirty years after our first Africa, we pause to celebrate what has been achieved.
engagement in South Africa, the Gini index of economic The groundwork has been laid for a compact for higher
inequality is higher in this wealthy country than any education that, with the determined will and hard work
other in the world. Within higher education, while of many, should be able to realise the spirit of ubuntu in
universities have become more accessible than ever to the service of South Africa’s next generations.
University of the Western Cape. Photo credit: Paul Grendon.
with apartheid. Thus, the Foundation’s support has Global North, but it is fair to say that three decades
strengthened traditionally liberal institutions and also ago South African institutions would have been too
helped transform erstwhile bastions of Afrikaner eroded to be rated internationally at all. More tellingly,
nationalism. South African universities soon realised within Africa, the most highly ranked universities
the important role that archives, historical and art are overwhelmingly South African. Needless to say,
collections, and oral history projects could play in these results are not to be chalked up to the Mellon
the process of acknowledging the crimes, iniquities, Foundation’s investment of $187 270 500 (1988–2017)
and injustices of apartheid and longer South African in South Africa alone: successive governments have
histories. Mellon support for the humanities in South invested in higher education, if not always equitably and
Africa has often promoted the development and effectively, and the country was a major beneficiary
deployment of such resources and programmes within of the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, a
university contexts. consortium of seven private American foundations
that sought to coordinate its support for education in
Thirty years after the Foundation’s first engagement Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria,
with South Africa, the country’s research universities South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. From 2000 to 2010,
have successfully established themselves in the South African universities received the largest share of
international world of higher education. All are regularly this Partnership’s collective investment, a total of $124
rated in the major world rankings such as the Times million or 28 per cent. Of all the funding provided by
Higher Education or QS World University Rankings, and the Partnership, Mellon’s was most fully dedicated to
some usually appear among the first 400 universities. South Africa.
If looking only at humanities and arts within such
rankings, the South African institutions do considerably As the international university rankings pay significant
better. These rankings are highly dependent on the attention to a university’s ability to deliver and develop
wealth of institutions and on criteria designed by the master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral students, they offer
historically dominant higher education systems of the a rough proxy measure for South Africa’s potential to Rhodes University. Photo courtesy of Rhodes University.
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10 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 11
Introduction Introduction
Message from South Africa’s Minister The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
of Higher Education and Training
Origins well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end,
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was created on it supports exemplary institutions of higher education and
For 30 years, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has 30 June 1969 as a New York based not-for-profit culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable
made a significant and sustained contribution to South corporation through the coming together of the Avalon heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work.
Africa’s development agenda in higher education. It has Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation. The
been one of the longest and most consistent development Avalon Foundation had been established in 1940 by Ailsa International Higher Education and Strategic Projects
partners in our efforts to transform our universities and Mellon Bruce, daughter of Andrew W. Mellon. The Old Prior to 2014, grantmaking by The Andrew W. Mellon
higher education in the interests of equity, social justice, Dominion Foundation had been established in 1941 by Foundation to South African institutions was treated
and development. Paul Mellon, son of Andrew W. Mellon. When the two as a “special emphasis” under the auspices of a largely
foundations were consolidated, the Foundation adopted United States-focused programme. The strategic
To date, the Foundation has invested over $187 million the name The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to honour plan consolidated grantmaking in South Africa under
to support research and postgraduate education, and to their father. a new International Higher Education and Strategic
build capacity in higher education, especially in the arts Projects (IHESP) programme; it also sought to extend
and humanities. At the end of 1969, the assets of the Foundation totalled Foundation grantmaking beyond South Africa to to other
$273 million; by early 2018 the total endowment was $6.7 select international arts, humanities, and educational
In its awarding of over 2 700 honours, master’s, and billion. During the past 48 years, the Foundation has made institutions. The Foundation was of the view that strong
doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships, over 16 000 awards worth $6.35 billion in 73 countries. systems of higher education and cultural institutions were
especially to black and women South African students, Annual grantmaking is close on $300 million. essential to building and sustaining viable polities and
the Foundation has been critical in supporting us to societies in emerging as well as more established regions
build next generations of scholars, and a representative, Mission of the globe, and that its promising experience in South
diverse, and inclusive academic workforce. Since 1969, the Foundation has demonstrated an Africa justified targeted extension of that work to other
abiding commitment to the humanities and the arts, countries or regions where the Foundation's commitment
Recently, Foundation funding has contributed with steadfastness of purpose balanced with flexibility to the humanities, the arts, and higher education could
significantly to promoting a black South African of approach. contribute to nurturing democracies.
professoriate in the humanities, as well as supporting
initiatives to advance curriculum decolonisation and Through forms of representation and expression as old The IHESP programme seeks to support:
transformation in higher education. as rock art and ancient lyric and as new as graphic novels
and digital music, humankind has developed means of • The arts and humanities priorities of institutions that
I warmly congratulate The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation chronicling, recording, analysing, and transmitting its help to build institutional capacities and the individual
as it celebrates 30 years of involvement in South Africa, understandings of human agency, dignity, history, and capabilities of academics and graduate students in
and wish to record our appreciation for the contribution society. Much of this work has been accomplished in the innovative and sustainable ways.
that it has made. I also welcome strongly its recent domains of the humanities and the arts. In tandem with • Programmes that engage scholars across academic
extension of support to universities in other parts of the sciences and social sciences, the humanities and arts disciplines in the joint study of core problems
Africa, and its promotion of partnerships between South deepen our understanding of the human condition and affecting their own societies.
African universities and universities in other parts of the experience. Their values are essential to viable societies • Initiatives that mobilise humanities scholars and
world, especially in the Global South. and to productive relations among them. Since leading artists to undertake interdisciplinary and international
institutions of higher education and culture set and collaboration on key global challenges.
We look forward to many more years of successful extend the standards for achievement in the humanities • Projects that share with the public the benefits of
collaboration as we intensify our work to strengthen and the arts, the task of nurturing them is vital to our teaching, learning, and research in the humanities and
higher education in South Africa as a public good, and as shared global future. the arts.
a key contributor to economic prosperity, a vibrant civil • Coordination of international grantmaking across all
society, and a democratic order. The Foundation endeavours to strengthen, promote, programme areas in order to heighten the salience
and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the of global contexts to the Foundation’s grantmaking.
Minister Grace Naledi Pandor. Photo courtesy of the –– Grace Naledi Pandor humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the
Department of Higher Education and Training. Minister of Higher Education and Training
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12 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 13
Introduction Introduction
important, and he observed, “we learn so much from
those who have had experiences very different from our
own, such as colleagues in South Africa.”
The Foundation awarded the first set of grants to South
African universities, in order to “reinforce broader
themes of the Foundation and address needs of particular
urgency.” Appropriations to what were described as the
30 Years of South African Grantmaking three leading "open" universities in South Africa, the
University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the
Witwatersrand (Wits), and the University of the Western
Dr Saleem Badat, Programme Director, Cape (UWC), were to support their libraries and for
International Higher Education and Strategic Projects developing their scholars. The grants were intended
to support morale during exceedingly hard times,
when universities were under assault from a repressive
apartheid state.
Over a 30-year period, grantmaking in South Africa by
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has displayed both In 1994, a delegation consisting of Foundation staff
considerable continuity and consistency in support of member Henry Drewry, Derek Bok, president of
core goals, as well a nimble response to contemporary Harvard University, and John Marcum of the University Thomas I. Nygren.
and urgent needs of universities and other partner of California at Santa Barbara, visited South Africa to
institutions. There has been an enduring pursuit of core investigate how the Foundation might best provide “a particularly good case can be made for investing more
goals such as strengthening institutional capacities for support. The visit renewed the Foundation’s commitment heavily in South Africa.” His view was that South Africa
research, publishing, and teaching, especially in the arts, to support select universities, and spawned a new initiative “was of strategic importance throughout its continent
humanities, and interpretive social sciences, enhancing to provide support to some historically black universities – and beyond.” He observed that “even before the
scholarship and research on important local, regional, for institutional planning and library acquisitions. dramatic end of apartheid, we believed that the leading
and global questions, and expanding and strengthening ‘open’ universities in South Africa were societal assets of
postgraduate education and training. At the same time, Following the 1990 visit, Drewry directed the Foundation’s great value, which deserved support as they struggled to
in accordance with changing conditions and priorities, the activities in South Africa until his retirement in 1995, at defend their academic integrity and to educate a broader
Foundation has also flexibly lent support to short-term which time Thomas I. Nygren took responsibility for range of students in the face of overt hostility from the
initiatives that have sometimes been incidental to, but not coordinating the programme. In 1995, Bowen argued that government of that day.”
in contradiction with its long-term key goals.
The first decade, 1988–1997
Mellon grantmaking in South Africa began shortly after
William G. Bowen became president of the Foundation
in 1988, bringing with him a longstanding interest in
South Africa. Bowen commented in 1988 that South
Africa’s universities had “much to contribute in the
difficult (but hopeful) transition” that was then under
way, and that “the consequences of success or failure
are so important for all of Africa that exceptional efforts
to be of assistance seem fully justified.” Earl Lewis, the
immediate past president of the Foundation, writes,
“Bowen and the board could see beyond the moment
and envision a day when racially exclusive policies and
practices would end. In this new day they imagined a
critical role for higher education in the transformation
of a society. From the outset the focus was on the future
and the common good.”
Bowen was an internationalist in outlook and understood
the challenges of the late 1980s. For him the Foundation
had to be open to “crossing borders – not just allowing,
but actively encouraging, international connections.”
He suggested that “learn, learn, learn” had to be the
Dr Saleem Badat. essential mantra. In his view, international exposure was University of KwaZulu-Natal. Photo courtesy of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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14 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 15
Introduction Introduction
Grantmaking to universities for studies in conservation overwhelmingly white and male. Fortunately, South Africa
and the environment was expanded, and support was had the academic infrastructure to provide good quality
extended to new institutions such as the South African postgraduate training in many fields. To take advantage
National Parks (SANParks), and the South African of this great asset, the Foundation made significant grants
National Biodiversity Institute. Research collaboration, to key research universities to expand postgraduate
curriculum development, and student training in ecology education, support postgraduate students, and train
involved various South African universities, the National especially promising black and female scholars so that
Botanical Institute of South Africa, the Kruger National university staff could become more representative of the
Park, and universities in Europe and the United States. South African population. Academics from universities in
SANParks received 18 awards from the Foundation seven other African countries were funded to study in
totalling $4.7 million, 13 of which, worth $2.6 million, South Africa, and a postdoctoral fellowship programme
were made during the second decade. A related effort for African scholars was instituted at the W.E.B. Du Bois
provided research grants to South African and US Institute at Harvard.
researchers.
In 2000, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
(MMUF) programme – conceived in the United States as
a way of diversifying the professoriate there by increasing
Compared to the first the numbers of under-represented minority students
who would go on to earn doctorates – was extended to
decade, the second UCT, and in 2007 to Wits.
decade saw an almost
In the arts, a pioneering programme was initiated at
fivefold expansion in the University of Cape Town Opera School to provide
the number of grants support for black students. Historically, opera was
largely the preserve of white elites in South Africa. The
awarded ... to universities Foundation provided sustained support for 15 years, and
eventually an endowment. Pretty Yende was one of the
and other institutions. School’s prominent graduates, signalling the arrival of
black South African opera singers in leading companies
of Europe and North America.
Cape Town Opera. Photo courtesy of the Cape Town Opera.
Demographic research and training at research universities
was strengthened. During the apartheid era, demography To modernise resources for historical research, support
Following a period of liberalisation and constitutional they “could have wide applicability in South Africa, and and the study of population issues were highly politicised, was given to creating a digital archive of South African
negotiations between 1990 and 1993, and the first conceivably in many other settings, including the United both in terms of the kinds of research undertaken and in materials, starting with key anti-apartheid periodical
democratic elections in April 1994, the Foundation’s States.” Grants to the historically black universities of the highly restricted use of data and findings. literature produced during the period 1960 to 1990.
programme in South Africa was considered to have Durban-Westville, Fort Hare, the North, and Transkei This literature constituted a rich reservoir of facts,
new potential because of the remarkable political supported institutional planning, and strengthening of Building on the previous funding for inter-library analysis, and opinion on the struggle for democracy, and
transformation that has occurred – and is still occurring. It library holdings. There was support for regional consortia cooperation on a regional basis, support was extended to the changing cultural and social environments in which
was also understood that South Africa was characterised of universities to create shared library systems, higher the South African Bibliographic and Information Network opposition politics took place. Early materials that were
by both daunting problems and extraordinary education policy development, and for research and (SABINET) to upgrade its systems, and coordinate its catalogued and digitised included the Bleek and Lloyd
opportunities. training in population studies, and conservation and the work with that of the evolving regional library consortia archive of unique records of the language and culture
environment. Looking beyond South Africa, advanced and their new regional databases. Upgrading of the library of the indigenous people of the northern Cape in the
During the first decade, 1988 to 1997, the Foundation study in South Africa for academics from universities in management infrastructure in the South Africa legal 19th century. The South African Rock Art Digital Archive
made 45 grants totalling $18 million. Awards to the key the rest of Africa was supported. deposit libraries was also supported. received considerable funding, and there was support for
English-language research universities (UCT, Wits, Rhodes creating an integrated database of cultural heritage sites
University, and the then University of Natal, now the The second decade, 1998–2007 Effective support for teaching and learning and ensuring in sub-Saharan Africa.
University of KwaZulu-Natal) and to UWC, the leading Between 1998 and 2007, South Africa continued to be equity of opportunity received attention. A study on
anti-apartheid university, aimed to build institutional the Foundation’s main international emphasis. Compared instructional technologies for teaching social science in Given the increasing importance of information and
capacities. There was support to enhance the capabilities to the first decade, the second decade saw an almost South African universities was funded, advanced work communication technologies in education and research,
of academics, and to provide development opportunities fivefold expansion in the number of grants awarded in education technology received support, as did the wider bandwidth at affordable prices was a key priority for
for academics from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. (from 45 grants to 221 grants), and more than a fourfold development of computer-based materials to support South African universities. At the urging of Bowen, in 2000
Funds were expended on extending postgraduate increase in the value of grants awarded (from $18 million student learning. former UCT Vice-Chancellor and then Foundation Senior
education, and strengthening library collections. Attention to $76 million) to universities and other institutions. The Adviser, Stuart Saunders, led successful negotiations with
was given to the undergraduate curriculum, with majority of the grants continued to be made to select The apartheid legacy left South Africa’s leading universities the foremost telecoms company in South Africa to secure
production of multimedia materials to support student research universities, though other institutions also with a common challenge: to rapidly transform their improved bandwidth.
learning. The Foundation understood that if innovative benefited. The support provided was wide ranging. academic staff bodies, given that their staff were
experiments to enhance student learning succeeded
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16 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 17Introduction Introduction
The third decade, 2008–2017 and developing new postgraduate programmes, of broadening access to musical experiences in previously
Between 2008 and 2017, 219 grants worth $93 million cultivating postgraduates, and enhancing equity, diversity, neglected communities. Museums and art institutions
were awarded, largely to an expanded set of research and inclusion. There was support for experimentation benefited from support for capacity development
universities. Compared to the previous decade, the with new models of postgraduate education, and for the programmes in conservation and curatorship, in research
number of grants remained largely the same, but their efforts of universities to transform arts and humanities related to the arts and cultural production. At UWC
value increased in nominal terms, by $17 million. curricula, pilot new pedagogies, and introduce new digital a laboratory of kinetic objects and puppetry arts was
methodologies in historical research. With Foundation The adoption by the established, and a chair in aesthetic theory and material
The adoption by the Foundation of a strategic plan in
2014 located grantmaking in South Africa within a newly
support, a centre was established to explore innovative
approaches to learning and teaching that could enable
Foundation of a strategic performance was instituted.
created International Higher Education and Strategic educationally disadvantaged students to succeed in high- plan in 2014 located As in previous decades, there was a range of other awards.
Projects programme. Funding now focused exclusively quality degree programmes, and improve graduation In the aftermath of widespread student protests in 2015
on the arts, humanities, and interpretive social sciences. rates. grantmaking in South and 2016, support was given for a research and digital
Africa within a newly archiving project on the significance of the protests for
In support of research and scholarship, new thrusts for Collaboration between South African universities South African higher education. Further reinforcing the
Foundation funding were programmes at the intersection was strongly promoted to address key national created International focus on societal transformation in South Africa through
of architecture, urbanism, and the humanities. Areas
of focus included medical humanities, environmental
challenges. In 2015, $3.84 million, the largest grant for
a single programme in the history of the Foundation’s
Higher Education and the arts and humanities, grants to three universities
instituted a pilot seminar series on themes of scholarly
humanities, human evolution, and narrative, and the grantmaking in South Africa, was voted for a Strategic Projects and public significance: black archives and intellectual
investigation of key themes such as everyday histories. collaborative programme among seven universities to histories, southern epistemologies and a transformative
Support was given to research into the place and role accelerate the development of a black South African programme. curriculum, and mapping African futures.
of intellectuals in South Africa, violence as a vexing humanities professoriate. In addition, multinational
and recalcitrant feature of contemporary life, trauma, research and development partnerships with universities Foundation Staff and Advisors Involved in the South
memory, and representations of the past, gender and in the rest of Africa and the Middle East, in the Global Africa Programme
sexuality, inequalities, and African popular imaginaries. South and elsewhere, were fostered. Between 2015 and 1988–1994 Henry Drewry
2017, a number of exciting research collaborations were 1994–2003 Thomas Nygren
As previously, grants for research had additional supported. Institutional collaborations between United The Mandela Fellowship programme saw UCT scholars (Stuart Saunders, senior advisor, 2000–2003)
objectives, such as advancing new knowledge, reforming States and South African universities were also funded. spend time at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard 2003–2013 Stuart Saunders, senior advisor
University. There were grants for partnerships between 2014–2018 Saleem Badat
the University of Michigan and the Wits Institute for
Social and Economic Research, the University of
Minnesota and UWC, and the University of Toronto
and UWC.
Following on from earlier support for the establishment In 2015, $3.84 million, the
of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research,
the Foundation helped to create new humanities centres largest grant for a single
at UCT and Rhodes, provided significant support to the programme in the history
Centre for Humanities Research at UWC, funded the
Centre for Indian Studies at Wits, and assisted with the of the Foundation’s
development of the Centre for Advanced Scholarship at
the University of Pretoria.
grantmaking in South
Africa, was voted for a
In the field of digitisation and archiving, further grants
took the southern African rock art project and the collaborative programme
African cultural heritage sites and landscapes database among seven universities
from exploration to fruition. The International Library of
African Music at Rhodes received support for digitising to accelerate the
and disseminating invaluable African music collections,
for the continued conservation, documentation, and
development of a black
interpretation of archival materials related to the San South African humanities
people of Southern Africa, for the creation of digital
and print collections of photographs, and for the professoriate.
establishment of a university archive.
In the arts and culture space, there was continued support
for opera, and for the outreach and youth education
Stellenbosch University. Photo courtesy of Stellenbosch University. programmes of the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, as part
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18 30th Anniversary of Grantmaking in South Africa The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 19You can also read
