Press
COSMO-ART in the news
Since its launch, COSMO-ART has been the subject of a number of publications in different media, describing its objectives, the different stages of its implementation and its main contributions.
Sol Plaatje University
Vice-Chancellor’s Awards honours excellence and dedication
December 10, 2024 by Vuyiswa Mpata
On Friday, 6 December 2024, Sol Plaatje University (SPU) hosted the prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards to honour the exceptional achievements of staff in four categories: Research, Teaching and Learning, Community Engagement, and Service Delivery.
[…]
The award for Excellence in Community Engagement Award was presented to Dr Lourenço Pinto, Lecturer in Archaeology and Heritage Studies, for his impactful work with the !Xun and Khwe communities of Platfontein. Dr Pinto’s efforts have empowered community members through education and career development, exemplifying SPU’s dedication to meaningful engagement. This project culminated in one published journal article, three Honours projects and the advancement of two Masters students’ mobility grants to Europe.
… Read more on SPU website
CNRS ― InSHS
Quand l’archéologie devient politique : les sites d’art rupestre dans les revendications d’autochtonie en Afrique du Sud
17 octobre 2024
Quel rôle jouent les sites d’art rupestre dans la construction de l’indigénéité en Afrique du Sud ? Des travaux menés par une équipe de recherche internationale retracent l’évolution des usages politiques de deux sites d’art rupestre dans la fabrique d’une autochtonie. En analysant les discours portant sur les objets archéologiques dans le contexte des revendications post-apartheid, les chercheurs révèlent comment ces sites sont devenus des leviers de revendication identitaire et politique, et mettent en lumière l’articulation entre héritage précolonial et enjeux postcoloniaux. Les résultats de cette recherche, qui mobilise des données empiriques collectées depuis 2009 en Afrique du Sud, viennent de donner lieu à la parution d’un article dans le Journal of Social Archaeology.
… Read more on the CNRS website
Sol Plaatje University
SPU’s 3-time graduate elevates Northern Cape’s legacy on the global stage
August 26, 2024 by Kealeboga Sibiya
Curtis Jeaven, a 27-year-old from the Northern Cape, has been selected as a laureate of the Cross Mobility scholarship programme for 2024, a collaboration between Sol Plaatje University (SPU), Universite de Bordeaux, and Universite Sevoie Mont Blanc. With a strong interest in heritage and archaeology, Curtis pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree at SPU, majoring in Heritage, Archaeology, History, and English. His research focuses on countering predominant narratives and reimagining the significance of South Africa’s intangible heritage.
Curtis’s journey in rock art and prehistoric site studies led him to join the international research programme, Cosmo-Art, funded by the French National Research Agency. His honours thesis, based on a photographic exhibition in Platfontein, Northern Cape, explores the complexity of values attributed to rock art and prehistoric sites through a comparative study of two World Heritage Sites: uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South Africa and the Vézère Valley in France. His research aims to provide recommendations for improving rock art presentation as a tourist attraction, with broader implications for African rock art sites.
… Read more on SPU website
Iqoqo – Interfacing South Africa’s Creative Industries
A thought-provoking and intellectually rewarding convening and professional meetings – A mentee’s perspective
May 2, 2024
By: Curtis Jeaven
It was indeed a great honour and a privilege to be one of six mentees selected to partake in the prestigious Reimagining Heritage, Archives and Museums: Today/Tomorrow convening and professional meetings in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. At the outset, on day one of the convening, the Design Thinking Workshop was an intriguing practical icebreaker that set the tone for the sessions that followed. The collaborative nature of the session, with my fellow mentees, was particularly enriching. We thought of creating an application that would foster collaboration between corporate companies, the public sector, and communities, by sharing ideas on how to counter the challenges of inclusive collaborate efforts. We then envisioned how the application can serve as a platform for diverse ideas and heritage practices, all in one platform. Our different perspectives navigated transformative tangible solutions to intricate complex heritage challenges, such as the intersection between corporate companies, the public sector, and communities in the context of heritage values and preservation.
… Read more on the Iqoqo website
The South African Archaeological Society
CONSERVATION OF THE WONDERWERK CAVE PAINTINGS (NORTHERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA)
By: Anaïs Empereur-Buisson, University of Bordeaux & Cosmo-Art Project
Date: Wed, 06/12/2023 – 13:00
Branch: Trans-!Garib
Trans-!Garib – hosted by Sol Plaatje University, inviting South African Archaeological Society members
ABSTRACT
This work addresses the conservation of Wonderwerk Cave’s paintings (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). A condition assessment of the paintings was made, by identifying and recording the different weathering forms and their relations to rock art. To do so, the rock art area was studied in its entirety, from its geological setting to the wall facies. The different weathering forms impacting the rock art were identified,m using chemical analysis when necessary. The relations between the weathing forms and the rock art were recorded in detailin twochosen study zones. In parallel, the weathering factors in the cave were monitored, in order to understand and quantify their impact on the walls. This work enabled us to calculate a dangerousness index, and to make recommendations regarding conservation measures and future monitoring of the cave.
… Read more on the South African Archaeological Society website
GDR Rift
Webinaire du GDR Rift
6 octobre 2023
La gestion de l’art rupestre en Afrique du Sud
Mélanie Duval
CR CNRS, EDYTEM (Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne)
Impliquant des chercheurs dans cinq pays (Afrique du Sud, Botswana, France, Namibie, Zimbabwe), le projet IRN RAHMSA vise à structurer des actions de recherche et de formation sur les enjeux de préservation et de valorisation des sites d’art rupestre en Afrique australe. Comme dans d’autres contextes postcoloniaux, ces enjeux sont ici exacerbés par la rencontre et l’hybridation entre plusieurs ontologies et une grande diversité des usages associés aux sites d’art rupestre. Bien que les initiatives visant à prendre en compte cette diversité au sein d’approches intégrées se soient développées ces dix dernières années, elles se heurtent : 1/ à la difficulté d’appréhender des valeurs à la fois multiples, contextuelles, évolutives et parfois conflictuelles ainsi qu’à 2/ l’absence d’un cadre méthodologique holistique et intégré solide pour y parvenir.
… Read more on the GDR Rift website
Sol Plaatje University
SPU to host “Places – in Me” Photovoice Exhibition – The Voices of Platfontein’s Youth
June 26, 2023 by Persome Oliphant
Sol Plaatje University (SPU) will host “Places in Me” – A Photovoice Exhibition with the !Xun and Khwe of Platfontein in July and August 2023.
The exhibition is a result of collaborative efforts between an international research team, COSMO-ART, two Platfontein-based NGOs, the Southern African San Development Organisation (SASDO), San Community Development (SANCD) and SPU.
The project is funded and supported by IFAS-Recherche, McGregor Museum, and the Northern Cape Tourism Authority.
The objective of this project is to heighten visibility and awareness on the perspectives that young people in Platfontein have in South African society, through their eyes in the place they live.
… Read more on SPU website
Institut Français en Afrique du Sud (IFAS) – Recherche
Exposition « Places in Me », 1er et 2 juillet (Platfontein et Kimberley, province du Northern Cape)
| “Places in Me » exhibition, July 1st and 2nd (Platfontein and Kimberley, Northern Cape Province)
L’équipe de « COSMO-ART », la SAN Community Development Organization (SANCD), la Southern African San Development Organisation (SASDO) et l’université Sol Plaatje ont le plaisir d’annoncer le vernissage de l’exposition photographique « Places in Me » soutenue par l’IFAS-Recherche.
Dans le cadre du projet « COSMO-ART » consacré à la protection et la valorisation des sites d’art rupestre en Afrique australe, l’exposition a été conçue en partenariat avec un groupe de jeunes résidant à Platfontein, près de Kimberley. Vivant dans la proximité immédiate du site d’art rupestre de Wildebeest Kuil, ces jeunes racontent, par l’image et par le texte, ce qui compte pour eux dans leur environnement.
Deux vernissages sont prévus : le 1er juillet à Platfontein dans un établissement scolaire ; le 7 juillet dans les locaux de l’université Sol Plaatje.
L’exposition sera visible du 1er au 6 juillet à l’école !Xunkhwesa de Platfontein, puis du 7 juillet au 31 août à l’université Sol Plaatje (Kimberley).
… Read more on IFAS-Recherche website
Sol Plaatje University
SPU academics participate in SA Higher Education and Research Week in Paris
by Mosima Mehlape
The week-long programme, organised through Campus France and coordinated by the Embassy of France in South Africa, is aimed at promoting South Africa’s higher education and research landscape among all interested higher education institutions in France, and will include a series of diverse engagements, meetings, workshops and visits to French cultural and research sites.
The week-long programme, organised through Campus France and coordinated by the Embassy of France in South Africa, is aimed at promoting South Africa’s higher education and research landscape among all interested higher education institutions in France, and will include a series of diverse engagements, meetings, workshops and visits to French cultural and research sites.
Professor Gilbert Pwiti and Dr Lorenzo Pinto, both Lecturers in Heritage Studies, met with Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Andrew Crouch and SPU Research Office Director Ms Takatso Semenya ahead of their departure for France on 25 June. “We wish our colleagues well on their journey, which will see them gain knowledge and experience that will stand them and SPU in good stead upon their return. We will also see them act as ambassadors for SPU on an international level, helping to forge new relationships on a personal and institutional level,” Prof Crouch said at their meeting.
… Read more on SPU website
Institut Français en Afrique du Sud (IFAS) – Recherche
Le projet COSMO-ART/ The COSMO-ART Project
The Cosmopolitan Approach as a New Paradigm for Rock Art Heritage Management in Southern Africa
L’IFAS-Recherche a le grand plaisir de co-héberger à partir de janvier 2022 un programme scientifique financé par l’Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR). Piloté par Mélanie Duval (CNRS, Laboratoire EDYTEM, Université Savoie – Mont Blanc), intitulé “COSMO-ART”, ce projet collectif a pour ambition d’étudier les problématiques de mise en valeur des sites rupestres en Afrique australe, en s’intéressant tout particulièrement à la participation des populations locales et aux enjeux de patrimonialisation.
… Read more on the IFAS website
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
[Project] COSMO-ART – The Cosmopolitan Approach as a New Paradigm for Rock Art Heritage Management in Southern Africa
February 2022 – January 2026
South Africa, Namibia
Context
Rock art, a graphic manifestation on static rock, is a testimony to the creativity of Homo sapiens (possibly Neanderthals) spanning a wide chronological spectrum ranging from prehistoric to modern, or even contemporaneous, and a wide spatial distribution. The stakes involved in its heritage-making processes, conservation and management are especially complex. In the development of integrated and sustainable rock art heritage management plans, the current social challenge is to interrogate the values attributed to rock art sites and to renew our understanding of them.
… Read more on the IRD website
Lettre de l’InSHS n° 79 – septembre 2022
« Les sites d’art rupestre, que l’on peut définir comme toute manifestation graphique sur un support rocheux en place, présentent une large répartition spatiale sur tous les continents . Ils se caractérisent par une grande diversité au niveau des formes représentées, des techniques employées et des lieux utilisés avec des productions graphiques dans des grottes ornées, des abris sous-roche, ou encore des paysages ouverts. Ils couvrent un large spectre chronologique allant de périodes…… »
Lettre de l’InSHS n° 79, pp. 47-50.
Download Lettre de l’InSHS n° 79