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2013
Money from nothing: popular economies and indebtedness in South Africa
This project explores the over-indebtedness of South African consumers, set against the longer history of exploitation of South African black people by the forces of capitalism, and interrogates how these currently manifest themselves in an allegedly ‘neoliberal’ social order.
Nietzsche’s ‘Christian virtues’
Although Nietzsche is admittedly one of the most anti-Christian thinkers in the history of philosophy, this does certainly not mean that Christianity has not left traces in his thinking.
Novel approaches to stabilize atherosclerotic plaques
Cardiovascular disease has for many years been the leading cause of death in western societies and the incidence is now also rapidly increasing in many developing countries.
On Our Own
This is a writing project that would examine South African politics in exile and how that had an impact on the relationship of political parties inside the country.
Punishment and Legitimacy: A Kantian Perspective
This project seeks to contribute to our understanding of the moral values that underpin procedural rights in criminal trials, with a particular focus on the sentencing process.
Quantum Chaos in Many-Body Systems
The concept of chaos in classical mechanics is well defined.
Questions of Literature
This project will involve the further exploration of a number of issues treated briefly in the 2004 study ‘The Singularity of Literature’, a short book that examined the distinctive character of literary uses of language, emphasizing the interrelated trinity of inventiveness, singularity and alterity.
Reinstating the "Literary" in South African Literary Studie
South African literary studies has, in a sense, lost its intellectual project.
Revised edition of the book ‘Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms’
A second edition of the book (entitled Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms.
Social organising and criminal cooperation
This research draws upon a general theoretical interest in organisation outside of organisations paired with an ambition to better understand the formation of criminal organising or cooperation.
South Africa in the Region. Gateway or Gatekeeper?
The main purpose of this project is to analyse South Africa’s Foreign Policy towards its own region and towards Latin America (Brazil and Argentina) on a comparative basis and to discuss its role as a regional-middle-emerging power: Leadership?
South African social policies from a human rights perspective
The apartheid regime of South Africa persistently abstained from ratifying any of the major human rights treaties elaborated under the aegis of the United Nations after 1948.
The African Union’s emerging policy on unconstitutional changes of government
This research project is on unconstitutional changes of government (UCG).
The cellular and molecular connectome of somatic sensation
The underlying circuitry for somatic sensation remains a mystery.
The Early History of Astronomy at the Cape of Good Hope
The project involves the writing of a major monograph, commissioned by the Brenthurst Press in Johannesburg, on the history of astronomy and navigation at the Cape of Good Hope from the late fifteenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century - encompassing times when European expeditions came to the Cape to study the southern sky.
The Effects of Race
The STIAS Effects of Race project project will address major gaps in our knowledge on race thinking and racialism.
The impact of a global economic crisis on political parties in competitive democracies
The research project deals with the impact of a severe global economic crisis on political parties in representative democracies.
The Importance of Being Modern: A Chronicle of Contemporary India
This project involves the writing of a rather particular anthropological history of contemporary India.
The Performance of Democracies
Over the last century, several waves of democracy have swept over the globe, bringing representative democracy to places where it seemed inconceivable.
The Quality of Young Democracies
After the initial euphoria surrounding democratic transitions since the 1990’s, what is the present state and future prospects of these young democracies?
The role of international law in the settlement of conflict: Apartheid South Africa, Namibia and Palestine
This study concerns the question whether the manner in which international law informed political consensus in South Africa and Namibia is of relevance to the settlement of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
The sense of beauty in the Nederlansliedjies of Cape Town’s sangkore
Nederlandsliedjiesare one of the two most important repertoires of creole songs which feature in the competitions of the Sangkore (also called: Nagtroepe, Hollandse Teams or Malay Choirs); they are also the repertoire that raises the strongest emotions among listeners and singers belonging to the group that was labelled coloured during apartheid.
The State of Mathematical Sciences Research and Research Training at South African Universities
This investigation follows up on two reports that appeared in 2008 and 2009.
Towards designing and managing food security in South Africa: a critical analysis of a complex situation
While South Africa is food secure at a national level this is not the case for many households.
Towards understanding the dilemma of Food Security in the rural areas of South Africa
Although South Africa is food secure on a country level, large numbers of households within the country remain food insecure.
Understanding Non-Contractual Obligations: Unjust Enrichment and the Law of Torts in Comparative and Historical Perspective
Whereas the European and South African law of contracts is today seen as normatively integrated part of the law of obligations that can be explained coherently on the basis of an overarching theory or a set of intellectually related principles, the rest of the law of obligations is apparently still understood as resulting from various causes that are normatively independent and difficult to explain.
Urban Music and Identities
Cape Town has a rich and most diverse musical heritage, shaped by all kinds of cosmopolitan influences.
2012
A new evolutionary perspective on the nature of the individual
A book entitled Evolutionary Perspectives on Pregnancy(with Columbia University Press) will be completed and published.
An Evolutionary Cybernetic Theory of Semiosis
In recent years, particularly in the emerging field of biosemiotics, it has been proposed that semiotics - the study of signification processes - could bring a paradigmatic shift in our scientific conception of life, and consequently in scientific biology in general and beyond.
Approaching Human-Environment System (HES) based transdisciplinary processes: The case of Global Transdisciplinary Processes for Sustainable Phosphorus Management
Humankind is facing a new age, i.
Assessing current use and future potential of legumes and symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Africa
The Agricultural Green Revolution of the 20th century, which resulted from plant breeding and increased fertilizer use, led to food sufficiency and security in many parts of the world.
Beyond Extraversion: Ways towards Intellectual Self-reliance
Most publications by philosophers, scientists and other scholars from Africa and the Third World have so far been intended for an external audience and particularly a Western audience.
Biological Laws: Analogies and Allometries
The question of whether there are laws in ecology is important.
Double Vision
This project will be a work of creative non-fiction, exploring issues of identity, boundaries, and vision that have been of concern for many years to a scholar who has been both literary critic and biographer.
Ecoinformatics
The discipline of Bioinformatics has emerged in the field of molecular and cell biology to deal with the huge amounts of information generated first by genomic and more recently by transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies.
Ecological elimination as a major evolutionary force
Populations fluctuate but seem generally stable in the long run.
Food security in sub-Saharan Africa from the production, human and environmental safety standpoints
Africa, once considered the breadbasket of the world, is now highly dependent on food imports.
Good Governance and Poverty Relief
The project explores the hypothesis that the eradication of inequalities (especially the alleviation of poverty) in developing regions and especially in Africa is directly dependent on the practice of good governance – not only by governments, but also in the corporate and NGO sectors of society.
Health care interactions in multicultural societies
Communication has been identified as the single biggest barrier to health care and the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services is a top priority, particularly in light of the illness burden imposed by diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
History wars and Indigenous Rights
Indigenous rights claims remain a central, unresolved human rights issue in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
How to survive the post growth century
The 20th century will be seen by historians as the century of growth.
Human skin pigmentation: Further studies of its evolution, biological consequences, and social meaning
Recent research on the topic explored the effects of skin pigmentation on human health and social well-being, and upcoming projects will focus on these aims.
Information and Codes in Biochemistry
Biochemists traditionally accept the view that life is an extremely complex form of chemistry (the Chemical paradigm), a view which implies that genetic information and the genetic code are but metaphorical concepts because they cannot be described by physical quantities.
Informational Development and Human Development: South Africa in a Global Perspective
In a current comparative research project the interaction between informational development and human development has been examined in various contexts, including Finland, Silicon Valley, Chile and Taiwan.
Institutional Ecology, Sustainable Use and Community Based Natural Resource Management
Ecosystem services and wild resources are worth more than global GDP.
Institutional Innovations and Investments: Creating an Enabling Environment for Emerging Agro-Enterprises in Africa
Agro-enterprises make important contributions to employment and income generation in developing countries, occupying a strategic position in manufacturing that comprise an essential supply-source of food and fiber production and represent an important demand-driver for agricultural products.
Inter-contextual hermeneutics: interpreting the bible in its social-historical and contemporary contexts
The contemporary western academic modes of reading the bible which focus on the history of the text or the text itself, and serve western interests and goals are inadequate for addressing questions and issues from African contexts.
Interpreting the life of Chief Albert Luthuli
This is a study of the legacies and meanings of Chief Luthuli’s life in history and today.