Dances in the park: The pre-history of the Maynardville Open Air Theatre

2022 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-34
Author(s):  
Sheila Chisholm ◽  
Temple Hauptfleisch

There is a popular belief that Cape Town’s Maynardville Theatre was founded in 1955, and first used in 1956, as the brainchild of the two professional actresses Cecilia Sonnenberg and René Ahrenson. While this is true of the Shakespeare-in-the-Park productions over the years, the use of Maynardville as a performance venue dates back to 1950 and the efforts of Margaret Molteno, the Athlone Committee for Nursery School Education and the University of Cape Town Ballet Company. This article traces the evolution of the popular theatre venue from the first production of a triple bill (comprising Les Sylphides, St Valentine’s Night and Les Diversions) in a makeshift theatre in the Maynardville Park grounds in 1950, to the introduction of Shakespeare in 1956, and ultimately the outdoor theatre of today with its annual Shakespeare and ballet productions. The Shakespearean history is already well-documented, so this article focuses more specifically on the somewhat forgotten role played by ballet productions in that history. The article includes a short history of the original property and the creation of the public park, as well as a full list of the ballets and plays performed at Maynardville since 1950.

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-299
Author(s):  
Markus Wild

Abstract This letter focuses on both the recent history of academic philosophy in Switzerland and its present status. Historically, institutional self-consciousness of philosophy came to life during World War II as a reaction to the isolation of international academic life in Switzerland; moreover, the divide between philosophy in the French part and the German part of the country had to be bridged. One important instrument to achieve this end was the creation of the “Schweizerische Philosophische Gesellschaft” and its “Jahrbuch” (today: “Studia philosophica”) in 1940. At the same time the creation of the journal “Dialectica” (1947), the influence of Joseph Maria Bochensky at the University of Fribourg and Henri Lauener at the University of Berne prepared the ground for the flourishing of analytic philosophy in Switzerland. Today analytic philosophy has established a very successful academic enterprise in Switzerland without suppressing other philosophical traditions. Despite the fact that academic philosophy is somewhat present in the public, there is much more potential for actual philosophical research to enter into public consciousness. The outline sketched in this letter is, of course, a limited account of the recent history and present state of philosophy in Switzerland. There is only very little research on this topic.


Populism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-171
Author(s):  
Emre Balıkçı

AbstractThe aim of this article is to reveal the institutional dimensions of populism, which tend to be ignored because of the hegemony of economic analysis of the subject. Whereas many researchers assume that populism is a result of the negative economic effects of neoliberal policies on the middle class, I argue that populism is also a corollary of neoliberal institutions’ effect on the political power of so-called ordinary people. To illustrate this, I focus on the rhetoric of Turkish populists concerning two important economic institutions in Turkey: the Public Procurement Authority and the Central Bank. This examination shows that Turkish populists view the independent institutions of neoliberalism as a barrier against the people’s political will and define themselves as fighters for democracy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 547-562
Author(s):  
Karin Tybjerg

Abstract Surgical instrument collections have been used in a multitude of ways – as tools, taxonomies, teaching aids, representation, historical highlights and public displays – and they provide a key to understanding the shifting relations between surgery, medical museums and medical history. Tracing the uses of the surgical instrument collections from the Royal Danish Academy of Surgery and the Medical Historical Museum at the University of Copenhagen reveals a network of disciplinary and institutional changes from the late nineteenth to early twenty-first century. The history of the collections maps relations between scientific and cultural historical collections and between medicine and history. In the same way as surgical instruments have connected the surgeon’s hand to the patients’ body, the surgical instrument collections connect together the public, medical practice and history.


Ethnicities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146879682094676
Author(s):  
Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues

In 2015, some faculty at the University of Cape Town made a proposal to the Faculty of Humanities that no animal product be served at faculty events. Many black faculty members contested the proposal on the grounds that it was racist and disavowed the importance of the proposal. In this article, I wish to argue that the proposal’s approach neglects the racialized history of animal advocacy in South Africa, while also being carried out at an inopportune time and context. Consequently, it racializes the debate on animal advocacy in South Africa to the extent that it contributes to the African faculty’s disavowal of the proposal and of animal injustice in general. Nevertheless, I also argue that the proposal could have been more successful if it had integrated racial justice concerns and African elements. This is the case because there are good reasons for Africans to support animal justice. Particularly, in the case of South Africa, it can be argued that addressing animal justice is beneficial for improving Africans’ health, a contribution to the elimination of environmental injustice and helpful for Africanizing institutions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
H. Steffen ◽  
W. Brunk ◽  
M. Leven ◽  
U. Wedeken

Abstract. In 1902, the so-called Erdbebenhaus (earthquake house) was built in the garden of the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Göttingen to host and protect the very sensitive and fragile seismographs designed by Emil Wiechert. These instruments were the standard at their time, and they are still in operation today, documenting 111 yr of almost continuous seismological observations. Since 2005, the observatory is owned by the Wiechert'sche Erdbebenwarte Göttingen e.V. (Wiechert's earthquake observatory in Göttingen, registered society). This society aims at extending the observational record and protecting the observatory as a cultural heritage. In this paper we review the history of the observatory in the last 111 yr. Special attention is given to the developments in the last decade, when the observatory and further historic buildings and instruments changed ownership. Due to the efforts by the society, the observatory is still running now and open to the public. In addition, it is a part of the German Regional Seismic Network and, thus, observations can be used for scientific investigations.


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