Professor Rajendra Chetty elected as President of EASA

 

I am delighted to serve as President of the English Academy of Southern Africa. Thank to the members of Council for this third opportunity to be at the helm of an august organization and, especially now, as we celebrate its diamond jubilee. I am humbled.

Taking on the presidency for the third term may not go well during the current decolonial turn, as parallels may be drawn with leaders who overstayed their welcome!

I want to personally thank each member of the Executive and the Council for keeping the Academy afloat during a most difficult and uncertain time. We all look forward to our 20^th International Conference in a few weeks that will be hosted by the University of the Western Cape.

 

We each have to continue with our vision and mission. We have a rich 60 year history to lean on and continue. Some of the luminaries that received honours from the academy include Sindiwe Magona, Athol Fugard, Njabulo Ndebele, Wally Serote, Lewis Nkosi, Ronnie Govender and Guy Butler. Our prize winners include brilliant writers like Zakes Mda, Antjie Krog and John Kani. We look forward to the diamond jubilee publication that is jampacked with reminiscences and spicy snippets, edited by Rosemary Gray and me.

 

 We look forward to working with academics in the discipline of English, school teachers and learners and NGOs in the field of literacy and language as we fulfill our mandate towards a multilingual democratic society in which, while we advance our vision for English, the country’s diverse linguistic ecology is respected. We are challenged to extend our Southern African footprint significantly with our flagship journal, English Academy Review, contribute towards enhancing the success of our outreach activities and take the academy to new heights in the year ahead.