The Original Vision for CALS: The History and Provenance of the Centre for African Literary Studies
3.5 The initiative and original motives that brought CALS into being
Professor David Attwell, of the University of Natal Department of English at the time, was actively involved in acquiring the Lindfors Collection. Attwell commented in 2004 that
“The collection is sufficiently large and representative enough to make a significant difference to global flows of scholarship on African literature” (Jenvey 2004).
Dr Christopher Merrett, then director of administration and ex-Pietermaritzburg librarian, drafted a proposal for the “acquisition of Africa’s Literary Archive”, which sought this archive “… as a permanent collection at the University of Natal for the use of literary scholars from further afield”. The proposal outlined the proposed location of CALS and the reasons why the University of Natal, and in particular the Pietermaritzburg campus, should acquire the collection:
“It would be hugely appropriate for a South African university to house and manage the Archive [because], despite the stresses it is under, the South African Higher Education sector still enjoys a degree of prosperity and stability which is unmatched elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa”
(Merrett 2001:1).
Another argument put forward by Merrett for its location in South Africa was that “South African literary scholars were divided between those in exile and those at home and the country was unable to take its rightful place in the continent’s scholarship”. Furthermore, with South Africa “now addressing the legacy of its past, partly by initiating a redefinition of Africa’s potential through the discourse of the African Renaissance, it could give some
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substance to that discourse by housing and managing what is effectively Africa’s bibliography and archive”.
The argument for its location on the Pietermaritzburg campus was that Pietermaritzburg had “played an important role in South Africa’s own literary history, being the birthplace of literary figures such as Herbert and Rolfes Dhlomo, Bessie Head and Alan Paton”;
Pietermaritzburg is “particularly appropriate, [being] convenient, spacious and tranquil, and therefore conducive to scholarship, and yet easily accessible by air or road on the Johannesburg–Durban axis. A suitable house on the Pietermaritzburg Campus has been identified … [and] there would be obvious synergies with the Alan Paton Centre … a stone’s throw away from the intended site”.
Further motivation drew on location of the other libraries in the vicinity, stipulating that
“The campus enjoys one of the most efficiently run university libraries in South Africa ...
The Natal Society Library in the city centre is both a State Deposit Library and an important archive in its own right, with a special collection of Africana”. The Campbell Collections and Africa’s Literary Archive would no doubt complement each other, since
“the University of Natal has an inter-institutional co-operation agreement in place with the Ohio State University which has the largest Department of African and African American Studies in the United States” and so “the acquisition of the Literary Archive would make further collaboration possible in the form of exchanges of both faculty and postgraduate students” (Merrett 2001:2-3).
Regarding staffing, an important theme of this study, the proposal stated that “the combined staff resources in African Literary Studies of the two campuses of the
University of Natal are unmatched in South Africa” and it cites Professor David Maughan Brown (then Acting Vice-Chancellor) and Professor Emmanuel Ngara (then Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Students and Transformation) as scholars of African literature who would provide “invaluable encouragement and leadership” (Merrett 2001:3). He also cites Attwell and Gunner, who served on the editorial boards of every southern African journal regularly publishing African literary research, and Dr Catherine Woeber, who has a PhD in African literature. On the Durban campus, Professors Michael Chapman, Duncan
Brown, Michael Green and Margaret Daymond are cited as eminent scholars in the field of African literary studies.
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Another important theme consistent with this study concerns the budget. Merrett’s proposal included a budget with estimates for four components: (i) purchasing, insuring and shipping the collection; (ii) renovation of facilities (at the Old Gate House); (iii) scholarships and fellowships; and (iv) continuing purchases, running expenses and library staff. Importantly, and of special significance to this study, the budget states that an
“endowment of R4 000 000 would be needed if annual fund-raising is to be avoided to support the annual costs” (Merrett 2001:6).
The University of Natal (UN) Senate Minutes (UN 2003:Minute 7:1) affirm that Atwell was instrumental in acquiring, with donor funding, what is considered “the most extensive and significant collection of material on African Literary Studies: the Bernth Lindfors Collection …” The board agreed that a Centre for African Literary Studies should be established to house this collection and it should be physically located at the Old Gate House on the Pietermaritzburg campus. A steering committee was to be set up to facilitate the establishment of the Centre consisting of Professors Clarence-Fincham, Gunner, Brown, Messrs Merrett, Howe [the architect] and Van Dyk and a representative from the library. The Faculty Research Committee proposed a constitution for the Centre (UN 2003:Minute 7.1). Mr Bruno van Dyk (then Director of the UKZN Foundation, the fund- raising arm of the University) requested guidance with the recruitment of a centre director;
the recruitment of a centre librarian/administrator; the transportation of the collection; the cataloguing of the collection; and the line management of the collection (Van Dyk n.d.:1).
It should be noted that the recruitment of the centre director and the centre librarian and administrator have been ongoing unresolved issues and are discussed below.
Horner (2004) states that “the impressive resource may well have remained in the U forever were it not for the intervention of Professor David Attwell”. Attwell had completed his thesis under the supervision of Lindfors at the University of Texas in the mid-1980s and he “convinced Lindfors it was time to return the collection to Africa”. With R1m ‘seed money’ from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Attwell set about persuading donors to fund the return of the collection. The US–Irish philanthropic organisation, Atlantic Philanthropies, the Department of Arts and Culture, and the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund agreed jointly to put up the necessary funds of R6m, R1m, and R1m respectively. The purchase price of the collection was $436 000 (Van Dyk n.d.:1).
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Thus Attwell can be credited as the main initiator for bringing the Lindfors Collection to Africa.
3.5.1 The UKZN policy on the establishment of new research centres or units (for full details see Appendix 12a)
According to the UKZN Policy Research Policy IV on Institutes, Centres and Units, 2.1 (UKZN 2014b:5) (unchanged since the UN Policy at the time of the establishment of CALS in 2004), the following requirements are necessary when establishing a new Centre at UKZN:
“Once a new research centre is established, the prospective Head of the proposed Centre or Unit will, through the Board(s) of the appropriate Schools and Colleges, submit to the University Research Strategy Group for evaluation a completed application form embodying: a constitution listing the objectives, goals and expected outputs, confirmation of approval by the relevant College Academic Affairs Board(s); a short curriculum vitae of the proposed Director has to be submitted, and each of the members of the research team, together with their agreement to participate.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC Research), in consultation with the University Research Strategy Group, will appoint not more than three external reviewers to review the application regarding Potential contribution to research and development; Impact on the academic activities of related Schools and Colleges; Research track records of the Principal Investigator and the research team; and Alignment of the goals of the proposed Centre or Unit with the University’s Vision and Mission. If the result of the review process is favourable, the DVC (Research) will recommend the establishment of the Research Centre/Unit to the College Academic Affairs Boards, Senate and Council.”
Since the result of the review process for the establishment of CALS was favourable, as outlined above in Section 3.5, a constitution for CALS was duly drawn up, outlining the objectives, goals and expected outputs (see Appendix 11).
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3.5.2 Review and disestablishment of centres and units (see Section 4.4.3)
A crucial point relating to this study is that as mentioned in Section 1.2.2, there were no substantial reviews carried out at CALS every five years. However, an external review was carried out in November 2013, and is discussed in Section 4.4.4.
3.5.3 Funding
Professor Bernth Lindfors had “been given numerous offers from various institutions in other parts of the world, [but he gave] the University of Natal the offer of first refusal”
(Van Dyk 2002b:1).
The University of Natal “purchased the Lindfors Collection in 2004 and created the Centre for African Literary Studies (CALS) to house it” (CALS 2005a:3).
However, once the University had decided to purchase the collection and establish the Centre, it was necessary to obtain the required funding (as explained above in Section 3.5).
The initiative was supported by the UKZN Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Makgoba (Arthur 2002:1).
It has been recorded that “when CALS was first established it was intended to be a Centre that would be self-sufficient” (University of KwaZulu-Natal 2013b:14).
Makgoba (VC UKZN) had written a letter to the primary funder, Gerald Kraak (Director of Atlantic Philanthropies), confirming UKZN’s undertaking to ensure the sustainability of CALS (Makgoba 2003:1).
Funding has been a problem with CALS from the outset and there were many ‘red flags’
besides that of Merrett (2001:6) warning of potential future budgeting problems, especially in view of the fact that CALS was to be externally funded.
Greg Arthur, the project manager from the Anglo American Chairman’s fund, raised (amongst others) an important issue in connection with the funding application for the proposed Lindfors Library. He wrote:
“We are also aware that many of the collections in the country are under pressure because of lack of funding and resources. We would appreciate a report from the University on the collections that it currently owns/administers which demonstrates its experience in handling these
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pressures. Please name the collections and give details of when they were acquired, how their maintenance and running costs are being financed, where they are housed and how they are utilized by the University and others, if applicable. An indication of attendance numbers would be helpful if these are available” (Arthur 2002:1).
Merrett responded to the letter, and in turn wrote to Van Dyk (Merrett n.d.:1-2) in which he alludes to having to look to university library funds “to sustain in part the Lindfors Collection in the future”. Merrett explained that the “original proposal included a budget component concerned not just with purchase but also with travelling and subsistence costs because most of the material that will need adding to the collection will not be purchasable through normal commercial sources”. What is noteworthy is that Merrett stated that “there is a possibility that the University Library budget will be able to help out with some purchase costs … but clearly the peripatetic role of the Lindfors Librarian will need special funding”.
The researcher has not been able to trace any evidence that the university library ever actually helped out with purchase costs of material and the funding of the librarian remains a problem to this day. However, the university library did assist with the cataloguing of the CALS material and the ordering of journals until 2013, which is expanded on in Chapter 5.
The Board resolved to recommend to Senate “that in order for the Centre to grow, it would require a substantial budget to reach its full potential”. As is referred to throughout this study, staffing and a sufficient and sustainable budget have constantly hindered the Centre in its ability to function at full capacity as a research centre.