CPUT recently co-hosted the first Southern African Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists.
The conference presented an opportunity for researchers and emerging researchers from Africa and abroad to explore issues relating to the practice of language and the law/forensic linguistics in their diverse academic spaces. Its theme was New Frontiers of Justice in Forensic Linguistics, and delegates came from various corners of the globe.
Prof Monwabisi Ralarala, director of the Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development and the Conference chair, said the theme had been wisely selected towards addressing emerging issues about a field which is fairly new and practically unknown in Southern Africa.
The list of keynote speakers included Prof. Georgina Heydon (President of the International Association of Forensic Linguists), Judge James Yekiso, Dr Celia Blake and Prof Lirieka Meintjes-van der Walt.
The conference gave researchers the opportunity to interact with practitioners in order to explore the relationship between current research and practice.
Ralarala said it also aimed to determine specific areas of research that need stimulation to provide an appropriate basis for applied research in the practice of language and the law in Southern Africa and in the African context.
It also provided researchers and practitioners working in the field of language and the law/forensic linguistics with the platform to establish possible collaborations in a variety of areas with the aim to contribute towards the advancement of the field in the Africa.
The conference was hosted by CPUT (represented by Fundani’s Language Unit in partnership with the Unit for Applied Law) in collaboration with Rhodes University’s School of Languages and Literatures, the NRF SARChl Chair in the
Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education, the University of South Africa (UNISA) and University Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique.
