iAcademy amaXhosa (treatise)

Academy = Archetype (Representation + Instruction)

A dual-nature archetype for the developing realm.

In accordance with the University of Fort Hare’s projected strategic plan, there is to be a redistribution of core functions at both the Alice and East London campuses; Alice becoming the cultural centre and East London becoming the centre for scientific and professional programmes.

This treatise proposed a building that amplifies existing cultural functions on campus, namely:
1. An isiXhosa Lexicography Unit, and the associated language departments.
2. A National Heritage Archive.
3. The De Beers Art Gallery.

The above all bearing particular pertinence to Xhosa language and culture, this indeed the objective; to create the flagship complex centred around the latent cultural might residing in Alice. The ACADEMY archetype was selected after investigation, notably after researching Plato’s Academy in ancient Athens - for its archetypal qualities.

Hypotheses: While language and culture are inexorably linked, the dual nature of the academy is an appropriate means of supplementing research in language, while as a tertiary-level component is could possibly function as a cultural centre of gravity.