South Africa conference June 1997
A Special Session in Ring Theory, Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry
was organized by Jim Brewer, Florida Atlantic U; Barry Green, University of Stellenbosch; and Sylvia Wiegand, U of Nebraska
for the Joint Meeting of the South African Mathematical Society, the American Mathematical Society, and the London Mathematical Society in PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA
26-28 JUNE 1997.
Other information about the conference
can also be seen on the Internet at
http://science.up.ac.za/sams/
Also there is some information in the February AMS Notices on page 297.
SAMS-AMS-LMS CONFERENCE PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA 26-28 JUNE 1997
A historic first, the South African Mathematical Society (SAMS),
the
Southern African Mathematical Sciences Association (SAMSA),
and the
AMS joint meeting held in Pretoria June 25-29 was a big
endeavor
(over 400 delegates, eighteen sessions, over 300 speakers).
The
South African hosts were well-organized and hospitable.
This
conference marking the fortieth anniversary of the South
African
mathematical society was important for South African and
U.S.
cooperation and future mathematical interactions. The
participants
were welcomed by two dignitaries: Vice-Chancellor and
Principal Johan
van Zyl of the University of Pretoria and Roger
Jardine, Director
General of the South African Department of Arts,
Culture, Science and Technology. The University of
Pretoria is the largest residential
university in South Africa and is heavily biased
towards the sciences.
Niko Sauer, President of the SAMS mentioned
that the white men
who were the founding fathers of the Society would
be surprised
at the transformation of the Society; and that, to
the somewhat
isolated South Africans, the meeting was like a
ship coming in
to brighten their long winter nights--they would
be sad when the
ship sailed away but would hope that another ship
would come soon.
Hyman Bass, representing the AMS, said that
mathematics, as
one of the noblest tools of the human spirit, was
an appropriate
vehicle for beginning the profound and difficult
changes needed in South Africa.
Dumisani Vuma,
for the SAMSA, particularly regretted the low
representation of
women in mathematics in South Africa and he
emphasized the need to
encourage girls, saying that South Africa is
wasting 51% of its talent.
The London Mathematical Society and UNESCO
also provided support
for the conference; we speakers from the U.S.
were extremely grateful
to the National Science Foundation for
providing some travel
assistance and to the AMS for applying
for and coordinating the assistance.
Most of the invited hour addresses were well-paced
and understandable to a general audience. Our small
commutative
algebra session, one of seventeen such sessions, provided a good opportunity to renew and establish research connections
with South African mathematicians.
The South African hosts had arranged social events and
excursions,
including a conference reception, a performance by
an African jazz band and happy hour meetings. Several
participants visited Kruger National Park, the world's
largest natural game reserve.
AWM LUNCH IN PRETORIA
With the assistance of AWM Past President Cora Sadosky and
Marie Vitulli, AWM Representative to the Joint Committee on Women,
we organized an AWM lunch attended by about twenty women and
five men. (See below for the list of people who signed in.) The twelve Americans at the lunch included Audrey Terras,Doris Schattschneider, Kate Okikiolu, Yonatan Katznelson, Walter
Craig, Deirdre Haskell, Zoe Haskell-Craig, Steven Givant, and
Gail Burrill, president of the National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics. ).
The South African women described how it feels
to be a female mathematician there. South Africa seems to
lag behind
the U.S. in acceptance of women mathematicians. (Many
comments at the opening ceremony were about working toward
racial harmony and cooperation, which may
take precedance over gender equity.)
One woman commented at the lunch: "It's a
man's world, but the women do the work" and the others
agreed. They mentioned the isolation, the difficulty of
networking, the lack of role models for young women, the
problems of child care at meetings, and their discomfort
in approaching male senior lecturers at their institutions.
In all of South Africa, there are only about five women at
the rank of Associate or Full Professor. AWM would
like to establish more ties with these women and we plan
to send them some copies of our newsletter.
One of the women at the lunch, Generosa Cossa, is the
chairperson of an organization, the Women's Academic
Nucleus (NUMAC), based in
Mozambique and formed "as an institution for debate
and action for the whole female population of the
institutions of higher education and research in Mozambique."
NUMAC aims to fight discrimination, to encourage female
students, and to promote the research of women.
Another woman, Angela Spalsburg was
born in Nebraska, studied in the U.S. and now is at
Wit. in South Africa.
Sightseeing
Cornelia Naude, a commutative algebraist whom I had met previously, kindly drove some of us to a private game preserve, where we saw rhinos, zebra, wildebeasts, wild pigs and other animals up close in their natural habitats.
During my final few days, June 29-July 2, I visited Cape Town , South Africa with my sister Angela Young. There I saw the Department of Mathematics where my father was once the head, as well as the waterfront area, Table Mountain, and the Kirschenbausch Gardens. The people there seemed exceptionally hospitable and friendly, particularly Peter Bieber, a dear family friend, and Divan and Lida Serfontaine, hosts of mathematician friend
Jim Brewer (also visitng Cape Town).
SA AWM Lunch Participants (who signed in):
Sylvia Wiegand, swiegand@math.unl.edu
Cora Sadosky, cs@scs.howard.edu
Marie Vitulli, vitulli@math.uoregon.edu
Audrey Terras, aterras@ucsd.edu
Vashti Galpin, U of the Witwatersrand and U. of Edinburgh, vashti@cs.wits.ac.za
Doris Schattschneider, Morevianh College, Bethlehem PA 18018,
schattdo@moravian.edu
Yollanda Gantsho, Univ. of the Western Cape (021) 9593015
ygantsl@maths.ucw.ac.za(???)
Kate Okikiolu, Univ. California, San Diego, CA 92093-0112
okikiolu@math.ucsd.edu
Daya Reddy, Univ of Cape Town bdr@maths.uct.ac.za
Kabelo Chuome, Univ of the North (fax (0152)268-2899
Generosa Cossa Eduardo Mondlane Univ., Centre of Informatics, CIVEM-P.O. Box 257, Maputo, Mozambique
generosa@nambu.uem.mz
Marcia Moremediedi, U of the Witwatersrand , marcia@gauss.cam.wits.ac.za
Barbara Swart Univ. of Pretoria, S.A. bswart@scientia.up.ac.za
Yonatan Katznelson, UC Santa Cruz yorik@math.ucsc.edu
Walter Craig, Brown Univ. craigw@math.brown.edu
Deirdre Haskell, College of the Holy Cross haskell@math.holycross.edu
Zoe Haskell-Craig,
Sizwe Mabizela, UCT, Rondebosch, 7700 sizwe@maths.uct.ac.za
Hedieh Shaker, Univ of the North, Pieterburg (Sorenga)
Diane Wilcox, UCT, Dept. of Math and Applied Maths diane@maths.uce.ac.za
Angela Spalsbury Wits Math. dept. Wits 2050 angie@zazu.cb.wits.ac.za
Jeanetta du Preez Univ. of Pretoria, jduPreez@scientia.up.aac.za
Steven Givant, Mills College, Oakland, CA 94613 givant@mills.edu
Gail Burrill, Univ. Wis-Madison gburrill@macc.wisc.edu
Last changed: July 21, 1997