Sandra Swart

“The home of lost causes and forsaken beliefs”. Rogue primate and the Professor of History at Stellenbosch University.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Referee reports on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched revise and resubmits glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those articles will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to write.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@ThatEricAlper On some weird level this was foreseen in prophecy…

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@BenedictaVanMin @Stormi_luv

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

X algorithm has a sense of humor.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@james_f_thomas Think of Escobar and the hippos!

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@omgsidewalks Peregrine

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@upshine3 I have that but I don’t have ADHD. Or maybe I do? No one ever tells me anything

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@omgsidewalks No one would know but there might be a sign. I might specialize

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@AntigoneJournal That’s not what I’m seeing at all.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@itsme_urstruly What is a regret you have that maybe is not too late to fix?

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@Medtraphouse4u @Manifest_Lord Me. Mispronounced ennui in 2005. Still in my head.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@SkyNews @simon_schama Amazing!

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

When does one help? When does one back off?

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@HeroesOfBritain Good on your granddad! I’m not sure Malan changed path. It’s really the same path. Malan loathed fascism and bullies - be they Mussolini or Hitler … or local Apartheid politicians.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@HeroesOfBritain He died very young at 52, of Parkinson’s. The Apartheid state tried to erase Malan’s legacy: refused him a military funeral and any South African Air Force tribute. Bastards. His gravestone reads: In the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@HeroesOfBritain Sailor Malan. A really impressive human being. An Anglo-Afrikaner empire loyalist, Malan joined the RAF in the late 1930s. As fighter pilot, he became an RAF ace. After the war, he opposed Apartheid on liberal principle by leading the Torch Commando.

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

Wow, my colleague and friend soaring to new heights but always generous and warm hearted. #AcademiaDoneRight

[Sishuwa Sishuwa @ssishuwa]

I had a deeply engaging meeting with Emmanuel Akyeampong, Professor of History and of African and African American Studies @Harvard. Emmanuel is one of the greatest African historians who have made a huge contribution to history, methodologically and substantively, and have had an enormous impact in publishing and supporting junior scholars.

He was generous with his time and advise, providing me with constructive feedback on my forthcoming book that explains why the military in Southern Africa has sustained democracies in some countries, not others, since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s. Like the brilliant and career-nurturing @WildPasts_ back home in Stellenbosch, Emmanuel always sees the big picture, raises the crucial questions, and remains exceedingly unassuming, despite the many accomplishments. He has served as an excellent intellectual guide since my arrival in Massachusetts in January, as has done Professor Zoe Marks.

Zoe, one of the most distinguished political scientists of modern Africa, is the Faculty Director of Harvard's University-wide Center for African Studies and a Lecturer in Public Policy @Kennedy_School. Her intellectual integrity is only matched by her incredible humility. Zoe inspires as much by the questions she poses as she does by the responses she provides – and that for me is one of the marks of a great academic.

I arrived in a strange and unfamiliar place, but the wonderful and always efficient Rosaline Salifu, the Associate Director of @AfricaHarvard, went beyond and above to ease my anxieties. In no time, Rosaline made this place feel like home through the small and personal acts of help that gave expression to ubuntu: that intangible connection that we share as humans. Rosaline could not have been a more perfect ambassador for the Center.

https://t.co/gOkMccZuGl

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@ssishuwa @Harvard So proud of you, dear colleague! Incredible!

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@SasriaSOCLtd Amazing!

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@FOURPAWSZA Post link to the stats? And thank you for all you do

[Sandra Swart @WildPasts_]

@omgsidewalks Beverages at restaurants