People | Graduate Students
Siyabonga Africa
Information:
Department of Telecommunications
safrica 'at' indiana 'dot' edu
Links:
Personal Website
Flickr Photos
Biography:
South Africa has had three great exports in the past couple of years: Nederberg wine; Charlize Theron; and District 9 director Neil Blomkamp. Siyabonga Africa is the unofficial fourth. This vibrant young man hails from the land of the Zulus, Xhosas, Vendas, and Afrikaners among others.
He owes his being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of his native land. At times, and in fear, he has wondered whether he should concede equal citizenship of his country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito.
A human presence among all these, a feature on the face of his native land thus defined, he knows that none dare challenge him when he declares - he is an African!
Siyabonga’s interests have been in broadcasting, and the different platforms that it can be done, from a very young age. During his undergraduate years at the University of Pretoria he was involved in student media in the form of the official student newspaper Perdeby where he rose to the position of Features editor and was awarded a merit award by the Student Representative Council for his efforts. In 2007 he was awarded the Aggrey Klaaste bursary, by Sowetan (a South African newspaper), to study a honors degree in journalism at Stellenbosch University.
Between 2008 and 2009 Siyabonga spent his time moving between newspapers and online publications, taking front page pictures, working on documentaries, editing online videos and dabbling in a bit of travel writing before it struck him that media is heading towards a converged plane. Where and when is what intrigued him and it was thus that he applied to further his studies.
He is currently a Ford Foundation Fellow and a MS: Telecommunications student focusing on new media and interactive computer design.
