Theologian Pityana to present MLK memorial lecture

Theologian
Pityana to present MLK memorial lecture

Lawyer and theologian
Nyameko Barney Pityana will present the annual Martin Luther
King Jr. Lecture as part of the President’s Lecture
Series. He will present “Liberation, Civil Rights and
Democracy: South Africa and the United States 2004”
at 8 p.m. Jan. 20 in Grand Hall, Rice Memorial Center. Seating
for the event, which is free and open to the public, begins
at 7 p.m.

Pityana

Pityana read
law at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and majored
in private law, English and political science. After he
qualified for admission as an attorney in 1977, a banning
order prevented him from practicing law; Pityana went into
exile in
1978.

He proceeded
to England and read theology at King’s College London
and later at Oxford. Pityana was ordained as an Anglican
priest and served in rural parishes for six years before
he was appointed director of the World Council of Churches
Program to Combat Racism with headquarters in Geneva in
1988.

Upon his return
to South Africa in 1992, Pityana was appointed senior research
officer and senior lecturer in the Department of Religious
Studies at the University of Cape Town; in 1995 he was named
the first chairperson of the South African Human Rights
Commission. While with the commission, he helped develop
the application of the Bill of Rights and establish a credible
independent national institution for the promotion and protection
of human rights.

He was belatedly
admitted as an attorney at the Cape High Court in 1996,
and in 1997 he was elected to serve a six-year term as a
member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights. At the African Commission, Pityana has pioneered
work on the rights of indigenous people in Africa, carving
out a niche for independent African national institutions
as affiliate members of the commission. He also led the
process to adopt the guidelines for freedom of expression
and the guidelines on the prevention of torture in Africa.
Pityana has been serving as principal and vice chancellor
at the University of South Africa since November 2001.

The President’s
Lecture Series has long been a distinguished element of
Rice’s academic community. The series, open to the
Rice community and the people of Houston, embodies William
Marsh Rice’s commitment to contribute educational opportunity
to the broader society. The Office of the President sponsors
the series as it continues to bring stimulating speakers
who foster understanding about a wide range of topics in
the sciences, humanities, engineering, social sciences,
architecture, music and public policy.

For more information
visit the Web at <www.rice.edu/pls/>
or call 713-348-5585.