Remembering Ruth First at the CEA

Ruth changed in Mozambique; she softened. I think she belonged in Mozambique in a way that she never belonged to England. It was her home, and she meant something to that society. (Gillian Slovo, interview, 1989)This article traces the evolution of research at the Centro de Estudos Africanos (CEA) from before the time of Ruth First's arrival. It divides her work there into two periods: the work on the Mozambican Miner, in which she was heavily involved personally, and the later period when she was much more involved in recruiting permanent staff and in creating conditions for successful research, including building up the Documentation Centre within the CEA. This objective included work on maintaining the administrative independence of the CEA within the university to ensure flexibility in responding to rapidly changing research conditions. Research was not simply determined by political priorities, although it engaged with them. The evolution of the key Development Course is also traced, and the work of the Oficina de Historia (History Workshop) is briefly described.