Former doctoral student at the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Dr Godfrey Hove (photo), was recently awarded first prize during the 2016 Research Awards Ceremony, held by the University of Zimbabwe, for his article co-authored with Prof Sandra Swart from the History Department at Stellenbosch University (SU).

The article,"This is a land of honey – no milk, bar sour!" African milk regimes and the emergence of a colonial order in Southern Rhodesia 1890s – 1907, stems from Dr Hove's doctoral research during his time at SU, when he was part of the 2012 PhD cohort.

The annual Research Awards Ceremony recognises outstanding research by members of the Faculty of Arts in six categories; including most ground-breaking research, which Dr Hove was honoured to receive.

According to the adjudicators of the Research Awards Ceremony, the article that has been published as part of a special issue Writing Animals into African History in the journal of Critical African Studies, is said to break new ground in historiographical and empirical ways. Using dairy farming as an analytical prism, the article explores the interface between indigenous knowledge systems and colonial capitalism in Zimbabwe.

"The award really motivates me continue on this productive path," said Hove.

Prof Swart went on to congratulate her former PhD student on his achievement saying: "I am so proud of Dr Godfrey Hove. He is one of our most talented young historians. Working with him on this (and other projects) is a pleasure because of his intellectual honesty, academic rigour and gentle wit. Thinking about Zimbabwe's troubled past and stormy present, I have to agree with Oscar Wilde, "Anybody can make history – it takes great men to write it. Godfrey is one of them."

The full article can be found online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681392.2016.1209863?scroll=top&needAccess=true