Gabriël Botma

Gabriël Botma (19**-) is a theatre and film critic, artseditor and lecturer. Also known as Gabriël J. Botma or Gawie Botma. His last name is sometimes misspelled Gabriël Bothma

Biography

Training

He studied at the University of Stellenbosch, completing a BA therfe in 198*, In 2006 he obtained the degree MPhil (cum laude) with a study of media transformation at Naspers en Die Burger since 1994. In 2011 he completed a doctorate on the topic Manufacturing cultural capital: Arts journalism at Die Burger (1990-1999). Published as Brothers in Armchairs. Post-apartheid cultural struggles at Die Burger by Sun Press, 2014.

Career

He started working as a journalist in various capacities in the 1980s, becoming a writer and General reporter for Die Burger in Cape Town in 1988, joining the arts desk in 1992, and becoming arts editor in 2001.

In 2005 he was made the Rykie van Reenen fellow at the Journalism Department, Stellenbosch University, before returning to Die Burger as arts editor for another year.

In May 2007 he was appointed as a full-time lecturer in the Journalism Department, becoming coordinator of the BPhil programme, and a senior lecturer and researcher in media and society. Was later appointed chairman of that department.

Contribution to South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance

A highly respected theatre, film and arts reviewer and critic, Botma has written a vast number of commentaries, reviews and newspaper articles on theatre and the performing arts in South Africa. In his capacity as Arts Editor at Die Burger he also did much to augment and maintain the reputation of the arts pages of that seminal South African paper.

Besides his journalistic writing, he has published a large number of academic articles and commentaries in journals such as Journalism and Mass Commucation Educator, Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, Communicatio, Critical Arts, LitNet. Botma is also the founder-editor and publisher of the internet journal Global Media Journal – African Edition.

(See https://sun.academia.edu/GabrielJBotma for more on his writing.)

He has served on a number of judging panels, most notably on the Fleur du Cap Theatre awards (1996–2004 and 2012-).

He is a member of numerous associations, including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the South African Communication Association (SACOMM), the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC).