Travelling raconteur is bringing SA history to life
RECONCILIATION is not easy and it’s important to know what happened, whether you’re wanting to forgive or be forgiven, according to history raconteur Michael Charton.
Fuelled by a fascination of the country’s history, he dropped his executive career to travel around the country telling audiences South Africa’s story. He uses the characters of former president Nelson Mandela, empire builder Cecil John Rhodes, Boer president Paul Kruger, Matabele King Mzilikazi and statesman Jan Smuts to help people to understand our history.
“I thought: how can I make history more accessible to South Africans who are busy with jobs and children in their lives?” he said.
Charton said that by learning school history simply to pass exams and then throwing oneself into tertiary study and a career was often not a formula to understanding the South African story.
In his address, titled “My Father’s Coat”, which he tells by climbing into the boots of the five leaders, he embraces the biases so prevalent in history, which historians actively try to eliminate.
“And as he introduces you to each of his five characters, he allows them to lure you under their spell by subtly endorsing their beliefs and biases,” reads his media release.
“But, with the introduction of each subsequent character, new facts are carefully leaked into the narrative, undermining previous biases and providing a new depth of understanding, until a layered and more balanced view of our complex past is eventually revealed.
“Further, and because the lives of these characters overlapped, Michael finds unique opportunities to tell the same pivotal moments in the story through more than one set of eyes, so providing a powerful reminder of our heavy biases and the absurdity of our historic attitudes.
“Those attitudes are ultimately responsible for South Africa’s catastrophic 20th century.”
Charton will speak at the YES Trust’s annual fundraising event at St Agnes Church, Kloof, on Tuesday. Tickets cost R150, available via www.webtickets.co.za