Oral history part of our past, present and future
Storytelling ‘helps forge unity among people’
An Eastern Cape oral historian says the rich stories that Africans pass from generation to generation must be widely shared across our nation.
Oral storytelling captures the events and heroes that shape a nation’s history and should be promoted, says oral historian and kwaZangashe village chief Jongisilo kaMenziwa.
The chief says our oral history teaches us where we come from as Africans. Our country’s history before colonialism is important in explaining some of the challenges societies face today, he believes.
The current coronavirus pandemic will one day form part of these stories, he says.
“Future generations will be told stories of how life changed in 2020 and how they were unable to hold circumcision ceremonies because of the lockdown.”
KaMenziwa, who has authored two books on the oral history of the Dlamini clan and its relations with the Xhosa, Thembu and the Mpondomise people, says it is important to have a record of these oral stories for future generations.
The opportunity to have the oral history of the different tribes recorded is now available, thanks to the Oral History Association of South Africa (Ohasa), a nonprofit organisation formed by the department of arts & culture to bring about a balance in the current recorded history of SA.
Working with the National Archives and Records Service of SA, Ohasa goes to different parts of the country to record the oral history of South Africans. It also partners with researchers and schools to have these stories documented in writing or video, says Ohasa secretary Boitsheko Thwane.
Oral history is told using praise poetry, traditional storytelling and the presentation of research papers at Ohasa’s annual conference. Thwane says that they have now started digitising oral history stories.
“We want to include these stories in our education system to bring equality to the current history syllabus,” she says.
Sharing stories traditionally told orally will also help forge unity among SA’s different tribes, says Thwane, as knowing where we come from, makes it easier to understand each other... [that allows] people to celebrate each other, she says.