LANDMARK: episode two

“Nation-Building”
DATE: 01.09.2021

SUMMARY:

A National Identity seems as illusory as the concept of ‘Self’. When there are eleven official languages, and many others which didn’t make the cut, it seems impossible to find what forms that halo of belonging. Especially if your historical identity was obliterated by historical genocide. As early as 1510, the first nation Khoi faced off with a Portuguese viceroy on the Western Cape coastline. The legacy of that event still resonates amongst the leaders and communities who trace an ancestry back to the people whose words are emblazoned on the South African coat of arms: “Strength in diversity” - or “diverse people unite” (!KE E:/XARRA //KE)

This is the story of Land, Culture and Belonging - the synthesis of all of these are wrapped up in the story that was re-told on Freedom Day this year (2021) at the sight of a contested piece of land along the Black River. One that is held sacred to the story of that first nation group of South Africans. Land that is ring-fenced for development by a major multi-national corporation.

As James Baldwin, the great American novelist, playwright, and activist remarked:

"history, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read.  And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past.  On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.  It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.”

BULLET POINTS AND KEY TOPICS

• First Nation status: Khoi confederacy
• When a corporate giant wants your land
• How to outline the story of a nation
• Can we all belong?

SUGGESTED READING

The Lie of 1652: A decolonised history of land, Patric Tariq Mellet,Tafelberg; 1st edition (1 Sept. 2020). 
Available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lie-1652-decolonised-history-land-ebook/dp/B08HR4QJ2X

BOOK EXTRACT

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-15-the-lie-of-1652-a-decolonised-history-of-land/

PEOPLE

Deidre Prins Solani

https://en.unesco.org/who-who-women-speakers/prins-solani

Bradley Von Sitters

https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2020-09-23-uct-launches-milestone-khoi-and-san-centre

Tauriq Jenkins 

https://www.africanstudies.uct.ac.za/axarra-restorative-justice-forum

Malika Ndlovu

https://malikandlovu.wordpress.com/about/

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES/CONTACT

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LandmarkPodcast

PODCAST LINK

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