This is the first issue of the Oral History Journal of South Africa for 2015. The OHJSA is in its third year of existence and an application will be made during 2016 for it to be accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
We wish to thank everybody who has sent in a paper for publication or who has done a review for the OHJSA. Your contribution is important, and we value it highly.
This issue of the OHJSA gives priority to papers that were read at the 11th National Oral History Conference of OHASA, the Oral History Association of Southern Africa. This conference took place from 14 to 17 October 2014 in Gauteng at the Cedar Park Hotel in Johannesburg. Each of the papers published here has been subjected to a double blind peer-review process.
The theme of the said conference was “Celebrating 20 years of democracy: Oral History and the politics of transformation”. During the conference several sub-themes were entertained. They were: Archiving oral histories: Conceptual and methodological issues; Heritage commemoration, nation building and social cohesion; Marginal(ised) struggles and liberation histories; Labour struggles: Continuities and discontinuities; Oral Histories in the classroom; Struggle songs, popular culture and indigenous music after apartheid; and finally, Traditional leadership in democratic South Africa.
The six essays contained in this issue fall well within these sub-themes. Nomsa Mdlalose indicates that both storytelling and mathematics belong to African Indigenous Knowledge Systems; consequently she illustrates how the teaching of mathematics in schools can be enhanced by storytelling. Wonga Tabata similarly argues that Oral History, as a key component of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, develops and strengthens the teaching of history in the schooling system.
Charles Tembo, Allan Maganga and Peterson Dewah illustrate how songs – as a form of Oral History – reconstructed people’s identities during and after the War of Liberation in Zimbabwe, and how music is used to capture people’s experiences. Judy Seidman and Nomarussia Bonasa similarly show how art and oral narratives go hand in hand in telling stories of sorrow and healing in the Khulumani Support Group.
Sindiso Bhebhe evaluates the oral history programmes of the National Archives of Zimbabwe, and asks the question whether these programmes are only beneficial to the elite or whether they are giving voice to marginalised groups. Finally, Thias Kgatla tells the story of people who were accused of witchcraft in Limpopo Province and reflects on their journeys towards survival and human dignity.
The next issue of the OHJSA is in process and will follow soon. You are heartily invited to submit papers for the 2016 issues. It is only through team work and mutual support that we can uphold the standards of this journal.
Christina Landman
Editor: Oral History Journal of South Africa