'Lekgowa'
Deidre Byrne reviews Tony Harding's recently published autobiography, which explores the 'myths and magic' of constructed white identity.
Iintombi zenkciyo
Nokanya Mhlana traces her journey accompanying Mpondomise women to their virginity test.
The majestic 'Mbokodo' of Ebuhleni
Musa Hlatshwayo goes to a celebration of the Nazareth Baptist Church and speaks to two women about their activities.
Paper Sons and Daughters
Rebecca Dodd reviews Ufireda Ho's book about growing upo in a Chinese family in Johannesburg
Opening up the ancestral past: The Cape Family Research Forum
Saarah Jappie profiles the Cape Town Family Research Forum
Talking Family: Ancestral Stories at the Historians Conference
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports on the Ancestral Stories panel discussion at the Southern African Histrocial Society conference
Mkhize family history
With reference to the Mkhize, John Wright points out some of the hard questions to ask when using archival evidence to construct stories of the past in KwaZulu-Natal.
'Dayimane!' - Herds of Nguni Gems
Musa Hlatshwayo reflects on researching and staging Dayimane!, a performance work that focuses on Nguni cattle and their role in Nguni culture.
Rediscovering St Helena: A gathering of Saints in Cape Town
Brenton Maart talks to people of St Helena ancestry at a celebration of the 509th anniversary of the discovery of the island.
Riyadha Mosque Manuscripts: A Profile
Aydaroos Muhsin Badawy's gives us a glimpse into the largest collection of Arabic manuscripts in the Swahili world held by the Riyadha Mosque in Lamu, Kenya
Folklorising Religious Poetry among the Yoruba
From Lagos State University in Nigeria, Professor Amidu Olalekan Sanni discusses the popularisation of religious poetry in oral form from some 1000 years ago and the new forms this is taking today.
Bibliotheque des manuscrits Alpha Seydou Landoura
Alpha Seydou Landoura, tells us how he founded the library that houses his family's manuscripts, some dating back to the 15th century.
Coming to South Africa and Finding Grandmother
Ivy Shutu-Musekiwa writes about finding her South African grandmother's grave in Cape Town 54 years after she had been murdered and her grandfather had taken the children back to Rhodesia.
History, Heritage, Identity: Arabic manuscripts in Cape Muslim Families
Saarah Jappie of the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project discusses the 'kietaabs' of Cape Town as remnants of South Africa's historical Islamic writing culture.
Facebook, kinship and a braai
Mbongiseni Buthelezi tells of the humorous Buthelezi get-together arranged through Facebook that he attended in Johannesburg.
From Cape Town to Timbuktu, a novice travellers reflections, Part 2
Mbongiseni Buthelezi shares the next episode of his adventures in his travels to Timbuktu with us.
The Buthelezi organise themselves into a bloc
Mbongiseni Buthelezi recounts his participation in a meeting of a Buthelezi group arranged via Facebook.
Doing Family History: Ntombizodwa Sithole Finds her Parents’ Marriage Certificate
Musa Hlatshwayo talks to Ntombizodwa Albertina Sithole, who has found information on her parents at the Durban Family History Centre.
Descendents of the Founders of Durban: The Fynns today
Troy Meyers tells us about a coloured family trying to reclaim their chiefdom and land they acquired in Shaka's day.
Eavesdropping on Nelson Mandela’s conversations with himself
Busi Mnguni reviews Nelson Mandela's Conversations with Myself
Cultural identity of entrants into Xhosa culture
Janet Hayward Kalis gives us a glimpse into her research on the cultural practices entrants into Xhosa culture in the Transkei.
Preventing loss: Durban’s Family History Centre
Musa Hlatswayo finds out what Durban’s Family History Centre has been doing for the last 27 years.
Ancestral Stories: February 2011
Mbongiseni Buthelezi recommends that we begin paying attention to language in order to open the path to giving the future back its pasts.
The Qwabe hold a prayer meeting
Musa Hlatshwayo tells us of his trip to the pilgrimage of the amaQwabe near Empangeni and of the goals of the Ubumbano lwamaQwabe organisation
Beginnings: The South African Saint Helenian Association
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports on Merle Martin's work in establishing the South African Saint Helenian Association.
Ancestral Stories Editorial: January 2011
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reflects on the places we call 'home', and wonders what happens to family records.
Helene Retief Lombard and the story of the Retiefs of Welvanpas
Mbongiseni Buthelezi and Jo-Anne Duggan speak to Helene Retief Lombard and Willem Lombard about Retief Lombard's book, The Chronicles of Krakeelhoek: The Story of the Retiefs of Welvanpas
Dima and Jahe: The creation of fire, moon, sun and water
Marlene Winberg shares a !Xun story about how the order of things as we know it came to be.
The Love Tree
|Ui Charlie N!aici presents a Ju|'hoansi tale on how woman and man came to live together.
Ukwehla Ngesilulu: Origination in KwaZulu-Natal
Musa Hlatshwayo talks to three poets and historians on the origins of abantu.
Ancestral Stories Editorial: December 2010
Mbongiseni Buthelezi ponders what alternative understandings of the origins of humankind Christianity and Christmas have displaced.
Mines and Migration: A Family's Journey to South Africa
Vivien Horler talks to Mbongiseni Buthelezi about how her family has come to be both South African and British as a result of their migration in search of work opportunities on the mines.
Zwide Heritage Day: 185 Years On
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports on his trip to the Zwide Heritage Celebration that brought together Ndwandwe people from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Mozambique and Swaziland.
Ancestral Stories Editorial: November 2010
Mbongiseni Buthelezi teases out a number of difficult questions about the relationship between individual family histories and national narratives. Considering the way in which we seem to seek to make heroes of our ancestors, make some visible and marginilise others, he asks: How then do we speak of the nation's past?
Encountering slavery as a family legacy
Tony Harding tells of his distressing findings when excavating the silenced history of his family’s involvement in the slave trade.
Nelson Mandela's contested genealogy
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports on the difficulties the nelson Mandela Foundation has encountered in putting together Madiba’s genealogy.