Remembering 'family': Should we be doing 'family histories'?
Sean Field poses a challenge to colleagues working on history and memory to take family history more seriously, and tells of the direction that the Centre for Popular memory is taking to address this lacuna.
Descended from the founders of Durban
Troy Meyers, whose ancestors from a prominent English settler family intermarried with local Zulu people in early Durban, puts to rest any idea that people can be separated into neat racial categories.
Ancestral Stories Editorial: October 2010
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports back on the family history panel discussions hosted by the Archival Platform at the South African museums Association (SAMA) conference in Durban and the Oral History Association of South African (OHASA) in White River. In the lively discussions following the panel at the SAMA conference, delegates debated the relative value and veracity of oral history and documentary records as a source for family histories.At the OHASA conference, the importance of obituaries and unpublished autobiographies were mentioned as important sources of information.
Private legacies of Mandela
Victoria Collis-Buthelezi reviews Young Mandela by David James Smith.
The power of the ordinary: The family archive
Emile Maurice describes the process by which he constructed a picture of the life and times of his father, Edgar Maurice, based on selections of photographs from the family archive.
The Slingsby family
David Slingsby's post is an absorbing narrative of the life of the family documents and photographs he is using to trace his family history.
Ancestral Stories: Editorial September 2010
Mbongiseni Buthelezi wonders what pasts we inherit, and introduces this month’s Ancestral Stories posts.
What about the ancestors?
Michael Worsnip explains how and why his adopted children have “inherited” his ancestors.
The Cape Town Family History Society
David Slingsby describes the aims and activities of the Cape Town Family History Society
Ancestral Stories: Editorial August 2010
Mbongiseni Buthelezi raises some questions about the way in which "families" are constituted and describes some of the challenges facing those who explore complex family histories.
A family history of a different kind
Xolelwa Kashe-Katiya shares her experience of growing up in a family headed by a woman, Florence Wynona Katiya, who played a major role in shaping the lives of the women in her family and community.
The annual gathering of the Insika yamaNtungwa
Mbongiseni Buthelezi reports on the organisation, the event and the monument.
We need to know one another
Maanda Mulaudzi tells us about family history assocations in Venda.
The ancestors: Amathongo
Velaphi Mkhize, founder of Umsamo African Institute, talks about why the ancestors matter.
Ubumbano LwamaZwide (The People of Zwide's Unity Association)
Phineas Ndwandwe writes about the efforts to gather the Ndwandwe to search for their history.
Ancestral Stories: July Editorial
Mbongiseni Buthelezi introduces this month's blogs which focus on ancestors and how they are remebered.
Preserving our heritage
Heather McAlister tells of Ancestry24's initiative to document cemeteries and make archival material available online.
Finding our Mkhize past
Siyabonga Mkhize describes how he has constructed the Mkhize past.
Transcending History: Cape slavery and tourism
Lucy Campbell tells us how her personal journey into her slave ancestry led to the development of interpretive tours.
Ancestral Stories Editorial June 2010
Mbogiseni Buthelezi explains what the Ancestral Stories initiatives hopes to achieve.
One Land, Countless Histories - Ancestral Stories
Mbongiseni Buthelezi writes about a new Archival Platform initiative aimed at all those involved or interested in family histories
Family history: An idea, a wound, or just details?
Mbongiseni Buthelezi looks at the personal ways in which people engage with the past.