Decolonisation and finding ontoepistemic justice are about being in touch with and actively listening to our communities and each other. For the last three years I have been working with educators and Grade 11 and 12 students at Ebenezer Nyathi Senior Secondary School in Blue Gums, which is situated close to Sterkspruit in the northern Eastern Cape Province. It is one of the poorest regions in the Eastern Cape and an extremely under-resourced school. The students do not have textbooks and there is no access to the internet. Most of the learners do not have smart phones and there are no computers. This means that the taken-for-granted applications in Microsoft Office are unknown and navigating the internet with critical thinking skills underdeveloped. There are 74–86 students in a class and two to three students share one desk. My experience has shown that students know very little about heritage and there is a disconnect between the youth and older generations.  

 

With the support and assistance from the school, I initiated a long-term project with the following aims:

    • To establish a collaborative and shared learning environment in heritage education for both educators and students

    • To encourage active and participatory approaches in students to emphasise the importance of communicating with their elders to share in their knowledge and oral history

    • To critically engage with the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Africa and why it is important to conserve our natural-cultural heritage

    • To develop performance-based expressions of archaeological research and knowledge to reach more members in the community who may be excluded because of illiteracy or aliteracy.

 

One of the important results which I share here, is the first Heritage Day Celebration the school has organised which occurred in September 2023. Celeste Booth, archaeologist from the Albany Museum, Makhanda, gave a talk on the role of museums in heritage conservation and heritage career options. She also brought heritage objects from the museum to display for the students. Several traditional songs and dances were performed with praise poets exploring the importance of remembering and acknowledging our collective and varied pasts. It had important ramifications in the students learning about and celebrating both past and present cultural identities but also recognising the diversity of southern African cultures and the importance of their conservation. 

 

I am very grateful for the funding support I received for my transport from the South African Archaeological Society Kent and Ward fund which helps me to continue working with the school. I am also very grateful to the educators, especially Zimbini Vundisa, and students at the school, for their enthusiasm and support in very trying and challenging conditions. In addition, to Celeste Booth for sharing her knowledge at the Heritage Day celebration. If you can make any contribution, in cash or kind, to my work at the school which is in great need of textbooks, laptops and tablets, software, access to the internet and heritage sites, please let me know at: dawn@beddgelert.co.za. We are better and stronger together.  

Report by Dawn Green, Kent & Ward Fund grant recipient, 2023
Thanks to Minke Tsekoa and Thapelo Taole for their help with translations for the video.

Dawn also captured footage on Heritage Day in September 2023 which has been posted to our YouTube channel here:
https://youtu.be/yYFKDBQXEEA