Quick Synopsis of “From Where I Stand”
“I believe that there is a difference between history and heritage.
History is the sum total of all of our stories, but Heritage is what we choose to appropriate out of our History to own and shape the values, rituals and destiny of a particular society.
We do not have the luxury of cherry picking what we regard to be palatable or unpalatable within history regarding the truth and the completeness of the collective story of history. For instance, the Anglo-Boer War and the Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism is as much a valid part of South African History as the birth and evolution of the African National Congress as the oldest and most enduring liberation movement in Africa.
Heritage however is what I 'choose' to appropriate or 'own' out of History as being part of my own story and therefore worthy of being re-told in order to build, establish, strengthen & sustain the value system of my own society.
As the grandson of Langa Kerr Siwisa, who was a contemporary of AC Jordan in African Literature, I hereby offer you my own story, told from the context of what I regard to be my heritage and part of the legacy I am building and preserving through storytelling.”
I believe it was Pallo Jordan, the son of the well-known African writer AC Jordan, who once said; “A Nation without the arts, is a nation without soul”. Sihlangule Mmiselo Siwisa 28th Oct 2015