> Subject: A film on Govan Mbeki
>
> I am new on this discussion group and want to introduce myself as
> well as discuss a very special documentary that has been made on the
> life of the African Nationalist Congress leader Govan Mbeki.
>
> I lecture history at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town,
> South Africa. Most of our students come from disadvantaged
> communities and the resources of the university were severly limited
> during the days of apartheid. However, in recent years the History
> Department has developed a concern around issues of public history,
> in particular with representations of the past through visual media.
> We run a post-graduate course on public history, a key component of
> which is how movies which claim to be historical represent pasts.
>
> One of the most interesting movies about individuals in the South
> African liberation struggle that I have seen recently is Heart and
> Stone, which is directed by Bridget Thompson. It is about the life
> of the South African political activist who became vice-president of
> the first Senate of the new south African parliament Govan Mbeki. He
> is also the father of Thabo Mbeki who is set to become the next
> president of South Africa after Nelson Mandela retires.
>
> What I found remarkable about this movie is that it cuts across all
> the conventional narratives about the South african past that are set
> in a nationalist paradigm. It tells about aspects that are not
> usually spoken about in political biographies - family life, music,
> interaction with traditional structures in rural areas etc. It is
> also a deeply personal movie and I highly recommend it for people
> teaching about oral history methodologies, South African history and
> how different histories interact with each other.
>
> One of the fascinating things is that it is not only about rural
> struggles in South Africa but also about how these struggles interact
> with previous pasts, particularly in the eastern Cape. I feel that it
> tells more about South Africa and its past than those histories which
> follow the line of the rise and emergence of political individuals
> and organisations. If anyone is interested in the movie they
> could contact the director, Bridget Thompson at tomas@iafrica.com or
> check out the home page of tomas films,
> http://www.showdata.org/za/tomas/
>
> Leslie Witz
> Dr Leslie Witz
> History Department
> University of Western Cape
> P Bag X17
> Belville
> 7535
> ph - (27) (21) 959-2225/2862
> Fax - (27) (21) 959-3598
>
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