Rewriting history pomfret community stories
Date
2018
Authors
Firmino, Teresa Kutala
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Abstract
Rewriting history has been a form of self-determination since Histories of the oppressed
were intentionally erased by oppressive systems such as colonialism. However,
rewriting history is not only about retelling or remembering past events, but is required
also to restore a sense of continuity within these communities. This thesis seeks to
explore how storytelling can be used as a form to rewrite history, by using the Pomfret
community – a South African community formed during the Angolan civil war – as a
case study. The thesis unpacks the idea of rewriting history through storytelling, not only
as oral storytelling, but as manifested through different art forms, including video
installations, sound, found objects and paintings.
Each chapter begins with a story from the Pomfret community that navigates the
different tools used to rewrite the community’s history. The chapters are hinged on
intersectional themes of: storytelling, as a form and why it is important in the research;
memory, as a primary source of history and stories; home and belonging, looking at the
Pomfret community in the present and how they engage with their history and stories;
and healing, the last chapter, which looks at the trauma that the Pomfret community
experienced, especially the women, during the Angolan civil war and the Border wars.
In this way the research, in its totality, considers how storytelling can help a community
to begin a process of healing.
Description
A dissertation to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Masters in Fine Arts.
2018
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Citation
Firmino, Teresa Kutala (2019) Rewriting history:pomfret community stories, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/28334>