Africa meets Africa – Pathways through the Interior

Written by Sven Ouzman, Chonat Getz, Helene Smuts, David Riep, Andre Croucamp, Peter Sekibakiba Lekgoathi and Nessa Leibhammer

Watch the DVD accompanying Pathways through the Central Interior to join Sandy Little and Lerato Mokhitli, students from the University of the Free State, on a road trip across the central interior of South Africa. As art students they travel with open minds. In fact, at first they are not quite sure where they are going, but they are constantly on the lookout for signs and marks in the landscape as clues to the pathways people have travelled there before them and in the distant past.

People leave traces on the land of their way of life, their histories, the way they interacted with others and the knowledge systems they lived by. At each stop Sandy and Lerato map their journey by making notes and quick drawings of the things they find meaningful. They discover that the places they arrived at fairly randomly are somehow all linked.They talk to local people and seek out answers from archaeologists, historians,artists, art historians, scientists and museum specialists about the present and deep history of the land. Although Sandy and Lerato thought they were familiar with this region, they were surprised at how much their journey taught them.This book invites you to a similar learning process. Its content links into the Grade 10 to 12 learning curricula for History, Visual Arts and Mathematics,leading into Tertiary level education. Why all three subjects together? Because approached in relation to one another through the various knowledge systems that have developed on this land, learning is integrated meaningfully. We also explore key issues around heritage, which help us see present pathways of intersecting cultural expression. Reading this book and responding to the questions it poses becomes your journey. And mapping becomes a metaphor for learning.

You can order this complete resource (book and DVD) for R450.00 + postage

Fax: (+27) (011) 622 7871
E-mail: helene@africameetsafrica.co.za