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13 January 2021 Photo Supplied
Indigenous Oral traditions should be explored

Two researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) aim with their research to examine the portrayal of environmental conservation in oral stories from indigenous South African cultures. They also hope to add the under-researched genres of oral cultures to mainstream inter-/cross-/multi-disciplinary inquiries on environmentalism, the climate crisis, conservation and indigenous knowledge systems.  

Dr Oliver Nyambi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, and Dr Patricks Voua Otomo, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, interdisciplinary research project titled; Environmentalism in South African oral cultures: an indigenous knowledge system approach, started in 2017. The research is about indigenous South African oral culture as a potential knowledge system in which indigenous forms of environmental awareness is simultaneously circulated and archived.

Understanding oral folk stories

According to Dr Nyambi the research brings together the disciplines of cultural and environmental studies, inquiring into the relationship between indigenous knowledge mediated by oral culture, and environmental awareness. “Our main interest is how we can understand folk oral stories about humanity’s interactions with the environment as creating possibilities for knowing how traditional societies consciously thought about environmental conservation, preserving plant and animal species, and sustaining ecological balance,” says Dr Nyambi

The project has been on hold since 2018 as Dr Nyambi took up a two-and-a-half-year Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in Germany. It will resume in earnest upon his return to South Africa at the end of February 2021. The duo’s first article on the “Zulu environmental imagination” has since received favorable peer reviews in the reputable journal African Studies Review published by Cambridge University Press.

The aim and impact of the research

Focusing on oral stories from the Zulu, Sotho and Tsonga traditions, the study seeks to understand what, in the stories as well as modes of their transmission, reflects certain consciousness, knowledge and histories of African indigenous environmentalism before the advent of Western forms of conservation. A key dimension to the project is the focus on how indigenous knowledge about the environment and its conservation was/is shared and consequently preserved through storytelling, explains Dr Nyambi.

“We envision our research to spotlight the potential but currently untapped utility of oral cultures in conservation. Our field work in rural KwaZulu-Natal revealed a rich tradition of environmental knowledge, environmental awareness and nature conservation which is mediated and transmitted through folk stories.

“However, traditional modes of storytelling have rapidly declined, mostly due to the pressures of modernity, the often uncritical reverent acceptance of conventional science and its knowledge systems, as well as the dwindling number of human repositories and tellers of indigenous stories. Our research will recommend a systematic approach to the preservation of these stories before they completely disappear,” says Dr Nyambi.

He continues: “Beyond the usual promotion of traditional storytelling as a mechanism of cultural preservation, we will recommend the archiving of the stories in written form, inclusion in school material as part of moral education, and modernisation for easy circulation through, for instance, animation.”

Receiving funding

The researchers successfully applied for funding which they mainly used for field work. The project involves travelling to rural communities where much of the oral stories and storytelling exist. They also use the money to purchase, where applicable, published stories for analysis.

“We wouldn't be able to do this vital study without funding so we feel that the grant is a crucial enabler of this process of seeking and indeed making knowledge of this rarely-talked-about topic with implications for how indigenous knowledge can be harnessed in ongoing attempts at arresting the climate crisis.”

News Archive

UFS Camerata ends concert season on a high note
2017-11-02

Description: UFS Camerata  Tags: UFS Camerata  

The final concert at Endler Hall at Stellenbosch University, presented by the
Endler Concert Series, was attended by the UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor,
Prof Francis Petersen and Mrs Cheslyn Petersen. Here, on stage, is Prof Petersen
with the Camerata.
Photo: Supplied

The OSM Camerata (OSMC) of the Odeion School of Music at the University of the Free State ended the 2017 concert season on a high note with two gala concerts presented in the Western Cape as part of the ensemble’s fifth birthday celebrations. The first concert took place at the well-known Hugo Lambrechts Auditorium in Parow on 20 October 2017. A Stellenbosch University audience also had the privilege of listening to the Camerata at Endler Hall the following day.

A substantial part of the concert programme recited during the concerts was dedicated to prolific South African composer, Prof Hendrik Hofmeyr, in honour of his 60th birthday on 20 November 2017. The ensemble recited Super Flumina Babylonis, Notturno Elegiaco & Spokewals/Phantom Waltz - all works commissioned from Prof Hofmeyr for the OSMC.

The Odeion School of Music awarded the Order of the OSM to Prof Hofmeyr during the concert in gratitude for his tremendous contribution as a South African composer.

The final concert at Endler Hall, presented by the Endler Concert Series, was attended by the UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, and Mrs Cheslyn Petersen.

According to Marius Coetzee from the Odeion School of Music, the OSMC was strategically founded in 2012 as the OSM’s flagship chamber orchestra with its main objective being to create a catalyst for excellence. From a pedagogical perspective, the OSMC serves as an incubator to nurture fully rounded musicians who are thoroughly prepared for the demands of their trade as orchestral musicians, soloists and conductors. 

Responding to the demand for excellence, on 1 September 2017 it was announced that the OSMC received first prize for the 2017 Ictus International Music Competition (US) as the winner of the category for Conservatory and University Orchestras.

Louis van der Watt, head of strings at the University of Stellenbosch Conservatory and vice conductor of the university’s symphony orchestra, remarked that the OSMC presented an excellent concert. Audience members concurred, saying the OSM Camerata was setting new standards for orchestral playing in South Africa.

Review from Louis van der Watt, University of Stellenbosch (available in Afrikaans)

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