For our History 3 project this term we were commissioned to set up a blog documenting the history of one of the oldest and most significant townships in South Africa. What follows is our manifesto for the Fingo Village Blog.Public History in General:Baines argues that “public memory is a body of beliefs and ideas about the past that help a public or society understand both its past, present, and by implication, its future
[1]”. This is what we hope to achieve with the Fingo Village Blog project. We want to record the history of Fingo Village and its people. In documenting this rich and diverse history of a culture we hope to make their history more accessible, as it is a crucial part of their identity.
Vision:
The Fingo Village Blog’s vision is to be an outstanding public history project that promotes an understanding of the history of Fingo Village and its people. In pursuit of this we are committed to being fair, honest and producing and documenting balanced material. We want to promote historical consciousness without endangering Fingo Village’s historical and cultural resources.
Mission:
In pursuit of the vision we will aim to adhere to the ‘big four’ criterion of public history. The skills balance between ethics, appeal, research and relevance. We want to strive towards theorising memory about Fingo Village and create a project that contributes to an ongoing debate about memory and how it is presented and understood. In this quest we will accordingly:
Facilitate an understanding of history as an inescapable part of the broader political and socio-economic processes of our time
[2].
Work with groups and individuals to affirm their identity within Fingo Village because “historians should take care not to simplify and underestimate the need for a history which reinserts black people into the heart of the national narrative
[3]”.
Odendaal writes about the nature of history in an article titled ‘Heritage and the arrival of post-colonial history in South Africa
[4]’. Included in the Fingo Village Blog project’s mission is some of the concerns which Odendaal highlights that good public history projects should focus on. Therefore our vision will be achieved by representing the past through a clear narrative, explanation and analysis. A focus on the importance of the power of economic interests over time, how it contributes to change, as well as continuity. The blog will also emphasise the importance of cultivating empathy with various experiences and perspectives of the past.
We will seek to go beyond the conventional perspectives. We will not limit ourselves in terms of the resources used to document the history of Fingo Village and its people. We hope to highlight how ordinary people feel about the history of Fingo Village. We hope to include photographs of Fingo Village and the people interviewed for the project on the blog. This will make the blog visually more appealing and give readers a better idea of what Fingo Village looks like. The blog will look at the history of Fingo Village but it will also include information about what is happening there today. We will look at how its history has contributed to bringing it to where it is today. We will examine the plans that Makana Municipality and the Heritage Council has for the future development of Fingo Village.
The project will be done in way that ensures that it is sustainable. We want to do it in such a way that member of the Fingo community, or anyone else who has an interest in the village and its people, can contribute to the blog or make comments about the content. This is a public history project that aims to meet the needs of the community, to give a voice, to the previously marginalized. Throughout the project will adhere to the requirements and desires of the client. We will try to meet these needs to the best of our ability but we intend bringing some of our own creativity, originality and initiative to the project as well.
[1] Baines, G. ‘The Politics of Public History in Post-Apartheid South Africa’, p. 2.
[2] Odendaal, A. ‘”Heritage” and the arrival of post-colonial history in South Africa’, p. 20.
[3] Ibid., p. 24.
[4] Ibid., p. 12.
- Posted by Delia de Villiers
is one of the founding members of the Fingo Revolutionary Movement. He's a social commentator who uses hip-hop to get the message across. Defboyz believe in hip hop as consciousness, hip-hop as food of life, hip-hop as good times ... yeah... 
