By David Wiley and Christine Root

The world is a poorer place with the loss in February of Phyllis Naidoo, a defender of humanity, a protector of people in the midst of apartheid oppression, and a loving and responsive humanist in a society of growing materialism and bourgeois consumption of the global West.

Phyllis lived a lifelong struggle against the apartheid system as a member of the African National Congress (ANC), the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK, Spear of the Nation) ANC underground, and the South African Communist Party. She was a prominent target of the apartheid regime that wanted to assassinate her for her passionate work.  Phyllis harbored escapees from the regime and helped them escape to Swaziland.  She was banned and therefore without a job while her husband was in Robben Island prison.  When the regime broke one of her cell members, she fled into exile to Lesotho where she cared for refugees and children and where she was riddled with shrapnel from an apartheid parcel bomb.  She then escaped to Zimbabwe, took care of hundreds of movement members in her home, and then learned that an apartheid agent in Zambia had assassinated her son.

Phyllis went to great effort to find employment for ex-Robben Island prisoners, even employing five of them as messengers at her law office—including Jacob Zuma, the current South African president.  Throughout the struggle, she fought fiercely and paid dearly for her commitment.

In recent years, Phyllis continued her care for persons by hosting many—rich and poor—and celebrating living and dead heroes of the liberation struggle in her books Footprints in Grey Street (2002), 156 Hands that built South Africa (2006), Footprints beyond Grey Street (2007), and Enduring Footprints (2009).

All the while, she lived in a small apartment on the exhaust-filled Umbilo Street in central Durban where she was a center for so many friends and for the needy of the neighborhood.

Phyllis Naidoo was a great defender of liberty, a guardian of the soldiers of the resistance, a hero for so many, a political warrior, and, most of all, an immensely principled but compassionate human being.  To the end, she knew the cause of justice and humanity for which she cared for so many people and for which she gave all of her life and treasure.

Hamba kahle (go well), Phyllis.

See a number of documents, photos, and a video interview with Phyllis Naidoo on www.overcomingapartheid.msu.edu – and read her history at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/phyllis-naidoo

In late December of 2012, MATRIX Director Dean Rehberger and Audio-Visual Lab Consultant Mike Green traveled to Senegal at part of a Smithsonian-funded pilot project that focused on creating 3D, digital representations of cultural heritage artifacts from the Gorée  Island excavations. The team used a process called stereophotogrammetry to create the 3D representations, which will then be shared freely online in the Gorée Island Archeological Digital Repository.

Stereophotogrammetry is the practice of taking high-quality digital still photographs in a circle around an object. These photographs are then fed into a computer program that uses the photographs to define and triangulate specific geometric points on the object. These geographic points are then matched throughout all the photographs taken of the object (which can often range from between 50-100 images) and are used to create 3D representations of the artifact. Stereophotogrammetry is a relatively inexpensive and mobile process, making it ideal for Africa-based cultural institutions who typically have lower budgets and need the capacity to document objects both within the museum and in the field.

MATRIX’s trip to Senegal was intended to serve as a brief training session where Rehberger and Green taught local Senegalese students how to complete the work of stereophotogrammetry. This included instruction on how to use DSLR cameras, how to take high quality photographs, how to set up equipment, and how to manipulate images in the 3D photo creation software. During their one-week stay, Rehberger and Green were able to host three full days of training, which resulted in six Senegalese students now being trained in the art of stereophotogrammetry. These six students are now able to train other students, resulting in a multiplication of equipped personnel who can begin cataloging and preserving the extensive archives of archaeological artifacts that exist at Gorée Island (and in Senegal as a whole). In this way, the Senegalese cultural institutions are self-sustaining and are not dependent on outside help to complete importation documentation and preservation work.

The trip to Senegal was meant to serve as a test bed for future projects that will help create a larger, 3D digital repository of African cultural heritage materials as a way of both preserving the materials themselves and as a method of sharing these materials to scholars in an open-source, open-access digital environment. This project addresses dire needs in the African cultural heritage community, including a lack of best-practice-ready heritage institutions and personnel within Africa; a history of colonial bias in artifact description and preservation; and the rapid degradation of cultural materials in Africa due to politics, wars, environmental concerns, and time.

The Gorée Island Archaeological Digital Repository is made possible through active collaboration between MATRIX, Michigan State University,  AFRICOM, the Smithsonian Institution, the Association of African American Museums, and the American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums). MATRIX is excited to continue our tradition of international partnerships in order to preserve and disseminate these important cultural heritage materials in digital spaces.

MATRIX would like to take time at the beginning of this week to mourn and reflect on the recent passing of Zwelakhe Sisulu, a dedicated South African journalist, businessman, and activist. Son of ANC stalwart Walter Sisulu (Nelson Mandela’s friend and mentor), Zwelakhe Sisulu faced harassment and imprisonment during the struggle against apartheid as a result of his activities as an advocate for freedom of expression and a practitioner of alternative media.

Footage of Zwelakhe Sisulu’s activist work can be found on the Community Video Education Trust (CVET) website at http://cvet.org.za/index.php . In this video, taken on March 29, 1986, Zwelakhe Sisulu reviews and evaluates the South African government’s plan to institute a permanent State of Emergency in the country. Sisulu speaks passionately about the injustices this plan has imposed upon the people of South Africa and urges his listeners to understand the crucial moment they were living in:

I want to make it clear that these aren’t empty slogans. When we say that we’ve reached a decisive historical moment, we do not say so because those are the types of things that are said at conferences. We say it because we believe that indeed we have reached a decisive moment and this is based on a careful assessment of our current reality.

Segments from this rare footage were used by the Sisulu family to compile a video tribute of his life and work. Our experiences this past week have proven the importance and value of digitizing and disseminating cultural heritage materials online. Had this clip not been digitized and made freely accessible online, it is possible that the footage would have been stored in such a way that would have made its rapid discovery, sharing, and re-use in a memorial film on short notice impossible.

We are also thankful to our partners at CVET for allowing us to take part in the important and exciting work of preserving cultural heritage materials. We encourage you to visit the CVET website to familiarize yourself with the project and learn more about Zwelakhe Sisulu and the causes he dedicated his life to.

It isn’t likely that a lot of us will ever get to personally meet Samuel Mahoko (photo at right), a displaced farm laborer from Rammolutsi, a poor community in northeastern South Africa.

But while we will probably never have the chance to shake his hand, thanks to the African Oral Narratives project, we have the opportunity to hear his voice. Since 2009, the African Oral Narratives team has been collecting and digitizing life stories, interviews, folklore, and songs from sub-Saharan Africa. Samuel Mahoko’s everyday life as a farm worker in post-apartheid South Africa is one of those stories.

Drawing on examples from his life and the lives of family and friends, Mahoko sheds light on the racial, economic, and political tensions between unions, farm owners, and farm workers. He also reflects on his childhood in South Africa, the forces that have shaped his adult life, and his hopes and aspirations for his children.

Mahoko’s story is ordinary and yet remarkable, and is just one of the many interviews collected, digitized, and offered online through the African Oral Narratives project. You are encouraged to visit this rare online archive and listen to the oral histories. When Samuel Mahoko was asked what message he would like to relay to those who would hear his story, he said: “My message is that we have to look at both sides–where we come from and look forward. The main thing is forward.”

Access to Dale McKinley and Ahmed Veriava’s “Forgotten Voices in the Present” collection in African Oral Narratives is the result of a fruitful collaboration between SAHA (South African History Archive), Michigan State University’s Department of History, African Studies Center, and MATRIX.

A new episode of Africa Past & Present was released on June 1. This episode features Dr. Peter Limb of Michigan State University (MSU) as he discusses the life and writings of Dr. Alfred Bitini Xuma. An important figure in the history of South Africa, Xuma was the first black physician in Johannesburg and served as President-General of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1940 to 1949.

Limb’s discussion is based on his recently published book, A. B. Xuma: Autobiography and Selected Works. By reflecting on Xuma’s autobiography, his correspondence, essays and speeches on health, politics, crime, beer, the pass laws, and the rights of African women, Limb illuminates some of the tensions and controversies Xuma faced during his career and describes his historical legacy for South Africa.

Africa Past & Present is a joint project between MATRIX and the MSU Department of History. The project works to make regular podcasts focused on issues of African history, culture, and politics. Visit their site to learn more about the project, download this podcast, and explore past episodes.

Episode 63 of Africa Past and Present was released Wednesday, May 16 2012. The episode features a conversation with Professor Tom Turner, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Country Specialist at Amnesty International USA.

Africa Past and Present is hosted by Michigan State University historians Peter Alegi and Peter Limb and produced by MATRIX. Subscribe to the podcast on the Africa Past and Present website and on iTunes.

In this episode, Layering Racial Oppression in South Africa, Jacob Dlamini, South African author, journalist, and historian, discusses his best-selling book Native Nostalgia, a memoir that challenges conventional struggle narratives.  He also talks about the social and political history of Kruger National Park and a new research project on collaborators of the apartheid security forces.

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Africa Past and Present is hosted by Michigan State University historians Peter Alegi and Peter Limb and produced by MATRIX. Subscribe to the podcast on the Africa Past and Present website and on iTunes.

In Episode 58, Professor Aili Mari Tripp (Political Science, University of Wisconsin – Madison; President-elect, U.S. African Studies Association) discusses African women’s movements, democratization, and the paradoxes of power in Museveni’s Uganda. She also underscores the need for the African Studies Association to challenge the U.S. government’s draconian cuts to international education. With guest host Prof. Kiki Edozie (International Relations, Michigan State).

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Africa Past and Present is hosted by Michigan State University historians Peter Alegi and Peter Limb and produced by MATRIX. Subscribe to the podcast on our website and on iTunes.

Africa Past and Present is co-hosted by Michigan State University historians Peter Alegi and Peter Limb and produced by Matrix.

Episode 57 features African activists Eddie Daniels and Christine Root, who discuss spending a lifetime working for African liberation. Daniels work in South Africa led to his imprisonment alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island from 1964-1979, while Root worked in solidarity with such struggles from the U.S. as Associate Director of the Washington Office on Africa.

The African Activist Archive, a Michigan State University project cosponsored by Matrix and the African Studies Center, preserves records and memories of ordinary Americans supporting the African fight against colonialism and apartheid.