ARCHIVES OF TIMES PAST, conversations about South Africa's deep history

341pp., illus, map, Johannesburg, 2022

Contributions include:

"Notes on a Kholwa Writer’s Life: Magema Fuze" by Hlonipha Mokoena

"Making ‘Tribal Histories’: The work of Paul-Lenert Breutz" by Fred Morton and Jan Boeyens

"From ‘Nature Study’ to ‘Nature’s Archives’: My journey into environmental history" by Muchaparara Musemwa

"Dreams and Destinies: Stepping into the world of archaeology" by Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu

"Storm Shelter: Rediscovering an archive of rock art" by Geoffrey Blundell

"Mapungubwe Imagined" by Himal Ramji

 "This is a landmark and engaging book that effectively challenges and displaces common and persistent assumptions about southern African history. More than that, it offers new ways to think, debate, and understand the deep histories of the past in southern Africa and to imagine more promising futures." Maanda Mulaudzi, Lecturer, Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

"This timely volume reminds us that the archive concerning the story of our region before European conquest takes many shapes and forms. The authors offer fascinating insights into how this archive was made and how we can use it to investigate, understand and reinterpret the deep past. This is a thoughtful, innovative and rigorous study. We need this kind of scholarship now more than ever." Heather Hughes, Professor of Cultural Heritage Studies and Head, IBCC Digital Archive

Cynthia Kros is an Honorary Research Associate of the History Workshop at the University of the Witwatersrand and an Honorary Research Associate of the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative at the University of Cape Town.

John Wright is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a research associate in the Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative at the University of Cape Town.

Mbongiseni Buthelezi is Executive Director of the Public Affairs Research Institute, Johannesburg. 

Helen Ludlow was Head of History at the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, until the end of 2016.