In her debut book Ancestory, Nokulinda Mkhize distils a lifetime of insights from her family and community life, as well as her experience as isangoma.
“I am inspired and honoured to be able to share information, insights and knowledge from my life in my community, and as isangoma, that enriches the quality of people’s lives,”
says Nokulinda Mkhize.
Ancestory is a work of reclamation and remembrance. It draws on the timeless wisdom of African forms of knowing and seamlessly integrates history, research and folklore, as well as centuries of cultural intelligence.
“Ancestory is also a critique and reflection on the challenges of modern existence and gives context to understand, heal and better honour various aspects of daily life, from health and wealth to relationships and spirit,”
She says.
“This book covers critical personal and social topics such as family dysfunction and the strain the economy has on our social, family and love lives. “
The book aims to provide a basic explanation of basic African cosmologies and makes them relevant for our lives today.
Ancestory uses various izinganekwane (indigenous folk tales) to reflect on love, life, spirit and community.
The book is also packed with research from many African writers and scholars. This is to give readers access to older sources of African history and thinking.
“Ancestory is written to be simple, straightforward and not intimidating because it is meant to serve as a starting point for considering the complexity our past, while gaining intelligence and resilience from our indigenous knowledge to assist in building our future,”
explains Mkhize.
Ancestory dispels common myths and misconceptions for example: that ubuntu doesn’t have room for the individual. It also puts key African institutions such as eldership into perspective.
Nokulinda says
“I use the examples of Mkabayi, bo rakgadi and omalume to show that we must take up the responsibility of our social obligations as they arise because eldership is inevitable, and that intergenerational care is crucial to the survival and growth of our communities. This is a roadmap of yesterday’s learnings for the journey into tomorrow.”
Ancestory is available at : https://guided.africa for R264.50 and Amazon.com for readers abroad.
The book is also available form Book Circle Capital in Johannesburg and Clarke’s Bookshop in Cape Town.