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One City Many Histories, a South African History Online project
On City Many Histories is a research project on the histories of South Africa’s nine FIFA World Cup host cities. This project provides ‘usable histories’ of nine cities by combining substantial original research with a comprehensive synthesis of existing research. In some cases the project has produced one of the first ever general histories of the location; in other instances, it has made broadly available information previously scattered in diverse specialist literatures. It has also given SAHO a platform to further develop the history of place programme to include other major urban areas.
For people from outside the country and elsewhere in South Africa, the project provides an introduction to new cities and histories. By presenting these histories in a different form(organized into key sites and key individuals), the project has also served to help change people’s relationship with the areas in which they themselves live through inviting site users to engage in their own cities in new ways. One effect of this strategy has been to inspire site users to research their own cities, collecting local stories and biographies to expand the site. Another impact has been to highlight (and begin to fill) the enormous gaps that still exist in the historiography of South African cities, which also encourages university-based scholars and students to take on new areas of research.
Source: South African History Online Newsletter Edition 198: 07 January 2011
Comments
A question rather than a comment: is it the purpose of the project to create an elecronic archive/resource that will be accessible to the public? If so, where will this be housed?
hi Gary
the project is as you can see is ambitious and still has a long way to go, and we are hoping that historians, local librarians etc will begin to add to the material. All the material we use is published online. So when we talk about on online resource / archive we are mean that the material resides either on our website or other websites.
You might wish to establish a link to a piece i published in Politique Africaine (translated into French) and also available in English here:
http://www.playthegame.org/knowledge-bank/articles/playing-by-fifas-rules-the-politics-and-potential-legacy-of-port-elizabeths-hosting-2010-worl.html
thanks Gary - we will definitely post your article. I would like to agree with your big capital can in one go have such a profound impact on a city. Unlike the big motor companies who at least hang around for a while. The FIFA circus can screw up a place in a short four years.