Challenges of Conflicting Memories in Oral History Narratives: A Conversation with Troy Phili on Building Charlotte Maxeke’s Biography
Ayanda Sphelele Ndlovu 
& Chitja Twala
Issue: Vol.5 No.6 Issue Article 12 pp.950-960
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245612 | Published online 19th June, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This paper is presented in the form of an interview, encompassing the key voice of Troy Phili, the former Unit Manager for Burial Grounds and Graves, at South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) between 2005-2013. The paper aims to highlight the distortions in the profiling of Charlotte Maxeke and how this could lead to misrepresentations of her unique role in the struggle. From an oral history perspective, an interview with Troy Phili contributes to the correction of such distortions. Thus, the paper is embedded in this oral testimony. The interview emphasized oral history as a means of correcting historical distortions, as was the case of Troy while working towards the declaration of Maxeke’s gravesite as a national heritage site. This paper also relied on desktop analysis of both primary and secondary sources of data. The authors perceive these tendencies not as seeking to downplay Maxeke’s catalytic life, but how oral history as methodology and technique can be used to rectify historical misrepresentations. The paper contributes to the correction of distortions of representations of Maxeke during the declaration of her gravesite. This adds to the understanding of the historical declaration of gravesites in historicizing the role played by individuals such as Maxeke in South Africa.
Keywords: Charlotte Maxeke, Conflicting Memories, Oral History, Liberation History, SAHRA, Social History, Phili Troy
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Ayanda Sphelele Ndlovu is a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa. He is a published scholar and holds Bachelor of Social Sciences (History and Political Sciences); Bachelor of Social Sciences Honours (History) both from University of Kwa-Zulu Natal; Master of Art (History) and University of the Free State and Master of Science (Archaeology) from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (present). His research interests are interdisciplinary disciplinary. They include history, philosophy, politics and archaeology. Here are the themes: race and racism, African philosophy and black existentialism in historiography, LGBTQI, rock art/engravings and burial grounds and graves. Besides being a lecturer, he is a heritage consultant and independent researcher with interest of history and heritage.
Chitja Twala is a History Professor in the Department of Cultural and Political Studies at the University of Limpopo (UL), South Africa. He is the author of ten chapters (co-authored three) in a book series entitled The Road to Democracy in South Africa (1970–1990). He recently published a chapter co-authored with Peter Limb entitled: ‘The ICU in Free State Dorps and Dorpies’ in the book Labour Struggles in Southern Africa, 1919–1949 published in 2023. Another chapter co-authored with Mohau Soldaat is entitled ‘Lesotho migrant workers in the Orange Free State farms’ was published in December 2023. In 2024, he co-edited a book entitled: Migration, Borders, and Borderlands: Making National Identity in Southern African Communities.
Ndlovu, Ayanda Sphelele & Chitja Twala. “Challenges of Conflicting Memories in Oral History Narratives: A Conversation with Troy Phili on Building Charlotte Maxeke’s Biography,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.6 (2024): 950-960. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245612
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
