Land, liberty and telling our stories

In partnership with Joburg Theatre, the Museum was pleased to have hosted a public conversation with J Edward Chamberlin, a writer and land claims expert from the University of Toronto in Canada whose book, ‘If this is your land, where are your stories?’ has been much celebrated.

The conversation took place at the Museum’s Homecoming Centre on Monday 4 June, and provoked many questions of interest and concern. Chamberlin has worked extensively on indigenous land claims in places as diverse as Canada, USA, Australia and South Africa, and the title of his talk ‘Land, liberty and telling our stories’ was an apt segue into the importance of stories of land evolved from a relationship with the land.

He spoke of stories as being an important component of land claims, not merely as a decorative add-on, but as expressions of cultural experiences and relationships.

The conversation was beautifully moderated by Nomboniso Gasa and participants left feeling both inspired and unsettled enough to take some of the conversations into their own personal spheres of influence.