About the editors
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Professor and Research Chair for Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University
My work was inspired by witnessing profound human moments of change and transformation when I served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). As a site of testimony and a space for listening to the pain of the other, the TRC provided points of identification, entryways into the experience of others and opened the possibility not only for empathic connection with the other, but also for the critical work of moral reflection. These insights from the TRC continue to influence my approach to difficult dialogues and my everyday relational encounters.
Friederike Bubenzer
Senior Project Leader, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
Throughout my life, I have been fascinated by the power of stories to connect people. I have longed to hear and document the memories of family members whose stories, real and imagined, have helped me understand myself and the world around me. That process enabled me to embark on the often difficult journey of compiling this book. I know that these stories have the power to bridge the divides that live on in the minds of this country.
Marietjie Oelofsen
Post-doctoral Fellow, Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University
In an uncertain world, I find a constant in the power of stories – true or fictional, spoken or written down – to disrupt the truths I hold about who I am, and what the world looks like. Now that the storytellers in this book, and the characters in their stories, have appeared in my head, I cannot erase their disruptive voices. I thank them for this gift.
