Heritage

Africa’s heritage has to be preserved! Scholars suggest that the origins of human kind started in Africa. In South Africa September is celebrated as a heritage month and It recognizes aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and intangible. Things like creative expressions such as music and performances, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the popular memory. South Africa is also home to eight of the 981 World Heritage Sites which are recognized by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization as places of outstanding cultural and historical importance. And they are:• Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape in Limpopo• Robben Island in the Western Cape• Cradle of Humankind in Gauteng• the Cape Floral Region in both the Western and Eastern Cape• Vredefort Dome in the Free State• uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park• Isimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu- Natal• Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape in the Northern Cape.• The sites offer a diversity and abundance of cultural and natural values that encapsulate the value systems of the country.• Mapungubwe Cultural LandscapeTo help us unpack and discuss this further we are joined on the line by:1. Dr Julien Benoit Post-Doctoral Fellow Evolutionary Studies Institute WITS University 2. Hazel Botha Head of Conservation The South African Institute for Heritage Sciences3. Souayibou Varissou: {STUDIO} Head of Partnership African World Heritage Fund 4. Prof Ciraj Rassol Lecturer Department of History University of Western Cape