By Byron Tenesaca (Kichwa Kañari, CS Staff)
Across Indigenous communities, culture is not something preserved only in museums or history books. It lives in songs, languages, instruments, stories, dances, and the knowledge carried from one generation to the next. But as globalization, displacement, and other pressures reshape Indigenous communities, many of these traditions are at risk of being lost. Indigenous youth are using their own voices and creative practices to keep their cultures alive.
By Radio KC 107.7 MHz, South Africa
A community media project in the Paarl Valley has sparked renewed interest in Khoikhoi heritage, identity, and oral history among local communities tracing their roots to the region’s first people. The initiative, called Sida Dommi (Our Voice/Ons Stem), was led by local station Radio KC with support from Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Community Media Fund.
By Timas Letitia Petersen (KhoeSan)
The Khoe and San communities are the oldest people in the world. It has been scientifically proven that our way of life, culture, ancient click languages, rock paintings and engravings, as well as archaeological and DNA evidence, date back thousands of years.
By Moshe Maghundu (San)
The Southern African San Development Organization (SASDO) engages in initiatives that strengthen Indigenous communities through education, poverty reduction, cultural preservation, and development projects. Our work is not only about projects, but about affirming identity, reclaiming space, and ensuring that Indigenous voices remain central in shaping the future.
By Morne Pietersen, Radio Station Manager
A local community radio station, Eden FM, is playing a pivotal role in preserving the cultural heritage and history of the Klein Karoo region through two distinct but interconnected research projects. The initiatives, undertaken with support from Cultural Survival’s Community Media Grant Fund, documented Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and the personal stories of forced removals under the apartheid-era Group Areas Act.
Eden FM is a nonprofit community radio station broadcasting in the Garden Route district of the Western Cape province of the Republic of South Africa. The vision of the station is to celebrate the diversity, culture, and heritage of its listeners with programs to inform and educate them. Eighty percent of the station’s listeners are of Khoisan origin, and the station broadcasts programs to help its listeners foster pride in themselves, rediscover their lost history and heritage, and celebrate their achievements.
By Shaldon Ferris (CS Staff, Khoisan)
By CS Staff
On September 20-24, 2023, overlooking Hoerikwaggoa (Table Mountain) in Cape Town, South Africa, Indigenous people from Africa and abroad gathered to exchange experiences about implementing the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the context of mineral extraction.
Learn more about one of Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Community Media Youth Fellows, Sharri Cannell (Khoe San). Sharri is 26 and an environmental activist from South Africa. She is also an environmental scientist by profession and holds an honors degree in Zoology from the University of Johannesburg. Sharri is the Director of the non-profit organization Indigi Youth Exchange Africa (IYXAfrica) which provides assistance to Indigenous and marginalized communities in South Africa.
Amy Brown (Khoe) is 29 years old and identifies as Queer. She considers herself a scribe, having been in love with words since she memorized Wordsworth's “Daffodils” as a child. She was exposed to Word-Sound-Power and instantly knew she wanted to be a storyteller. Her parents' electric taste in music set her foundation for her love of song and by age seven, she was writing and performing original concerts. Brown comments, “The joy I find in being in front of an audience is a reminder from my child self that I am magic.”
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
