QASHI QASHI, NDINAMNTU WAM…

The International Conference of the Southern African Folklore Society (SAFOS), hosted by Walter Sisulu University from 22 - 25 September 2025, was marked by a thought-provoking keynote address by the University of Johannesburg Department of African Languages Senior Lecturer, Dr Lukhanyo Elvis Makhenyane.

Speaking under the title “Qashi-Qashi, ndinamntu wam…: Folklore(ing) in the Digital Age and Space,” Makhenyane urged delegates to reflect on the evolution of folklore from traditional settings to contemporary digital platforms. He noted that while folklore once thrived around the imbawula and fireplaces of African homesteads, it now finds expression in TikTok dances, YouTube performances, memes, and hashtags.

Drawing on personal anecdotes of childhood storytelling and songs sung during family rituals, Makhenyane illustrated how folklore has always been central to African education, philosophy, and problem-solving.

 “Our philosophers spoke in proverbs, our scientists encoded medicinal knowledge in myths, and our historians recited genealogies,” he said.

He argued that this intellectual tradition is now mutating in the digital era, bringing both opportunities and risks.

“While digital platforms preserve folk wisdom through archives and widen access across borders, they also risk producing ‘fake-lore’, cultural appropriation, and intellectual atrophy when memory and creativity are outsourced to machines. When the roots are deep, there is no need to fear the wind,” he said.

Makhenyane reminded scholars of the importance of grounding digital expressions of folklore in authenticity and cultural depth.

Makhenyane challenged delegates to move beyond mere digitisation, the conversion of folklore into digital form and embrace digitalisation, which reimagines folklore content to meet the needs of present and future generations.

He contrasted the wisdom and moral compass of traditional folklorists with today’s often shallow digital content creators, calling for a “rare breed” of custodians who will innovate while preserving the essence of African knowledge systems.

 “Folklore is not vanishing, it is transforming. It is something we do, remix, upload, duet, and hashtag but it must remain rooted in the wisdom of our ancestors if it is to guide generations to come,” concluded Makhenyane.

The address interrogated how digital spaces simultaneously disrupt, preserve, and reinvent the practice of ukubalisa (storytelling) and ukudlala (playful performance), raising questions of ownership, authenticity, integrational continuity, and cultural values.

By Anita Roji