Power of the Word (South Africa)

ImaginingOtherwise. 2020/2021
Imagine being taught in a language that’s not your own.
Imagine internalising partial stories of the histories of your language and your culture.
Imagine the value of learning how your everyday words are and can be a means of resistance.
Consider the power of youth activists learning through the arts about complex stories of language, belonging and place.
Welcome to POW: Youth to the Power of the Word
South Africa’s complex language politics informs how its people participate in democracy, producing civic norms the retrace the historical but lasting hegemony of English and Afrikaans. Everyday tactics of youth resistance to these norms have reverberated across history in creative and effective social movements. And it is young people expressing their own linguistic citizenship that POW (Power of Word) takes as its source of energy.
POW is implemented under the auspices of the Changing the Story programme. In POW we take up the politics of ‘voice’ using peer-exchange as our driving ethos between two phase 2 Changing the Story projects:
· ImaginingOtherwise (IO) in Cape Town, which is an arts activism programme working with school-going young people, spearheaded by the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education and implemented in partnership with BottomUp; and
· Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba (ILL) in Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo, an independent youth land activist and environmental justice filmmaking project incubated by the Support Centre for Land Change (SCLC).
What we discovered in both of these projects confirmed that language and different forms of linguistic and/or semiotic citizenship were important vectors of power in social change movements in South Africa. In this context, full democratic participation is affected by the hegemony of English and a rural/urban divide. POW thus brings young creators from across these divides together to critically examine language, spatial politics, and activism. POW has been inspired by the recent work of linguists at the University of the Western Cape that has underscored the role of Kaaps – a historically devalued language in colonial and racist orders – as a living language for cultural and political expression. We hope to contribute in some way to this crucial work.
Our aim is to use creative arts engagement and peer exchange to address the question: what would a youth-led linguistic citizenship strategy look like?

ImaginingOtherwise, 2020/2021
The project brings rural and urban co-creators together with the intention of legacy-building for the living archive to be based at the ImaginingOtherwise Library for Social Change. Film, oral histories, and cross arts creative workshops will form part of a sharing of practices and inform the Word Fest in March 2022.
Partners: Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education and BottomUp with guest practitioners, supported by Dr ally walsh at the University of Leeds and Dr Scott Burnett at the University of Gothenburg.
POW is a short-term intervention aimed at building the skills, social capital, and partner networks of members while contributing to policy debates about language and social change. Look out for our twitter stories about youth engagement and the Power of the Word.
You can read more about both projects in these selected publications:
Walsh, A. & Burnett, S. (2021) Voicing ambiguities in the Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba co-creator collective. RIDE: Journal of Applied theatre. (Scott Burnett) https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2021.1888708
Walsh, A., Sutherland, S., Visagie, A., & Routledge, P. (2020) ImaginingOtherwise: A glossary of arts education practice on the Cape Flats. ArtsPraxis Vol 7(2b). Available at: https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/artspraxis/2020/volume-7-issue-2b/walsh-sutherland-visagie-routledge-imaginingotherwise
Resource Archive
Search or browse the resource archive for films, reports, toolkits and other resources produced by the Changing the Story and its commissioned projects. Items relating to South Africa are listed below:
Title | Summary | Author | Categories | Tags | doc_categories_hfilter | doc_tags_hfilter |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Allegory of the Fence | Blog (2019/10/31) The Allegory of the Fence | Prudence Nkomo | Phase 2, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: blog, language: english, subject: youth | phase2 south-africa changemakers location | blog language-english youth |
Change from the BottomUp: How participation & creative methods are needed to challenge school context in South Africa | Blog (2020/04/20) Change from the BottomUp: How participation & creative methods are needed to challenge school context in South Africa | Ashley Visagie, Dr Aylwyn Walsh | Phase 2, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: participatory arts, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | blog language-english subject-participatory-arts subject-reflections |
Reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa) | Iris shares her reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa). | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | film language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities subject-reflections | |
Mobilising Histories of Discrimination, Persecution and Genocide | The ‘Mobilising Histories’ conference, held at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre, brought together two projects funded by the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) which ask how arts-based interventions … | Event, Phase 1, South Africa | format: film, language: english | event phase1 south-africa location | film language-english | |
Meet Taahirah | Meet Taahirah, a Changing the Story Youth Research Board member from Cape Town, South Africa. | South Africa, Young Changemakers, Youth Research Board | format: film, language: english | south-africa changemakers youth-research-board location | film language-english | |
Where’s the Research in Evaluation? | Blog (2018/10/31) Where’s the Research in Evaluation? | Prof Stuart Taberner | Phase 1, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: reflections | phase1 south-africa location | blog language-english subject-reflections |
Mobilising Histories: Reflections | Blog (2018/08/16) Mobilising Histories: Reflections | Phase 1, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: blog, language: english, subject: reflections | phase1 south-africa changemakers location | blog language-english subject-reflections | |
Digital Storytelling in ImaginingOtherwise (film one) | The ImaginingOtherwise crew introduces some of their tasks and experiments using video storytelling to amplify voices and advocate for their communities. | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, format: toolkit, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 16 Institutions | phase2 south-africa location | film toolkit language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions | |
ImaginingOtherwise Conversation Series | The #ImaginingOtherwise team hosted a series of webinars, or international conversations, about the value of co-creation and participation. Catch-up on all the episodes at your leisure. | Alexandra Sutherland, Daniel Maposa, Ishtar Lakhani, Sarah Summers | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, language: english | phase2 south-africa location | film language-english |
Women in Arms | This short film was created by the team at Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba to highlight the crucial role that women are playing in claiming space, dreaming new futures, and implementing militant … | Event, South Africa | format: film, language: english, subject: gender | event south-africa location | film language-english gender | |
Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba Film Takeover | Blog (2020/03/19) Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba Film Takeover | Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba | Event, Phase 2, South Africa, Young Changemakers | event phase2 south-africa changemakers location | ||
Malume uya Lumana | [Duration 12 min 52 secs] | Malume uya Lumana | Event, South Africa | format: film, language: english | event south-africa location | film language-english |
Arts Activism Toolkit | The final #ImaginingOtherwise project is an Arts Activism toolkit. This toolkit intentionally brings together case studies of innovative arts activism practice from the global South, activities to develop one’s own … | Alexandra Sutherland, Dr Aylwyn Walsh, Prof Paul Routledge | Phase 2, South Africa | format: toolkit, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 16 Institutions | phase2 south-africa location | toolkit language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions |
Reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa) | Suggest shares his reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa). | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | film language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities subject-reflections | |
Mapping Community Heritage Case Study | Mapping Community Heritage is a research project led by seven young people from rural communities bordering South Africa’s Kruger national park in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, University of … | South Africa | format: article, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, subject: youth | south-africa location | article language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities youth | |
Policy Brief: The Emerging Moringa Economy | The Emerging Moringa Economy: A ground-breaking opportunity to boost rural green economies and youth employment in South Africa (2022) Policy brief from Follow-on Fund project, Transnational and Intergenerational Exploration of … | Phase 3, South Africa | language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 13 Climate, SDG 3 Health and Well-being, SDG 8 Work, subject: policy | phase3 south-africa location | language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-13-climate sdg-3-health-and-well-being sdg-8-work subject-policy | |
BST Youth Leadership Programme v1.2 1 | This document provides guidance on the implementation of the Bishop Simeon Trust’s (BST) youth leadership programme, developed in partnership with the University of Leeds and our South African partners since … | South Africa | language: english, SDG 16 Institutions, SDG 17 Partnerships, SDG 4 Education, subject: leadership, subject: youth | south-africa location | language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education leadership youth | |
Phase One Critical Review: The Change-Makers (South Africa) | In March 2018, Prof Chaya Herman, Dr Charity Meki-Kombe and Prof Stuart Taberner conducted a critical evaluation and review of Changing the Story Phase 1 project 'The Change-makers.' The report … | Dr Charity Meki-Kombe, Prof Chaya Herman, Prof Stuart Taberner | Phase 1, South Africa | format: report, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 4 Education, subject: reflections | phase1 south-africa location | report language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-4-education subject-reflections |
Mobility Fund Report, 2020 | In 2019, Changing the Story (CTS) launched a Mobility Fund, offering financial support of up to £1000 designed to enhance the mobility and professional development of CTS grantees based in … | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, India, Nepal, South Africa, Venezuela | format: report, language: english, subject: policy, subject: youth | bosnia-and-herzegovina colombia india nepal south-africa venezuela location | report language-english subject-policy youth | |
PUBLICATION LAUNCH! Changing the Story: Our Third Year | Blog (2021/05/21) PUBLICATION LAUNCH! Changing the Story: Our Third Year | Aisha Kayani | Cambodia, Colombia, India, Kosovo, Phase 2, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: blog, language: english, subject: covid19, subject: participatory arts, subject: youth | cambodia colombia india kosovo phase2 south-africa changemakers location | blog language-english subject-covid19 subject-participatory-arts youth |
The Emerging Moringa Economy | Photo essay on the moringa economy in South Africa by Follow-on Fund project, Transnational and Intergenerational Exploration of Ecological Heritage. | Phase 3, South Africa | language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 13 Climate, SDG 3 Health and Well-being, SDG 8 Work | phase3 south-africa location | language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-13-climate sdg-3-health-and-well-being sdg-8-work | |
Digital Storytelling in ImaginingOtherwise (film three) | ImaginingOtherwise young people explore Cape Town, introducing their understanding of space and the creative use of film-making to represent people, communities and lives from the perspective of creative makers. Supported … | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, format: toolkit, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 16 Institutions | phase2 south-africa location | film toolkit language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions | |
ImaginingOtherwise Youth Arts Toolkit | The Youth Arts Toolkit is a collection of workshops (some online, some in person) that were developed over the year of the Imagining Otherwise project. This resource is for anyone … | Phase 2, South Africa | format: toolkit, subject: youth | phase2 south-africa location | toolkit youth | |
Reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa) | Accurate shares her reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa). | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | film language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities subject-reflections | |
Reflections from The Performance and Conflict Conference | Blog (2018/11/14) Reflections from The Performance and Conflict Conference | Event, Phase 2, South Africa | format: blog, language: english | event phase2 south-africa location | blog language-english | |
Digital Storytelling in ImaginingOtherwise (film two) | Developed with young artists in collaboration with (Lo-Def Film Factory), this step-by-step film demonstrates how you can use mobile phones for telling your stories. A group of the ImaginingOtherwise participants … | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, format: toolkit, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 16 Institutions | phase2 south-africa location | film toolkit language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions | |
Getting a picture of the Cape Flats and the ImaginingOtherwise Youth Arts Festival | Blog (2020/04/08) Getting a picture of the Cape Flats and the ImaginingOtherwise Youth Arts Festival | Alexandra Sutherland, Ashley Visagie, Dr Aylwyn Walsh | Event, Phase 2, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: covid19, subject: reflections | event phase2 south-africa location | blog language-english subject-covid19 subject-reflections |
Meet Taahirah | Taahirah is 18 years old and from Cape Town South Africa. In this video Taahirah tells us more about her interests, inspirations and social engagement, | South Africa, Young Changemakers, Youth Research Board | format: film, language: english | south-africa changemakers youth-research-board location | film language-english | |
Annie Arries | Annie Arries is a primary school teacher who loves the Karoo and says she will never leave. She says here, children can still grow up as children. Her hope for … | Annie Arries | Event, South Africa | format: film, language: english, subject: gender | event south-africa location | film language-english gender |
Issie Christoffels | Issie Christoffels loves the people of the Karoo. She remembers a hard youth, with very few opportunities: very few things to do, very little positive going on… Today she is … | Issie Christoffels | Event, South Africa | format: film, language: english, subject: gender | event south-africa location | film language-english gender |
#CTStakeover Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba South Africa | Blog (2019/10/31) #CTStakeover Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba South Africa | Event, Phase 2, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: reflections, subject: youth | event phase2 south-africa location | blog language-english subject-reflections youth | |
The Change Makers – South Africa | Blog (2018/03/29) The Change Makers – South Africa | Prof Chaya Herman, Prof Stuart Taberner, Tali Nates | Phase 1, South Africa | format: blog, language: english | phase1 south-africa location | blog language-english |
Transrational Communication through Participatory Arts | Hear from Prof Paul Cooke and Dr Lou Harvey in conversation with Luke McFarline on their paper 'Transrational Communication through Participatory Arts with South African Youth. | Dr Lou Harvey, Luke McFarline, Prof Paul Cooke | South Africa | format: audio, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 16 Institutions, SDG 4 Education, subject: participatory arts | south-africa location | audio language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-16-institutions sdg-4-education subject-participatory-arts |
New Project: Developing Youth Leadership for More Peaceful and Inclusive Societies in Post-Conflict Countries | blog (2019/10/29) New Project: Developing Youth Leadership for More Peaceful and Inclusive Societies in Post-Conflict Countries | Lauren Wray | Kenya, Namibia, Phase 1, Rwanda, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: youth | kenya namibia phase1 rwanda south-africa location | blog language-english youth |
Reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa) | Sindisiwe shares her reflections on the Phase Two Mapping Community Heritage project (South Africa). | Phase 2, South Africa | format: film, language: english, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | film language-english subject-reflections | |
Changing the Story Film nominated for Two National Research Film Awards | blog (2018/09/24) Changing the Story Film nominated for Two National Research Film Awards | Phase 1, South Africa | format: blog, language: english | phase1 south-africa location | blog language-english | |
ImaginingOtherwise: Meet Gomez | The ImaginingOtherwise project visited the Zeitz Mocaa museum as our final art-activism-educational event for this difficult year. Meet Gomez who is studying engineering and was fascinated by the architecture of … | Gomez | Event, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: film, subject: participatory arts, subject: reflections, subject: youth | event south-africa changemakers location | film subject-participatory-arts subject-reflections youth |
ImaginingOtherwise: A Glossary of Arts Education Practice on the Cape Flats | In this collaborative text, ImaginingOtherwise draw out the key social justice concerns faced by young people in South Africa, setting them against the learning from the arts-based project. Moving beyond … | Phase 2, South Africa | language: english | phase2 south-africa location | language-english | |
Meet Jayden | Meet Jayden, a Changing the Story Youth Research Board member from Cape Town, South Africa. | South Africa, Young Changemakers, Youth Research Board | format: film, language: spanish | south-africa changemakers youth-research-board location | film language-spanish | |
Thyspunt: Khoisan Heritage | Blog (2020/03/30) Thyspunt: Khoisan Heritage | Phase 2, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: blog, language: english, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa changemakers location | blog language-english subject-reflections | |
Mrs A. Jaftha from Ryneveldt Primary | Mrs Jaftha was brought up in a strict home, to value the things they had, even the things they got for free. She remembers her childhood as a time of … | Mrs A. Jaftha | Event, South Africa | format: film, language: english, subject: gender | event south-africa location | film language-english gender |
Journey of Self Discovery, Taahirah Hoosain | Skill Exchange workshops to develop skills that would be useful to young change-makers, March - April 2022 | Taahirah Hoosain | Event, South Africa, Young Changemakers | format: film, language: english, subject: wellbeing, subject: youth | event south-africa changemakers location | film language-english subject-wellbeing youth |
The messiness of building community: Co-creation across lines of social difference | Blog (2020/01/08) The messiness of building community: Co-creation across lines of social difference | Dr Aylwyn Walsh, Dr Scott Burnett | Phase 2, South Africa | format: blog, language: english, subject: reflections | phase2 south-africa location | blog language-english subject-reflections |
Voicing ambiguities in the Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba co-creator collective | This article authored by Aylwyn Walsh and Scott Burnett considers youth co-production in the context of the Changing the Story phase 1 project Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba. The participatory project conceives … | Dr Aylwyn Walsh, Dr Scott Burnett, Ilizwi Lenyaniso Lomhlaba | Phase 1, Phase 2, South Africa | format: article, language: english | phase1 phase2 south-africa location | article language-english |
WPS2 FINAL Mobilising the Past | "Mobilising the Past to Support Human Rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals" This literature review, authored by Emma Parker (University of Leeds) has been compiled as part of the … | Emma Parker | South Africa | language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, SDG 16 Institutions | south-africa location | language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions |
Permanent crisis of visibility: Young working-class Capetonians | Engage Journal 45: Class and Inequality explores issues of class, socio-economic disadvantage and inequality in relation to gallery education and engagement programmes and the related sector. Read Permanent crisis of … | Ashley Visagie, Dr Aylwyn Walsh, Helene Rousseau | Phase 2, South Africa | format: article, language: english, SDG 10 Inequalities, SDG 4 Education | phase2 south-africa location | article language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-4-education |