Storytelling and engravings, Past and Present: Biesje Poort, Northern Cape

The Biesje Poort rock art project was a research collaboration led by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) and funded by the National Heritage Council. The project focused on the recording of previously undocumented rock engravings as well as the recording of the research teams’ (including Kalahari representatives) stories inspired by the rock art site. The greater scope of the paper is that of the gaining and sharing of knowledge in relation to the Biesje Poort rock art site. The three authors, all part of the Biesje Poort research team, focus on different aspects of the project which are presented here in a dialogical manner. Miliswa Magongo explores the role of participatory communication in the recording of tangible and intangible heritage as well as the use of participatory communication in promoting skills transference and community empowerment. Mary Lange focuses on the use of a multiple intelligence approach to research in relation to the recording of rock art and oral narratives north of the Orange River. Shanade Barnabas discusses the tourism potential of the Biesje Poort site and the most appropriate methods of representing the rock engravings to the broader public. The storytelling discussed in this paper includes representations of the indigene, their knowledge, and multidisciplinary, varied interpretations of the rock art by the multidisciplinary and multicultural Biesje Poort research team.