This was among the key issues explored at the Southern African Folklore Society (SAFOS) Conference, held from 16 to 18 September 2026 at the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) in Mbombela under the theme Orality in Transformation: Preserving Heritage, Innovating Futures.
The conference brought together scholars, researchers, postgraduate students and heritage practitioners to examine the changing relationship between oral traditions, folklore, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and emerging technologies.
Traditionally transmitted through storytelling, songs, praise poetry, rituals, ceremonies and intergenerational teaching, oral traditions have long served as repositories of community memory, identity, values and knowledge.
From gatherings around the fireplace, oral traditions are increasingly finding space on podcasts, social media platforms, radio, television, digital archives and other online platforms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also creating new possibilities for recording, translating, analysing and sharing cultural and linguistic heritage.
While these developments create opportunities for preservation and wider access, they also raise questions about who owns cultural knowledge, who has the authority to interpret it, and how communities can be protected from the distortion or appropriation of their heritage.
Keeping Communities at the Centre
Speaking on Orality and Research Impact, UMP Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Internationalisation, Professor Aldo Stroebel, emphasised that technological advancement must be accompanied by ethical engagement with the communities whose knowledge is being preserved.
The conference speakers examined the changing relationship between oral traditions and emerging technologies.
He noted that digital tools could provide unprecedented opportunities to document oral heritage and make it accessible to wider audiences, while Indigenous Knowledge remains vulnerable to disappearance, distortion, commodification and appropriation.
“Researchers should move away from simply researching ‘on’ communities and instead research with communities, recognising them as partners and co-creators of knowledge,” said Professor Stroebel, further emphasising that research should produce knowledge that responds to real-world problems, informs policy, empowers communities and contributes to the sustainable development of South Africa.
National Heritage Council CEO, Dr Thabo Manetsi, explained that while history is primarily concerned with factual accounts of the past, heritage can encompass stories, legends, emotions and moral values.
“Heritage is therefore not simply something inherited from the past, but something that present generations actively decide to preserve and pass on to those who come after them,” he said, adding that communities and knowledge holders are central to safeguarding living heritage.
He also mentioned that the transformation of oral traditions should not be understood as an abandonment of traditional practices. Rather, transformation allows cultural expressions to evolve and remain relevant as social, cultural and technological environments change.
Postgraduate researchers had the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing scholarly conversation.
Creating Space for African Knowledge
Conference discussions also highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in ensuring that technology serves heritage preservation responsibly. Partnerships between the humanities, social sciences, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence and cultural institutions can create new ways of documenting and engaging with African knowledge systems.
For universities, this raises an important question: how can Indigenous languages be recognised not merely as subjects of academic study, but as active languages through which knowledge is created, shared and understood?
For UMP, this conversation is particularly relevant given its location in a province rich in linguistic and cultural diversity. Connecting research to the communities and heritage of Mpumalanga creates opportunities for scholarship to contribute to the preservation and continued development of local knowledge.
The conference further emphasised that African knowledge systems should be viewed as intellectual resources for the future, rather than being treated solely as remnants of the past, and provided a platform for postgraduate researchers to contribute to the ongoing scholarly conversation.
Story by Cleopatra Makhaga. Pictures by JB Creative Cinema. Copyright © UMP.