Author and broadcast journalist Joanne Joseph shared the process of writing Children of Sugarcane at the Turquoise Harmony Institute.
Speaking at Birdhaven last week Sunday, September 11, Joseph said the reason she wrote the book was to start conversations around topics such as indenture and other historical topics which have impacted older generations.
“The reason why I wrote this book was that we have some sort of oral history in certain families, but other families don’t talk about topics such as indenture. My father’s side of the family descended from passenger Indians and paid their way to come to South Africa. Life was different growing up in a family where I had a consciousness of that history, when my daughter was born that was when I asked myself what am I going to tell her about her matrimonial heritage because I don’t know anything about it.”
She added that when her mother’s parents died their family history died as well.
“My mom knew little about her mom and I spent time scouring the archives and thought maybe I’ll write about it but it was not easy because all I had was a picture of my grandmother to use.”
Joseph explained her fear regarding the book as it is only speaking to particular South Africans who were from a particular background.
“The point of the book is to explain that we have a shared history in this country, and continent, which connects to other parts of the world in different ways. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world; I hope that on the most human level that this is a book everyone will be able to connect with.”
