My African Heart

This is an intensely personal and poetic South African story. Against the backdrop of racial tension and the sincere attempts to overcome these within the intricate fabric of South African politics and society, a woman’s journey towards the essence of herself as South African, White, Afrikaans, dancer, lover and mother gets to the heart of being African. Once an Umkhonto we Sizwe fighter and political prisoner, her husband and the father of her child is a man whose political struggle is “like a fever burning beyond the intention to alarm, protect, conceal, reveal, purge or heal”. The narrative is based on 20 years of journal writing, depicting the complex nature and the sensitive nuances of a mixed-race relationship just before the end of the age of apartheid, encapsulating the hopes and fears of a new future. Three voices speak: the author as an apartheid child, the pregnant mother and dancer whose inner world becomes her visceral reality, and her child in utero, communicating with an astonishing heart of wisdom. They weave a tapestry of complex racial relations, diverse and subjective explorations of transformation and reconciliation, thoughtfully defining race for its uniqueness and awakening spirit.