Heritage is often perceived as what we inherit from our predecessors, found in monuments, museums, archives, languages, traditions, and places of memory. However, heritage extends beyond a mere reference to the past; it is also connected to understanding one's own identity, interacting with others, and shaping a desired future.
For South Africa, heritage plays a particularly significant role, as its history is closely linked to the history of the African continent and the global struggle for dignity, human rights, and freedom. The experience of liberation, transition to democracy, and constitutional settlement has generated lessons that extend beyond national borders.
The Constitution itself reflects this forward-looking goal. Its Preamble speaks to the necessity of healing past disagreements and building a unified, democratic South Africa capable of occupying its rightful place among the nations of the world. It is here that heritage can transform from a simple remembrance into a form of cultural diplomacy.
Although diplomacy is usually associated with governments, ambassadors, and formal negotiations, nations also communicate through their culture, history, people, and institutions. The realm of heritage can create a different diplomatic context where people meet not only as representatives of governments but also as individuals striving to understand one another. South Africa possesses a compelling history that can be shared.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that heritage should not be presented as a collection of isolated national stories, as African histories have always intersected. Movements, languages, ideas, cultures, and struggles crossed borders long before the emergence of modern nation-states. Therefore, South Africa has the opportunity to use its heritage to strengthen connections on the continent. Institutions such as Freedom Park serve as platforms for studying, documenting, and embodying these connections. Their mandate includes presenting African history from an African perspective and collaborating with African and international organizations in this field.
Such work can take many forms: joint research, exhibitions, conferences, educational programs, cultural exchange, memorial events, academic partnerships, and heritage tourism. These activities may seem diverse, but they share a common goal—creating opportunities for people and institutions to meet through history and culture. There is also an important opportunity to enhance the production of African knowledge.
For a long time, African history was interpreted through external frameworks. While international scholarship is important, African institutions must also have the capacity to research, preserve, and interpret their own historical systems of knowledge. Recognizing this, UNESCO highlights the importance of Africa's living heritage for strengthening cultural identity and shared values, and UNESCO's current work on African World Heritage involves capacity building and collaboration among heritage specialists. Thus, heritage institutions can become centers of knowledge, rather than just repositories of objects and memories.
This is especially relevant for youth. A young South African should have the opportunity to visit a heritage institution and learn not only about the origins of their country but also about how its history connects to the rest of Africa and the world. Similarly, a young person from another African country should have the opportunity to see aspects of their own history reflected in South Africa's heritage spaces. In this way, heritage can contribute to developing a stronger sense of African identity without diminishing the diversity of individual nations and communities.
There is also an economic aspect. Heritage-based tourism can create opportunities for local communities, cultural practitioners, researchers, entrepreneurs, and youth. International partnerships can expand these opportunities by linking heritage institutions with tourism networks, universities, museums, and cultural organizations worldwide. Recent initiatives supported by UNESCO in South Africa demonstrate the potential of partnerships that unite culture, heritage tourism, sustainable development, and community benefit.
However, perhaps the greatest diplomatic value of heritage lies in its ability to create spaces for complex conversations. South Africa's reconciliation experience does not offer a simple formula that can be exported to other countries, as every society has its own history and circumstances. Nevertheless, our experience demonstrates the importance of confronting complex historical events, rather than erasing them. The constitutional project was explicitly aimed at healing divisions, establishing democratic values, and creating a society based on human rights and social justice. These discussions remain relevant far beyond South Africa.
Shared histories between countries serve as a powerful reminder of humanity's interconnectedness. For example, our own Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) drew inspiration from Chile's National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, established by President Patricio Aylwin to investigate serious human rights violations resulting in death and disappearance during the military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990. Parallels also exist between our Freedom Park and Chile's Museum of Memory and Human Rights.
Our heritage is not just a record of where we have been. It is a resource for understanding where we are and a bridge to where we can move together. For South Africa, this bridge must extend beyond its borders, into Africa and the wider international community. If we invest in heritage as a platform for research, education, cultural exchange, tourism, and dialogue, we can ensure that our places of memory do more than just preserve yesterday. The vision of Freedom Park becoming a leading national and international icon of humanity and freedom directly points to this possibility. Consequently, we have a responsibility not only to remember the past but to make that memory useful, using it to deepen understanding, strengthen relationships, and promote a more connected Africa and a more understanding world.
Dr. Hilton Fischer is the Executive Director of the Freedom Park heritage site, located in Pretoria. He previously served as an ambassador to Chile and Indonesia, respectively.
