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Remembering Durban’s “Grey Street Casbah and surrounding”: Creating Urban History through Digital Spaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2022

Cacee Hoyer Open the ORCID record for Cacee Hoyer [Opens in a new window]
Cacee Hoyer*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Southern Indiana, EvansvilleIN47712, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The “Grey Street Casbah and surrounding” is a closed Facebook group about the historically “Indian” neighborhood in downtown Durban, South Africa. It creates an informal archival repository and provides a new space to reify contemporary understandings of historical places within the Durban Central Business District. The informal nature of this space allows the layperson the ability to participate in historical inquiry and exhibits the diverse ways places in Durban are remembered and memorialized. In this paper, I argue the wealth of knowledge generated on informal online platforms, such as this Facebook group, should influence and inform historical interpretations of our urban pasts.

Résumé

Résumé

La « Casbah de la rue Grey et ses environs » est un groupe Facebook fermé sur le quartier historiquement « indien » du centre-ville de Durban, en Afrique du Sud. Il crée un dépôt d’archives informel et fournit un nouvel espace pour réifier les compréhensions contemporaines des lieux historiques dans le quartier central des affaires de Durban. La nature informelle de cet espace permet au profane de participer à une enquête historique et expose les diverses manières dont les lieux de Durban sont mémorisés et commémorés. Dans cet article, je soutiens que la richesse des connaissances générées sur les plateformes en ligne informelles, telles que ce groupe Facebook, devrait influencer et informer les interprétations historiques de nos passés urbains.

Type
Special Section on the Digital Humanities
Information
History in Africa , Volume 48 , June 2021 , pp. 133 - 164
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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