Mapping memories through geographic information system: the case of St mark’s transdisciplinary service-learning project in District Six, Cape Town

Abstract

Through exploring the interconnections between transdisciplinarity and community service-learning, the paper presents ways in which geographic information system and allied methods and tools can be used to preserve and share the socio-spatial history of communities. The initiative that the paper is based on is known as St Mark’s Church baptismal community service-learning project, which came into existence when the said church imagined resurrecting the spirit and soul of District Six by visualising its baptismal records. It was anticipated that the visualisation would show where congregants resided when they were baptised, before their community was unceremoniously demolished by the apartheid regime. Participants in the initiative included St Mark’s Anglican Church, students (from Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Michigan University) and District Six Museum. During the initiative, a transdisciplinary space organically developed wherein students with different disciplinary backgrounds collaborated towards achieving the aim of the project. So as to draw lessons for future initiatives, the paper particularly focuses on the process followed, instead of emphasising the nitty-gritty details of the product (i.e. a Web map). Towards establishing a holistic socio-spatial history of District Six, it is hoped that the project will be scaled up to include stories and memories of individuals and groups beyond the St Mark’s Church congregation.