ABSTRACT
Author Mark Solms, after an absence of many years, moved with his family back to their wine farm in rural South Africa. Seeking reconciliation with the workers who, with their families, lived on his land, he reached out to them. The result was an unforeseen rupture in the social and economic fabric of the community. Exploring his own motivations and ambivalence as a beneficiary of apartheid-sanctioned privilege, Solms recognized the need for a new social and economic structure for the wine farm. Using his training as a psychoanalyst, he brought in archaeologists and historians to uncover the hidden history of the workers' ancestral connection to the land. They dug up countless ancient artifacts and learned the transgenerational narratives of each other's lives. Acknowledging with respect the pre-European past helped all metabolize and integrate the painfully interwoven traumatic legacies of slavery and the apartheid system and renegotiate their current relationships. Together, the workers and Solms transformed the farm into a shared, community-based, and community-owned vineyard. A humane, vibrant, socially progressive community was created with all on an equal footing. Reconciled, the community thrives today.
