List of tables & figures. List of Abbreviations. Notes on editor & contributors. Introduc... more List of tables & figures. List of Abbreviations. Notes on editor & contributors. Introduction: Aphasia: The Fate of the Indigenous Languages 1. Symbolic Power, Nation State and Indigenous Language: A Sociological Analysis of Tribes in Central India 2. Text, Subtext and Context of Indian Culture in the Developmental Paradigm of Globalization 3. Adivasi Art: The Convergence of the Intangible and the Tangible 4. Aesthetics of Representation: Media and Canadian Aboriginal Resistance 5. The Forgotten Tribe - The Kuravars Of Tamil Nadu 6. Tesu and Jhenjhi: A festival celebrating cultural life 7. Articulating Tribal Culture: The Oral Tradition of Lambadas 8. Micro and macro intergenerational oral communication in the Zion Christian Church 9. Sacred Places as Traditional Heritage for the Vhavenda Indigenous Community of Limpopo Province, South Africa 10. Translating Power, Gender and Caste: Negotiating Identity, Memory and History: A Study of Bama's Sangati 11. Historiography or Imagination? The Documentation of Traditional Luo Cultural Memory in Kenyan Fiction 12. Tackling Endangered Languages in the Midst of Diversity Lachman 13. Language Shift among the Waddar Speakers 14. Towards a Revitalization of Urhobo: An Endangered Language of Delta State, Nigeria 15. Itsekiri: Threatened and Endangered 16. Written Kikuyu as an Under-Developed Language Form: Evidence from an Exploration of its Phonology and Orthography 17. Endangered! The Igbo Language Dilemma in Nigeria 18. Aspects of Discourse Structure: A Case of Particles 19. Mobile Telephone Communication and the Akan Language Glossary. Index.
Bessie Head was one of the Drum writers of the 1950s. As critics such as Huma Ibrahim have indica... more Bessie Head was one of the Drum writers of the 1950s. As critics such as Huma Ibrahim have indicated it was only after her death in 1986 that she was included in discussions on the Drum generation. The result of her prior exclusion has been the double marginalization of Head’s literary contribution, as one of the overlooked black South African writers of the 1950s and the lack of critical acclaim of her as an individual author. For this reason, she is one of the black South African writers who should consciously be given prominence today. This article utilizes an analysis of Head’s novels not attempted so far. It is difficult to interrogate Head’s work fruitfully, unless questions are addressed to whether she approaches her imaginative writing as an Africanist, a feminist or just as a woman. It will be argued that her fiction highlights the plight of the socially marginalized in eccentric and seminal ways and that it bears the potential to enrich debates on Africanism, feminism and ...
The continuation of the discourses of apartheid era African language literature characterized by ... more The continuation of the discourses of apartheid era African language literature characterized by the makgoweng motif in post-apartheid English literature written by black people has not been studied adequately. In this study I explored ways in which characters of Northern Sotho linguistic and cultural groups represented the same consciousness in both categories of novels across time. I used the qualitative method and analysed some Northern Sotho primary texts, written before democracy in South Africa, as well as selected post-apartheid English novels written by black people. I focused on the makgoweng motif to examine the nature of continuity in theme and outlook. I found that the novels considered pointed to a sustainable consciousness, transcending linguistic boundaries and time. The social function of such characterisation representing the formerly oppressed b black people, is a revelation of their quest towards selfdefinition in a modern world. The portrayed characters significa...
The quest of this paper is to probe whether globalising post-nationalism impacts on post- aparthe... more The quest of this paper is to probe whether globalising post-nationalism impacts on post- apartheid black South African English literature in a manner that suggests a blurring of distinctive African identities. This is done against the background that black South African literature right from its written beginnings in the early 19th century has coalesced into a taxonomically distinct entity forming a non-negligible component of South African literature written in English. I first analyse two post-apartheid novels written by the black writers Niq Mhlongo (Dog Eat Dog, 2004) and Sindiwe Magona (Beauty’s Gift, 2008). Secondly, I consider three post-apartheid novels by the black writers Phaswane Mpe (Welcome to Our Hillbrow, 2001), Kgebetli Moele (Room 207, 2009) and Kopano Matlwa (Coconut, 2007). I approach an examination of the five post-apartheid novels by separating them into two categories, as a way of indicating that black South African literature of this era remains as stylistica...
This paper outlines dominant views of South African English literature critics from the 19th cent... more This paper outlines dominant views of South African English literature critics from the 19th century to the present. Against this backdrop, I examine some English texts written by blacks in order to demonstrate how attempts by some critics subjectively to strengthen some postmodern notions such as transnationalism have blurred the differences between black and white South African English fiction. I argue that in their essays black critics such as Daniel Kunene, Es’kia Mphahlele and Mbulelo Mzamane (all 1992), on the one hand, adopt a literary-historical approach to a consideration of South African literature written in English, pointing to a yet to be clearly articulated tradition of black South African English writing. On the other hand, white critics such as Ernest Pereira, Sally-Ann Murray, and Geoffrey Hutchings reveal how the South African fiction by white writers that they discuss basically shows how the writers of fiction endemically handle the South African milieu differentl...
Tapestries of Hope: Film, youths and HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Aug 1, 2014
In Zimbabwe, the marauding effects of the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficie... more In Zimbabwe, the marauding effects of the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are felt in almost all families, among different age groups, class lines, races and creed. The effects are debated and discussed, and different intervention measures are suggested using various forms of media. The communication-science-based interventions and advocacy promoted through film are an integral part of biomedically based scientific research into understanding the nature and manifestations of HIV/AIDS. However, it is worrisome that in most of the research, debates and discussions that focus on HIV /AIDS, adults take the centre-stage. This practice of speaking for youths, and not to and with them, denies the reality that youths are agents of social change whose ‘‘voice’’ and action can have the capacity to transform society for the better in the face of HIV /AIDS. In Zimbabwe, one methodological approach that youths can use to debate and spread the messag...
When the Mamaala African rainmaking clan of South Africa performed rituals after which rain would... more When the Mamaala African rainmaking clan of South Africa performed rituals after which rain would fall in keeping with the research-established fact that African rainmaking rituals actually bring about rain (Makgopa 2005), they sang specific songs as part of the rituals (Rafapa 2007). This paper explores the nature and context of these poetic performances. The context will be considered from both the culture-specific and cross-cultural perspectives to, hopefully, enrich debate around the impact of globalisation on world cultures. The paper will attempt to show that rather than being mistaken for a culturally inane phenomenon, globalisation can be problematised for what it is as well as negotiated for the modification of those of its features that may lead to cultural distortion and imperialism. It will be demonstrated that oral poems that are a concomitant part of this specific segment of the African cultural complex can serve to reveal facts of culture that have significant implica...
University of Venda Research and Innovation Office funded my empirical research which gave rise t... more University of Venda Research and Innovation Office funded my empirical research which gave rise to this article.
List of tables & figures. List of Abbreviations. Notes on editor & contributors. Introduc... more List of tables & figures. List of Abbreviations. Notes on editor & contributors. Introduction: Aphasia: The Fate of the Indigenous Languages 1. Symbolic Power, Nation State and Indigenous Language: A Sociological Analysis of Tribes in Central India 2. Text, Subtext and Context of Indian Culture in the Developmental Paradigm of Globalization 3. Adivasi Art: The Convergence of the Intangible and the Tangible 4. Aesthetics of Representation: Media and Canadian Aboriginal Resistance 5. The Forgotten Tribe - The Kuravars Of Tamil Nadu 6. Tesu and Jhenjhi: A festival celebrating cultural life 7. Articulating Tribal Culture: The Oral Tradition of Lambadas 8. Micro and macro intergenerational oral communication in the Zion Christian Church 9. Sacred Places as Traditional Heritage for the Vhavenda Indigenous Community of Limpopo Province, South Africa 10. Translating Power, Gender and Caste: Negotiating Identity, Memory and History: A Study of Bama's Sangati 11. Historiography or Imagination? The Documentation of Traditional Luo Cultural Memory in Kenyan Fiction 12. Tackling Endangered Languages in the Midst of Diversity Lachman 13. Language Shift among the Waddar Speakers 14. Towards a Revitalization of Urhobo: An Endangered Language of Delta State, Nigeria 15. Itsekiri: Threatened and Endangered 16. Written Kikuyu as an Under-Developed Language Form: Evidence from an Exploration of its Phonology and Orthography 17. Endangered! The Igbo Language Dilemma in Nigeria 18. Aspects of Discourse Structure: A Case of Particles 19. Mobile Telephone Communication and the Akan Language Glossary. Index.
Bessie Head was one of the Drum writers of the 1950s. As critics such as Huma Ibrahim have indica... more Bessie Head was one of the Drum writers of the 1950s. As critics such as Huma Ibrahim have indicated it was only after her death in 1986 that she was included in discussions on the Drum generation. The result of her prior exclusion has been the double marginalization of Head’s literary contribution, as one of the overlooked black South African writers of the 1950s and the lack of critical acclaim of her as an individual author. For this reason, she is one of the black South African writers who should consciously be given prominence today. This article utilizes an analysis of Head’s novels not attempted so far. It is difficult to interrogate Head’s work fruitfully, unless questions are addressed to whether she approaches her imaginative writing as an Africanist, a feminist or just as a woman. It will be argued that her fiction highlights the plight of the socially marginalized in eccentric and seminal ways and that it bears the potential to enrich debates on Africanism, feminism and ...
The continuation of the discourses of apartheid era African language literature characterized by ... more The continuation of the discourses of apartheid era African language literature characterized by the makgoweng motif in post-apartheid English literature written by black people has not been studied adequately. In this study I explored ways in which characters of Northern Sotho linguistic and cultural groups represented the same consciousness in both categories of novels across time. I used the qualitative method and analysed some Northern Sotho primary texts, written before democracy in South Africa, as well as selected post-apartheid English novels written by black people. I focused on the makgoweng motif to examine the nature of continuity in theme and outlook. I found that the novels considered pointed to a sustainable consciousness, transcending linguistic boundaries and time. The social function of such characterisation representing the formerly oppressed b black people, is a revelation of their quest towards selfdefinition in a modern world. The portrayed characters significa...
The quest of this paper is to probe whether globalising post-nationalism impacts on post- aparthe... more The quest of this paper is to probe whether globalising post-nationalism impacts on post- apartheid black South African English literature in a manner that suggests a blurring of distinctive African identities. This is done against the background that black South African literature right from its written beginnings in the early 19th century has coalesced into a taxonomically distinct entity forming a non-negligible component of South African literature written in English. I first analyse two post-apartheid novels written by the black writers Niq Mhlongo (Dog Eat Dog, 2004) and Sindiwe Magona (Beauty’s Gift, 2008). Secondly, I consider three post-apartheid novels by the black writers Phaswane Mpe (Welcome to Our Hillbrow, 2001), Kgebetli Moele (Room 207, 2009) and Kopano Matlwa (Coconut, 2007). I approach an examination of the five post-apartheid novels by separating them into two categories, as a way of indicating that black South African literature of this era remains as stylistica...
This paper outlines dominant views of South African English literature critics from the 19th cent... more This paper outlines dominant views of South African English literature critics from the 19th century to the present. Against this backdrop, I examine some English texts written by blacks in order to demonstrate how attempts by some critics subjectively to strengthen some postmodern notions such as transnationalism have blurred the differences between black and white South African English fiction. I argue that in their essays black critics such as Daniel Kunene, Es’kia Mphahlele and Mbulelo Mzamane (all 1992), on the one hand, adopt a literary-historical approach to a consideration of South African literature written in English, pointing to a yet to be clearly articulated tradition of black South African English writing. On the other hand, white critics such as Ernest Pereira, Sally-Ann Murray, and Geoffrey Hutchings reveal how the South African fiction by white writers that they discuss basically shows how the writers of fiction endemically handle the South African milieu differentl...
Tapestries of Hope: Film, youths and HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Aug 1, 2014
In Zimbabwe, the marauding effects of the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficie... more In Zimbabwe, the marauding effects of the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are felt in almost all families, among different age groups, class lines, races and creed. The effects are debated and discussed, and different intervention measures are suggested using various forms of media. The communication-science-based interventions and advocacy promoted through film are an integral part of biomedically based scientific research into understanding the nature and manifestations of HIV/AIDS. However, it is worrisome that in most of the research, debates and discussions that focus on HIV /AIDS, adults take the centre-stage. This practice of speaking for youths, and not to and with them, denies the reality that youths are agents of social change whose ‘‘voice’’ and action can have the capacity to transform society for the better in the face of HIV /AIDS. In Zimbabwe, one methodological approach that youths can use to debate and spread the messag...
When the Mamaala African rainmaking clan of South Africa performed rituals after which rain would... more When the Mamaala African rainmaking clan of South Africa performed rituals after which rain would fall in keeping with the research-established fact that African rainmaking rituals actually bring about rain (Makgopa 2005), they sang specific songs as part of the rituals (Rafapa 2007). This paper explores the nature and context of these poetic performances. The context will be considered from both the culture-specific and cross-cultural perspectives to, hopefully, enrich debate around the impact of globalisation on world cultures. The paper will attempt to show that rather than being mistaken for a culturally inane phenomenon, globalisation can be problematised for what it is as well as negotiated for the modification of those of its features that may lead to cultural distortion and imperialism. It will be demonstrated that oral poems that are a concomitant part of this specific segment of the African cultural complex can serve to reveal facts of culture that have significant implica...
University of Venda Research and Innovation Office funded my empirical research which gave rise t... more University of Venda Research and Innovation Office funded my empirical research which gave rise to this article.
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