The following column from the South African paper Cape Times was seen
at http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3888524 (thanks to
a Google alert). Don
isiXhosa literature needs to break free of its fetters
June 18, 2007 Edition 1
It is widely accepted that the only book that sells in indigenous
languages is the Bible. If this is so, then isiXhosa literature has
lost its sense of place, its sense of spirituality, of providing
mature commentary on the society within which the language exists.
This is the result of the continual oppression and trivialising of
indigenous literatures that has led to their unnatural development,
resulting in lack of identification with the indigenous word by
speakers of African languages.
This restricted the full development of an indigenous South African
identity.
isiXhosa literature was initially oppressed and controlled by
missionaries, resulting in the loss of independence of the book in
terms of thematic repertoire.
Many years later, isiXhosa literature was more severely suppressed by
apartheid's corrupt and generally conservative language boards
operating in former homelands which advised publishers on manuscripts
to be published that would be prescribed in schools.
The commissioning editors for isiXhosa publications in mainstream
publishing companies, at the time, were initially white and monolingual.
The readers who vetted the material were isiXhosa speakers, often
conservative writers who upheld the apartheid status quo.
And so, a cycle was created which fed "law-abiding" and conservative
material, perspectives and attitudes into the school market, limiting
the full and natural development of isiXhosa literature.
The Department of Arts and Culture, the Department of Education and
the Pan South African Language Board are faced with the mammoth task
of implementing the constitution which allows for the equal treatment
of all official languages.
However, the effect of implementing this policy has yet to play itself
out fully in the literary and publishing world.
The lack of visibility of implementation at government level, where
most politicians have, for example, capitulated to the use of English
in parliament, does little to convince the speakers of indigenous
languages of their worth.
Publishers then do not see the value of publishing in these languages,
except for the school market.
Political changes since 1990 also liberated authors, reasserting
literature as an "articulator of freedom" and potentially restoring
literature as a symbol of nationhood and identity.
Since the 1990s, black-run printing presses such as Skotaville, Vivlia
and BARD published works by popular authors such as Welile Shasha,
Ncedile Saule and Mandla Matyumza.
Black directors began taking up positions in previously white-owned
companies. Black commissioning editors were employed and began working
in their own languages.
There were major cutbacks in terms of spending on books by the new
Department of Education, the lifeblood supporting isiXhosa literature,
but mainly at schools. This affected the publishing of creative works.
The imaginative prose genre, for instance, in isiXhosa writing had yet
to be established though it had existed in its oral forms of epic and
oral poetry as well as folktales for centuries.
Oral literature was largely unhindered by suppression, political
censorship or manipulation. The spoken word in the form of izibongo
has retained some autonomy in expressing socio-political commentary -
even during apartheid.
The imbongi has constantly been transforming. First, the move from
praising chiefs to praising God, and then the move to praising trade
union movements, political parties and popular leaders.
Unlike the book, easier to control and censor, the word remains a
powerful barometer of freedom of speech.
Nelson Mandela's first imbongi, the late Bongani Sitole, provided
critical socio-political commentary of the complexities of the early
1990s.
This is contained in a book entitled Qhiwula! Return to the Fold!
which was re-issued by Nasou Via Afrika Publishers in a second edition
in 2006.
But, there is a certain silence, which is still evident in isiXhosa
literature. A silence which represents an emptiness created by strict
apartheid censorship laws which needs to be filled. We are only now
beginning to see isiXhosa literature grapple with contemporary issues
and debates.
The characters and settings in isiXhosa literature can be grouped as
country or rural characters; migratory characters who move between
shanty towns or locations in urban areas and rural family homes, and
those who are born in the urban black areas and who have no rural
association.
Migratory characters and first generation urban dwellers have been
referred to as having an "unresolved dialogue between urban and rural
space" which may be resolved through the normalisation of South
African society, which will hopefully be reflected in new isiXhosa
literature.
amaXhosa can now occupy urban spaces that they were previously
excluded from. The natural development of the literature will involve
cultural flexibility, a mixing of tongues, of discourses, of cultures
- for all South Africans. Essentially this is what should feed
isiXhosa literature, thus broadening thematic repertoire.
It is truly a sad day when a nation's literature depends on
prescription for a school market in order to survive.
There is clearly little or no adult readership. If anything, numbers
of people reading in isiXhosa have dropped.
It is only political intervention coupled with a change in attitude by
speakers of isiXhosa themselves which will change this.
# Professor Kaschula is head of the School of Languages at Rhodes
University in Grahamstown. He will address a seminar based on the
topic today at the Cape Town Book Fair
**************************** Disclaimer ******************************
Copyright: In accordance with Title 17, United States Code Section
107, this material is distributed without profit for research and
educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material posted
to this list for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain
permission from the copyright owner.
Content: The sender does not vouch for the veracity nor the accuracy
of the contents of this message, which are the sole responsibility of
the copyright owner. Also, the sender does not necessarily agree or
disagree with any opinions that are expressed in this message.
**********************************************************************
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AfricanLanguages/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
