Defining the migrant experience : an analysis of the poetry and performance of a contemporary southern African genre.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.This dissertation focuses on the migrant performance genre isicathamiya, a genre which was popular amongst migrant workers in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in the nineteen thirties and forties. It explores contemporary isicathamiya and asks whether there have been paradigmatic shifts in its content in post-apartheid South African society. By way of introduction, the origins and development as well as some of the themes and features of isicathamiya are highlighted. Hereafter scholarly accounts of migrant performance genres are discussed in conjunction with the cultural re-orientation of migrants in urban centers. The introduction is intended to contextualise the genre by alluding to the politics and aesthetics of isicathamiya performances. Leading on from the introduction, the first chapter of this body of research is a reflection upon the characteristics of oral literature; from the point of view of a literary scholar, I also discuss the problems of interpretation I experienced in this study of mediated isicathamiya lyrics. I propose that isicathamiya performances and texts are elements of oral literature and begin to define them as such. My intention in chapter two is to explore how local performances have influenced global culture. I ask if oral literature from South Africa has contributed to the global market. I ask what Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the internationally acclaimed isicathamiya choir, has invested in "First World culture" and suggest that there is in existence a transcultural flow of energy between the "so-called centre" and "so-called periphery". In chapter three I suggest that the local and global are in a state of dialogue. I hope to establish a dialogue between local isicathamiya choirs and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In essence, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has exported a musical form that has its foundations in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. This chapter takes readers back to the source of the genre. I take into consideration Veit Erimann's scholarly studies of isicathamiya in Nightsong: Performance, Power and Practice in South Africa. Focus falls upon the paradigm of rural/ urban migration in isicathamiya song and the importance of "home" in sustaining migrants in the city. The notion of "homeliness" as a trope in isicathamiya performances is discussed. By extension, in chapter four, I ask whether the notion of "home" emphasized by Veit Erlmann is of significance in contemporary isicathamiya performance. Consequently, I adopt a comparative approach and set out to identify the changes and continuities in contemporary isicathamiya performances in response to transformations within postapartheid society. I ask why isicathamiya is significant in post-apartheid South African society. What is its importance for personal and collective identity? What is being articulated within contemporary performances? Does isicathamiya provide a cultural space, a forum in which public debate (regarding leaders, policies and concerns) can be staged? Most importantly, is the thematic paradigm between the rural and urban world still visible in contemporary isicathamiya? Is contemporary isicathamiya still grounded on the notion of "homeliness", or have new thematic paradigms emerged in contemporary isicathamiya performances? I propose that South Africa in the present, is itself the site of multiple cultures and fragmented histories. The country and its people are searching for a new unitary meaning in the post-apartheid era. My argument is that isicathamiya texts are elements of postcolonial and post-apartheid literature. I suggest that language, through isicathamiya performance, can show a way back into reinterpreting the past and stitching together a different present. Isicathamiya texts give hints of journeys and point to identities, shared histories and cultural landscapes. Isicathamiya makes possible the sharing of knowledge and knowledge systems, and is an opportunity to hear un-erased histories and un-silenced voices

New Advances in Formosan Linguistics

The present volume is a festschrift in honour of Lillian M. Huang, who, in a very few years, became a leading figure in Formosan linguistics after she obtained her PhD degree in 1987. Over the past twenty-eight years, she has been involved in important groundwork, in both academia and indigenous language policies in Taiwan, as we will show below (sections 3 and 4). She has been engaged in the development of both through her pre-eminent role in projects relating to typological studies on Formosan languages in the early 1990s, and on language teaching materials and proficiency tests since the late 1990s and early 2000s. Lillian may retire in a few years. Before she does, we thought it would be most appropriate to honour her by putting together papers by a number of scholars and students who have benefitted from or have been in contact with her in one way or another (e.g. through collaborative work, teaching, supervising, advising etc.). The idea of such a volume was conceived by Elizabeth Zeitoun in the autumn of 2009. Further plans were initially worked out with Stacy F. Teng, soon joined by Joy J. Wu. The three editors have been close to Lillian since the early and mid 1990s. Of the three, Zeitoun, who has been working with her on diverse projects for over twenty years, is her closest collaborator on the academic level. Both Wu and Teng were Lillian’s MA supervisees. Through her fieldwork courses, she introduced Wu to Amis and Teng to Puyuma, languages on which they are still working. The title of the present volume, New advances in Formosan linguistics, reflects our pursuit of publishing cutting-edge, provocative, and thoughtful papers that explore new directions and perspectives on Formosan languages and linguistics. It is worth noticing that this is the first collected volume on Formosan languages that has not issued from a workshop or a conference—the papers included in this volume are thus varied in terms of topic coverage—and the first that specifically deals with (and covers nearly all) the Formosan languages, a grouping understood in its broader context, that is, including Yami, a Batanic (Philippine) language spoken on Orchid Island under the political jurisdiction of Taiwan. (Note: first three paragraphs of foreward)

Zulu song, oral art performing the psalms to stir the heart : applying indigenous form to the translation and performance of some praise psalms.

Doctor of Philosophy. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2017.Bible translation needs to communicate the original message in a form that is accessible and acceptable to the local community. This requires utilizing the communication media and forms the people use in everyday life. In the case of translating psalms into isiZulu, this involves using oral media and forms of Zulu poetry and music, to produce a translation that communicates effectively. Oral communication is still the preferred form of transmitting a message in Zulu society. A Bible translation that is to be heard must be prepared with particular attention to aural features, and this has not yet been done in isiZulu. Moreover, when translating biblical psalms, attention must be given to poetic features to ensure that the functions achieved by them in the Hebrew text are achieved in the isiZulu text. Within oral communication, performance, is a key element; performing the isiZulu translation allows the verbal text to be complemented by paralinguistic and extra-linguistic features, thereby more fully communicating the richness of the original. Moreover it allows the audience to be a vital element in the creation of the text and its acceptance as biblical orature. Another problem which this study seeks to address is the difficulty many young isiZulu speakers have with understanding, or relating to, the current Bible translation. As it is based on formal-equivalence, it is not easy to read. Also, many young people have little ownership of the text, and view the current translation as a “black box”, unknown and irrelevant. Thus this research includes an empirical study facilitating experimental translations of some praise psalms by Zulu poets and musicians, using current thinking in orality and performance studies applied to Bible translation. The result is translations which draw on the izibongo cultural form in striking and beautiful isiZulu, with all the aesthetic and rhetorical force of the original. Also, by giving attention to the rhythm, the poems could be easily transformed into songs, adding to their aesthetic value and making them more memorable. Moreover, it is clear that young isiZulu speakers revel in the opportunity to explore the process of Bible translation and to own the translated text. The results of this research suggest that the process could be replicated in the translation of texts in other poetic sub-genres and in other languages, and could greatly enrich future Bible translations and complement more fully the ministry of the church.Accompanying disks available at the Pietermaritzburg Main Library

Concept of Simple Esteem in De jure naturae et gentium

Peer reviewe

Personal Identity and Self-Interpretation & Natural Right and Natural Emotions

Collection of papers presented at the 2nd and 3rd Budapest Seminar in Early Modern Philosoph

The poetry of C.T. Msimang : a deconstructive critique

This study attempts to offer a reading of Msimang's poetry from the perspective of deconstruction. In this course it is necessary to introduce and elaborate on certain deconstruction strategies. This is mainly effected in the second chapter, where consideration is given to diachronic and synchronic perspectives on deconstruction. However, not all the ramifications of the various radical insights offered by deconstructive approaches into the various fields are explored, only the significant texts by mainly French theorists and their American disciples are investigated. Secondly, this study seeks to show that the Zulu poems under consideration are highly amenable to a deconstruction reading. This thesis examines the various practices to absorb, transform, and integrate deconstruction and to make the theory applicable as a critical method within the African languages critical environment. In the third chapter, I am chiefly concerned with the claim that a text never has a single meaning, but is a crossroads of multiple ambiguous meanings. Explaining the historical context, the interdisciplinary scope, and the philosophical significance of Derrida' s project are explored in the fourth chapter. Language has no determinate centre nor any retrievable origin or truth. Belief in such is no more than nostalgia, says Derrida. What actually exists is a complex network of differences between signifiers, each in some sense carrying the traces of all others. With psychoanalysis in the fourth chapter, the focus is not on the differences between the deconstructive and psychoanalytic critics, but on their shared assumption that works ofliterature are in some sense indeterminate. These properties lead to the sixth chapter, which deals with intertextuality according to Derrida, Barthes and Bloom. The seventh and last chapter is the general conclusion in which main observations are summarized and important aspects highlighted. Finally, this thesis attempts to illustrate why the deconstructive procedure of analysing texts in such a way as to explicate their partial complicity with the theory, makes this deconstructive reading of Msimang' s poetry possible.African LanguagesD.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages

Weaving and identity of the Atayal in Wulai, Taiwan

Using a feminist approach in a postcolonial setting, the interactions between weaving, identity, gender, tourism development, and post-colonial history are explored. This ethnographic research is focused on the indigenous female weavers in Wulai, Taiwan who have experienced both colonialism and tourism development. During Japan’s occupation, the Atayal – one of twelve indigenous groups in Taiwan – were forced to abandon their most important socio-cultural activities: facial tattooing, headhunting, and weaving. The Atayal lost most of their original textiles because many of them were taken to Japan. Today, these textiles are preserved in a few Japanese museums. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the Atayal’s textiles are now reconstructed by the hands of some indigenous women in Wulai who weave primarily for museums. Others, on the other hand, weave for domestic tourists although they have little success in competition with less expensive Han Chinese' factory-made woven products. The reintroduction of weaving not only required the Atayal weavers to retrace their weaving history and to reconstruct and revive lost skills but also opened up a new opportunity to create new motifs with imported looms. The reintroduction of weaving has had multiple effects on the Atayal community. The meaning of weaving has changed from the representation of the Atayal women’s gender identity alone to the representation of the Atayal’s collective ethnic identity as a whole. Now the Atayal proudly claim their weaving culture as a part of their ethnic identity. It has become an ethnic symbol and a tourism product. However, the indigenous residents of Wulai are now barely involved directly with tourism business although symbols of their identity are used to promote tourism

A study of D B Z Ntuli's radio trilogy : Isivumelwano, Isivumelwano Esisha and Ngenxa Yesivumelwano

This is a study ofD.RZ. Ntuli's radio trilogy: Isivumelwano, IsivumelwanoEsisha and Ngenxa Yesivumelwano. Since the term trilogy is not a familiar concept in Zulu literary studies, this is an attempt to fill that void. This thesis provides some new insight into this concept, while also devising a practical method for the analysis of the radio trilogy. Chapter one outlines the aim of the study, scope of the study and the definition of some terms. This is followed by explaining the method of research and theories on radio serial dramas. There is also a discussion of the historical background in the development of Zulu radio serial drama and Ntuli's position and contribution to it. Finally, there is a review of previous research studies in Aincan Languages on radio drama. In chapter two plot structure of a radio trilogy is discussed. Theories of drama trilogy by trilogists like Hitchcock, Bakhtin, Asimov and Norris are discussed in detail. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the plot structures of Isivumelwano, Jsivumelwano Esisha and Ngenxa Yesivumelwano. Chapter three deals with the characterization of radio trilogy. It distinguishes between the actors and characters. Different methods of character portrayal are investigated. Chapter four deals with perspectives on the theme of the radio trilogy. Types of themes are dealt with. Chapter five discusses the dialogue in radio trilogy. It deals with the differences between a dialogue, duologue and monologue, and explains the functions fulfilled by dramatic utterances and dialogue. Lastly a nature of dialogue as a characteristic of the dramatic action is discussed. Chapter six concentrates on the style of radio trilogy. Elements and different types of styles are discussed. Kinds of images, figurative language, proverbs, idioms, biblical allusions and various influences are discussed in detail. Chapter seven concludes by summarizing the main finding ofthis study, and giving observations about the quality ofNtuli's contribution to radio drama trilogy. lt also explores some possibilities regarding future studies on Ntuli's radio trilogy.African LanguagesD. Lit. et Phil. (African Languages