With respect to Zulu : revisiting ukuHlonipha

Abstract: Hlonipho is a form of respectful behavior, widespread in southern Africa. Its linguistic manifestation has often been interpreted as a “traditional” verbal taboo, whereby married women must avoid uttering the father-inlaw’s name. The practice of (uku)hlonipha is not only verbal, however. Its fundamentally somatic meaning—covering, avoiding, and suppressing affect—applies broadly to bodily comportment, clothing, and the physical activity of speaking. The linguistic practice of (isi)hlonipha is itself somatic, we argue, in a Zulu ideology of language as voice. Ukuhlonipha is best understood, we propose, in terms of a semiotic economy that contrasts it with another genre of honorification, the celebratory, exuberant, and expansive practice of (uku)bonga, praise-performance. Bonga is the inverse of hlonipha, and the two are joined in a broader sense of respect and honorific practice. These two genres have been discussed separately in the literature, which also largely assigns them to gendered domains: hlonipha to women and domestic settings, bonga to men and public settings. Combining ethnographic fieldwork with the historical archive, we show that the gender stereotyping—though interesting—overlooks important ways in which each practice can be, and historically has been, done by the other gender. Finally, we explore present-day mediations of voice via mobile phones and radio broadcasting. Hlonipha, broadly conceived as “respect,” is part of “doing and being Zulu” in a multicultural and..

Becoming-Bertha: virtual difference and repetition in postcolonial 'writing back', a Deleuzian reading of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

Critical responses to Wide Sargasso Sea have seized upon Rhys’s novel as an exemplary model of writing back. Looking beyond the actual repetitions which recall Brontë’s text, I explore Rhys’s novel as an expression of virtual difference and becomings that exemplify Deleuze’s three syntheses of time. Elaborating the processes of becoming that Deleuze’s third synthesis depicts, Antoinette’s fate emerges not as a violence against an original identity. Rather, what the reader witnesses is a series of becomings or masks, some of which are validated, some of which are not, and it is in the rejection of certain masks, forcing Antoinette to become-Bertha, that the greatest violence lies

Oral literature in South Africa: 20 years on

I offer a retrospective on the field of orality and performance studies in South Africa from the perspective of 2016, assessing what has been achieved, what may have happened inadvertently or worryingly, what some of the significant implications have been, what remain challenges, and how we may think of, or rethink, orality and performance studies in a present and future that are changing at almost inconceivable pace.DHE

Blood

l who have lived here for so long I cannot remember my home of olive trees and brown valleys, and when a letter comes from my brother in Tuscany it seems like a hoarse whisper from another planet. I who have prayed with the pious and the wicked and helped the dusty children with their torn books -when I think of this story I want to weep. And there are things I do not come near to understanding unless I turn to Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin and I know as I say Mass chewing the Zulu with my Italian accent, that there are strange powers I do not seek to grasp. It is Faith that matters

A Royal Woman, an Artist, and the Ambiguities of National Belonging: The Case of Princess Constance Magogo

A momentous event on the South African performing arts scene takes place in Durban\u27s Playhouse Opera on May 4, with the world premiere of the new Zulu opera, Princess Magogo. (Press Release, Durban, South Africa, April 2002

Mothers, Daughters and Madness in Works by Four Women Writers: Bessie Head, Jean Rhys, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Ama Ata Aidoo / ﺍﻷﻣﻬﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﻨﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻨﻮﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻋﻤﺎﻝ ﺃﺭﺑﻊ ﺭﻭﺍﺋﻴﺎﺕ

[يعقد هذا المقال مقارنة بين أعمال أربع روائيات هن بيسي هيد من إفريقيا الجنوبية وتسيتسي دانجاريمبجا من زيمبابوي وأما أت أيدو من غانا وجين رايس الكاتبة الكريول البيضاء من الكراييب۰ تجمع الباحثة بين هذه الكاتبات من خلال تناولهن لموضوع الأم والأمومة الذي أصبح من أهم المواضيع التي تتناولها الكتابة النسائية من حيث إعادة قراءتها لفكرة الأمومة الكولونيالية في ربطها بين الأم/الأرض/الوطن۰ وتركز الباحثة في استنطاقها للعلاقة بين الأم والابنة والجنون۰ على تاريخ النصوص فتناقشها داخل إطار الجدل الجاري حول الجنون أو المرض العقلي باعتباره حالة ناتجة عن الواقع الاستعماري۰ وتسائل الباحثة في تحليلها كتابات فرانز فانون في هذا المجال حيث أنه لايتطرق للعنصر الجنساوي للجنون في أعماله۰ وفي المقام الثاني يربط المقال بين النقاش الدائر حول قضايا المرأة والتناسل والسلطة مستعينا بكتابات بعض ممثلات المدرسة النسائية الفرنسية خاصة كريستيفا وإريجاري۰ ومن خلال التحليل تتوصل الباحثة إلى النتيجة التالية: أولا إن هناك مساحة واسعة ومتغايرة ﻟﻤﻨﺎﻗﺸﺔ ومعالجة العلاقة بين المرأة (الأم/ الابنة) والجنون في كتابات الروائيات تجعل من الجنون مساحة إبداعية تسمح بنوع من الاحتفالية بلاختلاف، وثانيا هناك تكثيفا ومقاربة بين وجهات نظر تلك الكاتبات فيما يخص استخدام المرأة المجنونة داخل النص تشكل مواجهة للموروث الروائي الذكوري لا يمكن إغفالها٠

Mapping Texts Differently: A Case for Re-Reading the South African Imaginary

This essay argues that an overly narrow conception of what constitutes a national or regional literature can skew the way in which literary history is "read" and a national and regional identity is understood. In the African and the South African case, the ongoing production and consumption of performed art in the form of song constitutes a major part of the way in which people imagine themselves in the world, both locally and globally. Such songs often stem from older oral forms and are frequently available through the electronic media. In other cases, classic art forms such as praise poetry are still present as ways of mediating identity and making history. The essay takes particular examples of genres that either cross between print and performance, or, when seen together as a co- presence, provide a much firmer understanding of how the "self-writing" of South Africa is taking place. The essay takes the example of praise poetry, and discusses how the tragic phenomenon of the pandemic of AIDS surfaces first in the contemporary performance tradition of isicathamiya, or nightsong,' and secondly in the novel Welcome to our Hillbrow by Phaswane Mpe. I argue that if the South African imaginary is to be deeply understood, such cross-readings need to take place. Only when literary scholars find a means of accessing such readings, can we begin to speak of meaningful transcultural literary histories