Xhosa Oral Poetry

Xhosa Oral Poetry
Author: Jeff Opland
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1983-12-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780521241137

This book, first published in 1983, was the first detailed study of the Xhosa oral poetry tradition.

Xhosa Poets and Poetry

Xhosa Poets and Poetry
Author: Jeff Opland
Publisher: New Africa Books
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1998
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780864864208

Xhosa oral poetry has defied the threats to its integrity over two centuries, to take its place in a free South Africa. This volume establishes the background to this poetic re-emergence, preserving and transmitting the voice of the Xhosa poet.

The Bones of the Ancestors are Shaking

The Bones of the Ancestors are Shaking
Author: Russell Kaschula
Publisher: Juta and Company Ltd
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2002
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780702152078

‘In The Bones of The Ancestors Are Shaking, Russell Kaschula provides an ample introduction to the subject of oral poetry, both drawing on earlier accounts and presenting his own material, much of which has hitherto been unavailable in book form. Kaschula presents rich texts and translations of the Xhosa praise poetry for which southern Africa has long been famous, not only in the context of studies of African oral literature, but also among comparative scholars of world literature. The texts and translations in this book are a valuable and attractive addition to the record, ranging as they do from nineteenth-century examples to late twentieth-century praises for Joe Slovo, F.W. de Klerk, the South African soccer squad or Nelson Mandela, the latter being a special focus of the volume.’ — Professor Ruth Finnegan, The Open University, UK

Oral Literature in Africa

Oral Literature in Africa
Author: Ruth Finnegan
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 614
Release: 2012-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1906924708

Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan's ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This book is the first volume in the World Oral Literature Series, an ongoing collaboration between OBP and World Oral Literature Project. A free online archive of recordings and photographs that Finnegan made during her fieldwork in the late 1960s is hosted by the World Oral Literature Project (http: //www.oralliterature.org/collections/rfinnegan001.html) and can also be accessed from publisher's website.

Of Land, Bones, and Money

Of Land, Bones, and Money
Author: Emily McGiffin
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2019-07-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0813942772

The South African literature of iimbongi, the oral poets of the amaXhosa people, has long shaped understandings of landscape and history and offered a forum for grappling with change. Of Land, Bones, and Money examines the shifting role of these poets in South African society and the ways in which they have helped inform responses to segregation, apartheid, the injustices of extractive capitalism, and contemporary politics in South Africa. Emily McGiffin first discusses the history of the amaXhosa people and the environment of their homelands before moving on to the arrival of the British, who began a relentless campaign annexing land and resources in the region. Drawing on scholarship in the fields of human geography, political ecology, and postcolonial ecocriticism, she considers isiXhosa poetry in translation within its cultural, historical, and environmental contexts, investigating how these poems struggle with the arrival and expansion of the exploitation of natural resources in South Africa and the entrenchment of profoundly racist politics that the process entailed. In contemporary South Africa, iimbongi remain a respected source of knowledge and cultural identity. Their ongoing practice of producing complex, spiritually rich literature continues to have a profound social effect, contributing directly to the healing and well-being of their audiences, to political transformation, and to environmental justice.

Xhosa Literature

Xhosa Literature
Author: Jeff Opland
Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Xhosa literature
ISBN: 9781869143862

Xhosa Literature consists of fourteen essays addressing Xhosa literature in three media-the spoken word, newspapers, and books. Literary critics tend to focus on Xhosa literature published in books with some attention paid to Xhosa oral poetry and tales, but by and large the contribution of newspapers to the development of Xhosa literature has been overlooked. This book explores aspects of Xhosa literature in all three media, and their interconnections. Six of the essays treat historical narratives (amabali) and praise poetry (izibongo), setting out the social and ritual function of poetry and the poet (imbongi), mapping changes in the izibongo of three poets as South Africa moved towards democracy in the 1990s, and analyzing recordings of two poems recited by S.E.K. Mqhayi. Three essays are devoted to the first Xhosa novel, Mqhayi's U-Samson (1907), to the publication of the greatest novel in Xhosa, A.C. Jordan's Ingqumbo yeminyanya (1940), and to the first published poem in praise of Nelson Mandela, D.L.P. Yali-Manisi's 'UNkosi Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela' (1954). There follow accounts of Xhosa literature in the nineteenth century and the appropriation of the press by Xhosa editors towards the end of that century, of Nontsizi Mgqwetho's fiery poetry published in Umteteli wa Bantu, and of poems by Mgqwetho and Mqhayi published in Abantu-Batho, two Johannesburg newspapers. The volume concludes with an exposition of an imaginative response to David Yali-Manisi and his poetry. (Series: Publications of the Opland Collection of Xhosa Literature, Vol. 6) [Subject: African Studies, Politics, Sociology, Xhosa Literature]

Skinned

Skinned
Author: Antjie Krog
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2013-05-07
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1609804635

One of South Africa’s greatest living poets selects from her most recent poems and also from the poems and the themes that best represent her from across her long career. Part One of Skinned contains poems about writing, family and love poems. The poems in second part were chosen from a volume featuring a long epic poem based on the life of Lady Anne Barnard from Scotland, who accompanied her husband to Cape Town and lived in the castle there from 1797 until 1802. This volume was written during the height of apartheid and the poet chose Lady Anne as representative of the colonial vision. Part Three contains extracts from several speakers who lived in the land before the likes of lady Anne arrived. Krog includes here interviews with inhabitants of the stone desert, three re-workings of Bushmen or Xam narratives, as well as a translation of an oral Xhosa praise poem. Part Four represents the political turmoil of South Africa and the divisions within Africa. The poems come from volumes that explored how blacks and whites identifying with the oppressed were removed from official history. The present volume as a whole explores the necessity of "a change of tongue" in order to be.

Iziganeko zesizwe

Iziganeko zesizwe
Author: S. E. K. Mqhayi
Publisher: University of Kwazulu Natal Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Black people
ISBN: 9781869143343

Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (1875-1945) was the most prominent South African imbongi of his day, a Xhosa oral poet who declaimed his impromptu poetry on occasions of significance to his people. The author of numerous works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, biography, autobiography, and translation, Mqhayi's contributions to Xhosa-language newspapers remains unparalleled in scope and volume. This book reclaims and assembles a chronological sequence of Mqhayi's occasional poems, for the most part now unknown. Sixty poems celebrate significant events in the calendar, on occasions of national or international importance. They constitute Iziganeko zesizwe, a chronicle of the nation, between 1900 and 1943: poetic responses to events from the perspective of the greatest figure in Xhosa literature. Wars feature prominently in these occasional poems-the Boer War, the First World War, the invasion of Abyssinia, and the Second World War-as do political deputations to England, visits from British princes and the death of British kings, the appearance of Halley's Comet, and meetings with Ministers of State. Running through the collection is Mqhayi's proud and fierce determination to maintain an identity rooted in custom and history in the face of territorial dispossession, the loss of title deeds and the vote, and the steady erosion of human rights. Throughout these years, Mqhayi remained constant in offering praise and encouragement to his people, in celebrating their achievements, and in expressing Christian consolation and an unflinching faith in the future liberation of South Africa's black population from foreign control. (Series: Publications of the Opland Collection of Xhosa Literature, Vol. 4) [Subject: African Studies, Poetry]

Oral Poetry in Nigeria

Oral Poetry in Nigeria
Author: Uchegbulam N. Abalogu
Publisher: Lagos : Nigeria Magazine
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1981
Genre: Folk poetry
ISBN: