New book by SU English Department Research
Associate, Dr Matthew Shum
Improvisations of Empire is the first extended critical, biographical and historiographical
account of the varied career and capacities of Thomas Pringle, the journalist,
editor, “Scottish Romantic poet, South African settler and London-based
advocate for abolition” (Jason Rudy, University of Maryland). For scholars of
South African literature, “Pringle has been a long-time icon of South African
liberalism,” and this “new study presents a more complex figure caught up in
the contradictions of empire by a career that comprised poetry, settler
propaganda and abolitionism. Equally in command of close reading and
relocations that include Scotland, Cape Colony and mid-nineteenth-century
London, Improvisations of Empire is a truly eye-opening study” (Jon Mee,
University of York). Published by Anthem Press (New York), in its series
Advances in African Cultural Studies, Shum’s volume “shows how a careful
reading of a literary oeuvre can transform how we think about the legacies of
the colonial era. It rescues Pringle from the realms of liberal mythmaking,
casting new light on a historical period in which nation-building,
class-consciousness, abolition, Christian evangelism and colonialism were
deeply entangled” (Peter D. McDonald, University of Oxford). Improvisations
of Empire “is likely to remain the definitive reading of Thomas Pringle for
many years to come” (David Attwell, University of York).
With the permission of the Skotnes family,
the front cover of the book features an image by Cecil Skotnes, from a series
of large painted panels housed in the 1820 Settlers Monument in Makhanda
(Grahamstown).
I have been teaching a course on Black Consciousness poetry in the universities for close to seven years and have been nagged by the silence and absence of women in that unfolding radical moment. For about five years now, every August, the month that in South Africa marks women’s month, an image of Minister Lindiwe Zulu from the 1980s circulates on social media. She looks away from the book in her hands to confront us with a direct gaze into the camera, with a Kalashnikov resting easily next to her hip.
The image represents a battle fought with both ideological and military warfare; what the Cold War machine would have called soft power (culture) and hard power (artillery). That image of a female guerilla looks as provocative as it does organic: the people closest to the pain should be closest to power, driving and informing the contours and contents of a revolution. The country’s history dictated their constitution: black, hypermasculine, clandestine, and Molotov-wielding. The battle lines were drawn along racial lines exclusively.
When the white oligarchy peddled fear in their white subjects through the image of swart gevaar what they conjured was not black women. But history absolves them today. Their variegated voices erased by national liberation narratives shall be heard. Black women were at the frontlines and in the underground confronted with a distinctive battle, against the white supremacist machine impaling their families and communities, and often against hetero-patriarchy within their ranks, which came to symbolise the notion of nation. To be a female guerrilla was to submit oneself to multiple warfares. They were in the trenches of Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique as fighters, teachers, students, guerillas, and nurses.
Lindiwe Mabuza championed the Malibongwe book project. She drafted a letter to the head of the ANC’s women’s section, Florence Maphosho, to propose the idea. Mabuza asked Maphosho to disseminate the letter to all the women in the camps, offices of the ANC around the world, and at the nascent Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (Somafco). There was great interest as hand-written submissions from all the camps began to arrive in Lusaka. Angela Dladla-Sangweni, Mabuza’s sister in law, helped to type all the poems. Mabuza had the full manuscript by the time she went to Sweden in 1979. At the time she was also at the helm of fundraising to construct the new Somafco, and had arranged for artists within the Angola camps to contribute drawings and illustrations which she could sell to advance that cause.
She sold the originals to several Scandinavian countries as she was ANC’s official representative to the entire Nordic region, but kept copies for inclusion in the first edition of Malibongwe’s English version. She approached then-secretary at the Center for International Solidarity in Sweden, Bjorn Andreasson, to help raise funds for the publication of the poetry anthology. While this was in the pipelines, the German translation became the first to be published by Munich-based Weltkreis-Verlag in 1980. Translated by Elizabeth Thompson and Peter Schütt, this edition was expedited by the ambassador of the ANC Mission for the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria, Tony Seedat, and wife, Dr. Aziza Seedat. They had already been in liaison with the publisher in 1980, who was at the time publishing another South African poetry collection by Keorapetse Kgositsile titled Herzspeuren/Heartprints (1980), at the behest of Aziza Seedat.
In 1981 Bengt Save Soderbergh of the Centre for International Solidarity of the Labour Organization in Sweden had taken over oversee the full publication process, and published 2000 English language copies. Most copies were distributed by ANC officials around the world, at the discretion of the party’s chief representatives. At subsequent ANC meetings and rallies people were reading the women’s poetry. Meanwhile Soderberg approved funding for Erik Stinus to translate the anthology into Swedish and Danish, published in 1982 by the anti-apartheid solidarity group Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke. Later in the decade (date unknown) the Finnish Peace Committee had a smaller batch of the anthology translated into Finnish and published in Helsinki. The demand for Malibongwe’s German edition resulted in the second edition being reprinted in 1987, this time carrying five illustrations by ANC member and eminent abstract expressionist Dumile Feni, one emblazoned on the cover. This was inspired by the illustration and design of Kgositsile’s collection. We carry the spirit of collaboration in this edition through the awe inspiring Feni masterpiece. These networks of international solidarity and support attest to the power of culture in fostering strong political tools for revolution.
Some of
the poets in this anthology have used pseudonyms as they were
underground. The following contributors have since passed on: Belinda
Martins, Thuli Kubeka, Phumzile Zulu, and Mpho Segomotso Dombo. May their
revolutionary souls rest in peace.
Doctoral study in the English Department is possible in a range of topics in literary and cultural studies as well as in creative writing. The PhD requires committed, independent research and supervisors work closely with students during all stages of the study. The department provides structured support to students especially in the initial stages when the proposal is being crafted. To see our research expertise visit the staff profiles on our website https://www0.sun.ac.za/english/staff/. We have well-established research expertise in, for example: African literature, particularly South African and East African literary studies; studies in nineteenth century literature and its re-imaginings; cultural, oceanic and eco-critical studies; film studies and script writing; contemporary creative non-fiction and literary journalism; poetry; life writing; studies of trans-Atlantic black writing and networks, creative writing; translation studies; postcolonial literature and theory; queer literature and culture; English literature and pedagogy; and narrative theory.
The
department offers two forms of the PhD:
1. A full-thesis PhD (English Studies)
An
80 000-word academic thesis.
2. A PhD (English Studies) with a
focus on Creative Writing or Literary Translation
The PhD has
two components: an original work of creative writing/ literary translation in a
particular genre or mix of genres, and a reflexive, critical commentary that
relates to the creative /translation work. The scope, form and weighting of
each of the components is established in discussions between supervisor/s and
student.
Entrance Requirements:
A minimum of
65% for the MA degree in English Studies or a cognate discipline is required. For
the creative writing/translation PhD, additional evidence of achievement in the
proposed field is needed. We prefer our students to be full-time residential
students, where possible.
How to apply:
If you are
interested in doing a PhD in the English Department at Stellenbosch University,
you need to two things:
Send an email to the coordinator,
giving us a brief outline of your intended topic, a paragraph on your MA
research, and attach a copy of your CV and MA transcript. AND
The English
Department unfortunately is not in a position to fund students for doctoral
study.
Stellenbosch University administered bursaries are available to certain students, see the postgraduate office website: www.sun.ac.za/pgo/funding for more information. We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage all interested students to apply for funding from the National Research Foundation (www.nrf.ac.za) before the internal closing date(s) as advertised on the postgraduate office website.
Congratulations to Evan Maina Mwangi (PhD University of Nairobi), Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in the Comparative Literary Studies Program at Northwestern University, and Professor Extraordinaire in the English Department of Stellenbosch University. Kudos on the publication of his most recent monograph, The Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics (Michigan, 2019). This volume examines the interface of critical animal studies and postcolonial literature to bring to the fore the vegan impulses in African writing. He demonstrates that these vegan motivations and affects are not a copy of western practices but draw from indigenous sources. His primary texts in this book include African folktales, religious texts, philosophical materials, and work by anti-colonial movements, as well as postcolonial and other literary sources which the authors have repurposed to call for the ethical treatment of non-human others and sexual minorities. By including work by East African writers such as Rebecca Nandwa, Nuruddin Farah, Henry ole Kulet, and Yuda Komora in its study of the figure of the animal in African literature, the book seeks to debunk the implied belief, in critical animal studies, that only white African writers (exemplified by J.M. Coetzee) have been attentive to the animal question. See more at https://www.press.umich.edu/9955521/postcolonial_animal
Congratulations to Prof Tina Steiner, to SU Prof Extraordinaire Evan Mwangi of Northwestern, and to other members of the editorial team on the publication by Wits University Press of DDT Jabavu’s travelogue In India and East Africa / E-Indiya nase East Africa, in isiXhosa and English. The book represents a long, even labyrinthine, journey for the editors, across institutions, languages, cultures, continents, mediating between the politics of the past and the claims of the present. In re-rendering Jabavu’s experiences and voice, it offers a very important and unusual contribution to the field.” (See the cover and info. Attached.)
In India and East Africa / E-Indiya nase East Africa A travelogue in isiXhosa and English D.D.T. Jabavu Translated by Cecil Wele Manona Edited by Tina Steiner, Mhlobo W. Jadezweni, Catherine Higgs and Evan M. Mwangi
A remarkable travelogue by one of South Africa’s greatest intellectuals, DDT Jabavu, this book opens new vistas on Indian Ocean histories. Available for the first time in isiXhosa and English, this historical gem enriches our sense of the scope and scale of South African letters.
—Isabel Hofmeyr, Global Distinguished Professor, New York University and Professor of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
A significant figure in Cape African politics at that time, and a renowned academic from Fort Hare University, Jabavu’s expressive account of this trip weaves together a myriad of encounters with people he already knew, and those he would meet on his journey from the Eastern Cape to India, via the East African coast. One can only marvel at how the editors have re-enlivened Jabavu’s account of his epic 1949 journey – a rousing read! — Luvuyo Wotshela, Professor and Head of the National Heritage and Cultural Studies Centre, University of Fort Hare
In November 1949 D.D.T. Jabavu, the South African politician and professor of African languages at Fort Hare University, set out on a four-month trip to attend the World Pacifist Meeting in India. He wrote an isiXhosa account of his journey which was published in 1951 by Lovedale Press. This new edition republishes the travelogue in the original isiXhosa, with an English translation by the late anthropologist Cecil Wele Manona. The travelogue contains reflections on Jabavu’s social interactions during his travels, and on the conference itself, where he considered what lessons Gandhian principles might yield for South Africans engaged in struggles for freedom and dignity. His commentary on non- violent resistance, and on the dangers of nationalism and racism, enriches the existing archive of intellectual exchanges between Africa and India from a black South African perspective. The volume includes chapters by the editors that examine the networks of international solidarity – from post-independence India to the anti-colonial struggle in East Africa and the American civil rights movement – which Jabavu helped to strengthen, biographical sketches of Jabavu and of Manona, and an afterword that reflects on the historical and political significance of making African-language texts available to readers across Africa.
Publication support for this project was generously awarded by the AW Mellon Foundation as one of the initiatives of the Consortium of Critical Theory Programs and the Humanities and Social Science Research Grant from the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus.
At the 2019 Media24 Books Literary Prizes bestowed in Cape Town on 13 June – awards which recognise the best work published during the previous year by Media24 book publishers – Gabeba scooped the Elisabeth Eybers Prize for Afrikaans and English poetry for The History of Intimacy, published by Kwela Books.
The judges were impressed by the controlled lyricism and calm maturity of the poems in the collection: “The work depicts the transitions of Baderoon’s world, herself a figure of transit, and does this in a grammar that relies mainly on the strength of its images. It is a book of technical ease and linguistic subtlety of a high order.”
The English Department again had the pleasure of congratulating Prof Gabeba Baderoon on the shortlisting of this poetry collection The History of Intimacy for the 2019 University of Johannesburg Prize, in the Main Prize Category. Read the report by the Johannesburg Review of Books.
The English Department celebrates its Chair’s new poetry collection titled Otherwise Occupied (Dryad Press), launched at Exclusive Books in Cavendish on the 10th April. Sally-Ann Murray’s poetry is described as serious, playful and outrageous. According to the publishers, “Murray draws inspiration from contemporary women’s experimental poetics, inflecting poetry’s familiar inner speech with the sounds and shapes of found materials and engaging cultural noise. In Otherwise Occupied, the poem becomes otherwise under innovative necessity and performative exploration .” These inflections were further explored in a conversation with the poet and critic Joan Hambidge.
Sally-Ann Murray in conversation with Joan Hambidge
Otherwise Occupied
Joan Hambidge’s conversation with Sally-Ann offered insights on her process and views on poetry, some of which follow below. How does she juggle the roles of mother, wife, head of department, academic, poet and novelist? To this, Sally-Ann responded that it would be a mistake to think she could do it all, and added that she honours her creativity by being a list-maker and box-ticker in the pursuit of deadlines. Does her preference lie more with poetry or with writing novels? Initial aspirations were towards poetry, but she later came to the view that creativity ought to be freed, that intellectual creativity and intellectual rigor are not mutually exclusive. Influences? Always indirect, but she is mostly influenced by female experimentalists who bring conceptual innovation into play with affective voicing: Anne Carson, Denise Riley, Kathleen Fraser, Lyn Heijinian… Poetry as testimonial? There is never direct correspondence between the the poem and the poet’s life. Sally-Ann’s poetry reacts to traditional confessional poetry, but she anyway thinks ‘confessional poetry’ is a misnomer.
The conversation also veered to how insomnia can be a perversely regenerative space, during which Sally-Ann performs any number of non-academic activities, including sewing dishcloths out of fabulous fabric, or reading until she sleeps.
