Izihlahla Ezikhuluma Ngezandla (“Trees Who Talk with Hands”): Tree Poems in South African Sign Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiko Kaneko ◽  
Ruth Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
South African ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Deaf Culture ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Way

This article explores the way in which trees (izihlahla in isiZulu) are represented in South African Sign Language (SASL) literature. We contextualise our study in the broader field of African folklore and literature as SASL literature is steeped in deaf culture as well as that of a wider African culture of hearing people. Using a close reading approach of a selection of poems, we claim that many key features of tree symbolism and tree personification that are found in African literature and folklore (written or spoken) can also be identified in SASL literature (signed). In both literatures, the tree is seen as a symbol of growth, the circle of life, hope and knowledge, the ancestors and custodians of history, as well as a character with its own presence. Our findings highlight the modality-independent nature of human creativity This article explores the way in which trees (izihlahla in isiZulu) are represented in South African Sign Language (SASL) literature. We contextualise our study in the broader field of African folklore and literature as SASL literature is steeped in deaf culture as well as that of a wider African culture of hearing people. Using a close reading approach of a selection of poems, we claim that many key features of tree symbolism and tree personification that are found in African literature and folklore (written or spoken) can also be identified in SASL literature (signed). In both literatures, the tree is seen as a symbol of growth, the circle of life, hope and knowledge, the ancestors and custodians of history, as well as a character with its own presence. Our findings highlight the modality-independent nature of human creativity.

scholarly journals Die Afrikaanse prosa, 1918 - 1926: brandpunt van die geboorte van ’n nuwe bewussyn

Literator ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. John
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Political Power ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Social Category ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Massive Intervention ◽  
The Way

This study looks at a selection of Afrikaans prose texts from the period 1918 to 1926 in an attempt to establish a relation between the rapid industrialisation which South Africa was being subjected to and the literature produced during this time. Georg Lukács’ argument that "nature is a social category" is used to show that a preoccupation with certain desires and emotions with which these texts are marked is an indication that a massive intervention into ‘nature’, in the form of the emotional lives of especially white Afrikaans workers, was either on the way or being proposed through the medium of literature during this time. This intervention is seen as part of an attempt by the white Afrikaans ruling class to draw Afrikaans workers into its fold in its struggle for political power. A contiguous concern of the study is to propose this kind of approach as a basis for the study of South African literature as a whole.

scholarly journals Exclusive language: The tool to empower and create identity

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Geyser-Fouche
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Julia Kristeva ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Literary Theories ◽  
African Context ◽  
Qumran Community ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Way

This article used some postmodern literary theories of philosophers such as Jean-Fran�ois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Julia Kristeva to scrutinise a selection of texts from the post-exilic period with regard to the exclusive language employed in these texts. Lyotard�s insights relate to and complement Foucault�s concept of �counter-memory�. Foucault also focuses on the network of discursive powers that operate behind texts and reproduce them, arguing that it is important to have a look from behind so as to see which voices were silenced by the specific powers behind texts. The author briefly looked at different post-exilic texts within identity-finding contexts, focusing especially on Chronicles and a few Qumran texts, to examine the way in which they used language to create identity and to empower the community in their different contexts. It is generally accepted that both the author(s) of 1 & 2 Chronicles and the Qumran community used texts selectively, with their own nuances, omissions and additions. This study scrutinised the way the author(s) of Chronicles and the Qumran community used documents selectively, focusing on the way in which they used exclusive language. It is clear that all communities used such language in certain circumstances to strengthen a certain group�s identity, to empower them and to legitimise this group�s conduct, behaviour and claims � and thereby exclude other groups.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Based on postmodern literary theories, this article compares the exclusive language used in Chronicles and in the texts of the Qumran community, pointing to the practice of creating identity and empowering through discourse. In conclusion, the article reflects on what is necessary in a South African context, post-1994, to be a truly democratic country.Keywords: Exclusive language; inclusive; Jean-Fran�ois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu; Derrida; Qumran Chronicles

scholarly journals Computational Approaches to Storytelling and Creativity

AI Magazine ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Gervas
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Computational Creativity ◽  
Computational Approaches ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
Key Features ◽  
The Way

This paper deals with computational approaches to storytelling, or the production of stories by computers, with a particular attention on the way human creativity is modelled or emulated, also in computational terms. Features relevant to creativity and to stories are analysed, and existing systems are reviewed under the light of that analysis.The extent to which they implement the key features proposed in recent models of computational creativity is discussed. Limitations, avenues of future research and expected trends are outlined.

scholarly journals 21st Century South African Science Fiction

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
LUIZA CARAIVAN
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
South African ◽  
21St Century ◽  
African Literature ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Fiction Writer ◽  
The Way

Abstract The paper analyses some aspects of South African science fiction, starting with its beginnings in the 1920s and focusing on some 21st century writings. Thus Lauren Beukes’ novels Moxyland (2008) and Zoo City (2010) are taken into consideration in order to present new trends in South African literature and the way science fiction has been marked by Apartheid. The second South African science fiction writer whose writings are examined is Henrietta Rose-Innes (with her novel Nineveh, published in 2011) as this consolidates women's presence in the SF world.

scholarly journals The “Ready-Made-Writer” in a Selection of Contemporary Francophone Literary Advice Manuals

2020 ◽  
pp. 199-216
Author(s):  
Françoise Grauby
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Small Enterprise ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Literary Field ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Official Recognition ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis chapter explores the concepts of discursive and non-discursive ethos, as well as the notion of authorial stance (posture) as defined by Jerôme Meizoz (2007; 2011) in order to analyze the figure of the “ready-made-writer” in French manuals and writing guides at the beginning of the twenty-first century. “Authorial stance,” “ethos,” and “persona” are all terms that take stock of the way in which authors declare themselves writers in the literary field. For Meizoz, posture begins at the moment of publication, that is, at the moment of the official recognition of the author. A close reading of some recent French writing manuals, however, reveals the outline of an implicit portrait of the author budding into a legitimate artist and credible writer, and contains indications on how to carve out a space of creation for oneself. The identities presented by the manuals are shaped by literary models and invested by a collective imaginary. They conform to culturally accepted archetypes, because “becoming a writer, and doing the work of a writer are part of the same phantasm” (Ducas 2002). Learning the craft of writing thus also entails acquiring a corporeal dramaturgy or an “auctorial scenography” (Diaz 2009) which is a prerequisite for creation. This can be achieved by going through various authorial stances, from “visionary” to “apprentice” and “manager of one’s own small enterprise.”

scholarly journals TRADUÇÃO DO POEMA “NO MEIO DO CAMINHO” DE CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE PARA A LINGUA LÍNGUA BRASILEIRA DE SINAIS EM ESCRITA DE SINAIS NO SISTEMA SIGNWRITING TRANSLATION OF THE POEM "IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAY" OF CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE TO THE BRAZILIAN LANGUAGE OF SIGNS IN WRITING OF SIGNALS (SIGNWRITING SYSTEM)

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ednéia De Oliveira Alves
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Deaf Culture ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Carlos Drummond De Andrade ◽  
Brazilian Sign Language ◽  
The Way

A ASEL buscando implementar cada vez mais a inclusão social, solicitou à Profa. Dra. Ednéia Alves — experiente docente da UFPB na área da Cultura surda — a tradução de um texto literário para a Língua Brasileira de Sinais - LIBRAS, visando, com essa ação, proporcionar à comunidade surda o acesso a textos dessa natureza.ASEL seeking to implement more and more social inclusion, requested Prof. Dr. Ednéia Alves - an experienced UFPB professor in the area of Deaf Culture - the translation of a literary text into the Brazilian Sign Language - LIBRAS, aiming, with this action, to provide the deaf community with access to texts of this nature.

scholarly journals Land, Livelihoods, and the Decline of Work: South African Lessons for Current Debates

2012 ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Scully
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
African Literature ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Labor Literature ◽  
The Way

This article presents a comparison of central debates in South African labor sociology in the1970s and the contemporary era. I argue that scholars can break through impasses in currentlabor sociology debates by reviving attention to the land-labor-livelihood (LLL) connections thatinspired theoretical advancements in the South African literature of the 1970s. After anintroduction and definition of LLL connections, the paper analyzes an exemplary work of thelabor literature of the 1970s, giving special attention to the way in which the LLL focus shapedthe questions asked by the authors. The article proceeds to a review of central debates from thecurrent labor literature, which focuses primarily on issues of the labor movement. It is arguedthat this focus on movements has limited the scope of labor scholarship, resulting in an impassein South African labor debates. An emerging literature that renews attention to the LLLconnections is proposed as a model for moving beyond this impasse. I close the article bydiscussing the implications for this review of South African literature for global laborscholarship.

scholarly journals Journalism and the Black Short Story in English in Twentieth-Century South Africa: From R. R. R. Dhlomo to Miriam Tlali

2021 ◽  
pp. 255-273
Author(s):  
Marta Fossati
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
South African ◽  
Short Story ◽  
African Literature ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
New Journalism ◽  
South African Literature ◽  
Hybrid Texts ◽  
African Writers ◽  
Miriam Tlali

In the present article I seek to discuss, following a diachronic approach, the close-knit relationship that can be found between journalistic discourse and the genre of the short story in Anglophone South African literature over a time span of fifty years, between the late Twenties and the Eighties. In particular, I intend to explore this genre negotiation by close reading selected short stories and/or newspaper articles by four non-white South African writers: R. R. R. Dhlomo, Can Themba, Alex La Guma, and Miriam Tlali. The intersections between the two different genres and discourses in these hybrid texts can be identified at the level of both content and form. A close reading of selected short stories and/or articles may call for a revaluation of this “South African New Journalism” as a creative experimentation that challenges conventional generic categorisations.

Maclaurin on Occasionalism: A Reply to Ablondi

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Gravitational Attraction ◽  
Matter Theory ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Short Essay ◽  
The Way

In a recent article Fred Ablondi compares the different approaches to occasionalism put forward by two eighteenth-century Newtonians, Colin Maclaurin and Andrew Baxter. The goal of this short essay is to respond to Ablondi by clarifying some key features of Maclaurin's views on occasionalism and the cause of gravitational attraction. In particular, I explore Maclaurin's matter theory, his views on the explanatory limits of mechanism, and his appeals to the authority of Newton. This leads to a clearer picture of the way in which Maclaurin understood gravitational attraction and the workings of nature.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document