scholarly journals CRITICAL DISCOURSE OF AFRICAN VERNACULAR ROOTED IMAGERIES IN PITIKA NTULI’S SCULPTURES

ARTis ON ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 140-151
Author(s):  
Sule Ameh James
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
South African ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Political Events

My paper presents a critical discourse on African vernacular rooted imageries in the contemporary sculptures of Ntuli, the ideas they convey to viewers and how Africanness is indicated in each depiction produced between 2007 and 2016. I read Ntuli’s contemporary sculptures as African vernacular rooted because he appropriates in them cultural imageries from engagement with African contexts. Five images of his sculptures and installations were purposively selected for thematic and visual analysis. I adopt visual hermeneutics theory, formal analysis and cultural history methods for the reading of each work. The narrative reveals that Ntuli’s vernacular imageries reflects black South African men and a woman rooted in past and present socio-political events in South Africa. The thematic interpretations of the imageries reveal ideas on massacre not merely during apartheid but in post-apartheid South Africa, torture of victims detained without trial, anti-racialism and reflection on a historical hero from Zulu culture.

scholarly journals Decolonising African vernacular rooted sculptures of selected contemporary Nigerian and South African artists

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sule James
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
South African ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
African Art ◽  
Indigenous Cultures ◽  
Art Practices

I am interested in a decolonial reading of African vernacular rooted sculptures of selected contemporary South African and Nigerian artists and compares them. Although vernacular arts were produced in indigenous or traditional African arts context, there are still several forms of vernacular art practices jostling for space with canonical modes in contemporary art in various African contexts. However, I argue that the contemporary representations of cultural imagery and symbols from indigenous cultures or urban areas in South Africa and Nigeria suggest a different mode of engagement, even though the term vernacular is used to narrate them as a rethink in narrating art practices. Therefore, my paper argues that even though contemporary artists from both countries continue to represent cultural imagery (vernacular) in their artworks, they are not a continuation of traditional African art. I adopt formal analysis, cultural history methodologies for the critical analysis of the works of two South African and two Nigerian artists that were purposively selected and compare the ideas that unfold from the interrogations for a wider continental understanding of contemporary issues and artistic trends.

The Socio-Economic Challenges of South African Indigenous Musicians: A Case Study of Venda-Based Vho-Ntshengedzeni Mamphodo

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
N G Mugovhani ◽  
Lebogang Lance Nawa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Arts Management ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Indigenous Music ◽  
Entire Country

This article discusses and raises awareness about the socio-economic plight of indigenous musicians in South Africa. Through a qualitative case study of the Venda musician, Vho-Talelani Andries Ntshengedzeni Mamphodo, dubbed the “Father of mbila music,” the article highlights the fact that the welfare of Black South African artists, particularly indigenous musicians in South Africa, is generally a precarious affair. Their popularity, at the height of their careers, sometimes masks shocking details of exploitation, neglect, and the poverty they are subjected to, which are exposed only after they have died. Empirical data identifies this as a symptom of, among other things, cultural policy and arts management deficiencies in the promotion of indigenous music. The article aims to find ways to redress this unfortunate situation, which is partially a product of general apathy and scant regard that these artists have perennially been subjected to, even by their own governments, as well as some members of their societies. All these factors mentioned are compounded by ignorance on the part of South African artists. Part of the objective of this study was to establish whether the exposition of the Vhavenda musicians is a typical example of all Black South African indigenous musicians and, if this is the case, whether the suggested ways to redress this unfortunate situation could contribute to or play a role in alleviating the plight of such artists in the entire country.

scholarly journals Legitimation of Poverty in School Economics Textbooks in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jugathambal Ramdhani ◽  
Suriamurthee Maistry
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Selection Of

In South Africa, the school textbook remains a powerful source of content knowledge to both teachers and learners. Such knowledge is often engaged uncritically by textbook users. As such, the worldviews and value systems in the knowledge selected for consumption remain embedded and are likely to do powerful ideological work. In this article, we present an account of the ideological orientations of knowledge in a corpus of school economics textbooks. We engage the tenets of critical discourse analysis to examine the representations of the construct “poverty” as a taught topic in the Further Education and Training Economics curriculum. Using Thompson’s legitimation as a strategy and form-function analysis as specific analytical tools, we unearth the subtext of curriculum content in a selection of Grade 12 Economics textbooks. The study reveals how power and domination are normalised through a strategy of economic legitimation, thereby offering a “legitimate” rationale for the existence of poverty in the world. The article concludes with implications for curriculum and a humanising pedagogy, and a call for embracing critical knowledge on poverty in the South African curriculum.

Xhosa English as an institutionalised variety of English

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian de Klerk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Black Language

This paper aims to examine the English of Xhosa speakers (a significant proportion of speakers of Black South African English, since Xhosa is the second largest indigenous black language in South Africa), in terms of Williams’ (1987) criteria for Non-native Institutionalised Varieties of English (NIVEs). Using a corpus-based approach, the article reports on the results of analyses of a range of linguistic features in the newly-developed corpus of spoken Xhosa English (over 500 000 words), in an effort to go some way towards providing the evidence so necessary for the endorsement of newly established norms, and to counteract the pull of native English norms, “which tend to result in the stigmatisation of some of the major indexical markers of the non-native varieties” (Bamgbose 1998:3).

scholarly journals The militarisation of the Platfontein San (!Xun and Khwe): The initial years 1966–1974

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A S Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Liberation Movements ◽  
Made In

The resettlement of 372 San (Bushmen) soldiers with dependents from 31/201 and 203 Battalions in Namibia to Schmidtsdrift in the Northern Cape during March 1990 was the last chapter in the process of militarisation of the !Xun and Khwe communities. However, there is a popular perception that the South African Defence Force (SADF) was primarily responsible for the militarisation of this particular San community, with the founding of 31 Battalion during 1974. This ignores the fact that the !Xun and Khwe originated in Angola, where they were actively involved with the Portuguese security forces. With one exception, only superficial mention is made in the literature about the role of the San soldiers in Angola before independence in November 1975. This article shows that the militarisation of the San actually started in 1966, when members of the !Xun were recruited by the Portuguese Security Police (PIDE) and successfully used against the Angolan liberation movements MPLA, FNLA and UNITA. The lifestyle of the San before the PIDE era is discussed, as is the period in which they were raised to a superior status as flecha fighters. This period of military prowess ended with the independence of Angola and resulted in the !Xun and Khwe seeking refuge with the SADF. These geo-political events led to the founding of 31 Battalion, situated in the Western Caprivi, where former flecha soldiers were retrained and incorporated into SADF structures. In closing, brief mention is made of the resettlement of the !Xun and Khwe to Schmidtsdrift in South Africa.

scholarly journals The structure and features of the SMS language used in the written work of Communication English I students at a university in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaka Chaka ◽  
Mampa L. Mphahlele ◽  
Charles C. Mann
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Morphological Structure ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Black South African ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
English I

Employing an explanatory design, this study set out to investigate the morphosyntactic structures of the SMS language of Communication English I students, and the types of SMS language features used in their written work at a university of technology in South Africa. The study randomly sampled 90 undergraduate students (M = 40; F = 50) enrolled for a national diploma programme during the first academic semester in 2013. Their ages ranged from 19–22 years; they all spoke English as a second language, whilst having one of the five black South African languages as their home language. The study had two types of data: participants’ mobile phone text messages (in two sets), and their writing samples. Two of the findings of the study are: the morphological structure of the textisms used in the participants’ text messages deviated from that applicable to formal, standard English, whereas much of their syntactic structure did not; and, the frequency and proportion of textisms in participants’ writing samples were lower than that reported in studies by Freudenberg (2009) and Rosen et al. (2010).

scholarly journals Black and White in Ink: Discourses of Resistance in South African Cartooning

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDY MASON
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
Black Newspapers ◽  
Black South African ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Vexing Question

ABSTRACT This author contends that cartooning in its various forms in South Africa played an important role in crystallising issues of allegiance and identity, introducing revolutionary concepts into public discourse, undermining the ideological hegemony of the apartheid state and legitimating the political struggle against apartheid. However, in spite of the fact that numerous black newspapers have subsisted to this day, there remains a dearth of black cartoonists in South Africa. The vexing question of why so few black cartoonists have emerged demands an answer. The villains of the piece appear to be the editors of the socalled 'liberal' newspapers who did nothing (and continue to do very little) to identify indigenous cartooning talent or promote the development of black South African cartooning, choosing rather to share the services of a few white cartoonists and to buy syndicated comic strips. Mason analyses this situation and offers a remedy for solving the problem.

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