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Black Consciousness and the Politics of Writing the Nation in South Africa

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Black Consciousness and the Politics of Writing the Nation in South Africa View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository Black Consciousness and the Politics of Writing the Nation in South Africa by Thomas William Penfold A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of African Studies and Anthropology School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham May 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract Since the transition from apartheid, there has been much discussion of the possibilities for the emergence of a truly ‘national’ literature in South Africa. This thesis joins the debate by arguing that Black Consciousness, a movement that began in the late 1960s, provided the intellectual framework both for understanding how a national culture would develop and for recognising it when it emerged. Black Consciousness posited a South Africa where formerly competing cultures sat comfortably together. This thesis explores whether such cultural equality has been achieved. Does contemporary literature harmoniously deploy different cultural idioms simultaneously? By analysing Black writing, mainly poetry, from the 1970s through to the present, the study traces the stages of development preceding the emergence of a possible ‘national’ literature and argues that the dominant art versus politics binary needs to be reconsidered. Emphasising the long-term influences of education and language policy, and of publishing, the thesis documents the continuous dialogue of art and politics in South Africa, and in the process unpicks the paradox of South Africa’s (un)national literature. Dedicated, with the greatest love and thanks, to the memory of my Grandpa, Philip Holmes. Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without my supervisor, Keith Shear, and his constant patience, guidance, and constructive feedback. His support in respect to academic work and the occasional struggles of PhD life has been unending. I am grateful for the help offered by all the staff in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology. Within that I must particularly thank David Kerr and Rebecca Jones for the numerous writing groups, aimless conversations, and general friendship. In South Africa, my thanks to Catherine Burns, Zoe Groves and all the staff at WISER and the University of the Witwatersrand for their enthusiastic approach to research. Additionally, I am thankful for the time numerous interviewees spared me on several occasions. I must also recognise the financial support offered by the University of Birmingham. Finally, I must acknowledge my friends and family. Thank you isn’t enough. Table of Contents Introduction 1 A Starting Place in History 4 The Stages to Realisation 7 Chapter 1 The Language and the Tribe: Afrikaans, Apartheid and Culture 15 1.1 Apartheid from Language 15 1.2 The Rise of Afrikaans Literature 19 1.3 Liberalism 21 1.4 Apartheid through Language 23 1.5 The Failings of Mission Education 25 1.6 The Introduction of Bantu Education 30 1.7 Mother-Tongue Instruction and Opposition 36 1.8 Culture at the Forefront 41 Chapter 2 Redefining Black and White: The Changing Nature of Politics and Culture 43 2.1 The Rise of Black Consciousness 45 2.2 Exploring the Binary of Black Consciousness 49 2.3 Culture, Politics, Psychology? 55 2.4 The Location of Black Consciousness Thought 63 2.5 Soweto: A Black Consciousness Finale? 74 2.6 The End of Black Consciousness 81 Chapter 3 Speaking and Signalling in Turbulent Silence: The Classic, Staffrider and the Medu Arts Ensemble 88 3.1 The Three Phases of The Classic 90 3.2 Ravan Press, Staffrider and the Urgency of Now 97 3.3 Raised Voices and the Threat of Censorship 112 3.4 Art and Literature in the Medu Arts Ensemble Newsletter 116 3.5 A Changing Direction 126 Chapter 4 The Local is the Nation: Black Consciousness and the Soweto Poets 128 4.1 Mongane ‘Wally’ Serote 130 4.2 Sipho Sepamla 142 4.3 James Matthews 150 4.4 Njabulo Ndebele 152 4.5 Turning the Page: The Soweto Poets, the Longer Form and the Future 158 Chapter 5 The Changing Space of Performance in the 1980s: Culture as Mobilisation and Militarised Culture 161 5.1 The Rise of Trade Union Politics 162 5.2 Trade Union Poetry and the Hurt of Migrancy 165 5.3 Honest, Hectic and Hopeful: The People’s Poet 174 5.4 Poetry, Performance and Space 178 5.5 The Historical Changes in Black Theatre 185 5.6 The Symbolic Theatre of Violence and Mourning 192 5.7 Performing Space 195 5.8 Theatre Inside the Factory 197 5.9 Towards a National Culture 199 Chapter 6 The New Black Poets: The Ignored Voices of South Africa’s Bleak Transition 202 6.1 The Continued Merging of Literature and Politics 202 6.2 The Politics of Publishing 206 6.3 Criticism and Mediocrity 208 6.4 Writing and Nation Building 211 6.5 The New Black Poets 212 6.6 The Poetics of Dirty Aesthetics: Lesego Rampolokeng 214 6.7 A Rewritten Script: Seitlhamo Motsapi 222 6.8 The Essence of Change: Angifi Dladla 230 6.9 Precise Pain: Mxolisi Nyezwa 234 6.10 Something Apart 237 Chapter 7 By Way of Conclusion: “Somewhere on the Distant Horizon we can see the Glittering Prize” 240 7.1 Reaching a National Culture 240 7.2 Making a National Culture 243 7.3 A Shared Horizon? 245 7.4 An Unassailable Paradox 250 7.5 Publishing in Crisis 251 7.6 Education in Crisis 256 7.7 The Distant Horizon 262 Bibliography Archival Collections 264 Books, Journals and Periodicals 264 List of Abbreviations ANC African National Congress AZAPO Azanian Peoples’ Organisation BCM Black Consciousness Movement BMS Berlin Mission Schools BPC Black Peoples’ Convention CNE Christian National Education COSAS Congress of South African Students COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions COSAW Congress of South African Writers DACST Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology DRC Dutch Reformed Church FOSATU Federation of South African Trade Unions GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution IFP Inkatha Freedom Party MoI Medium of Instruction NAC National Arts Council NCS National Curriculum Statement NUSAS National Union of South African Students OBE Outcomes Based Education OUP Oxford University Press PAC Pan Africanist Congress PET Peoples’ Experimental Theatre SADTU South African Democratic Teachers’ Union SASM South African Students’ Movement SASO South African Students’ Organisation SPRO-CAS Study Project of Christianity in South African Society TUCSA Trade Union Council of South Africa UCM University Christian Movement UDF United Democratic Front UKZN University of Kwa-Zulu Natal UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ZAR South African Rand Introduction This thesis is motivated by two different thoughts that may seem unrelated. First, the author was struck by the apparent paradox within Black Consciousness. Why was an Africanist movement dedicated towards pride in and reclamation of African identity and culture writing in English? Second, David Attwell and Derek Attridge in their introduction to The Cambridge History of South African Literature (2012) write of a felt need to respond to claims that the idea of a national literature is in question. The question of a linguistic paradox specific to Black Consciousness has not received much in-depth criticism. Indeed the answer is all too obvious. English was the common language bridging the different oppressed groups Black Consciousness united as Black. Additionally, English was the language of the intellectual arena the movement was founded in and a tool that allowed international communication. Moreover, the apparent paradox becomes less of one given Chinua Achebe’s famous adage that rose to prominence on Twitter following the Nigerian author’s recent passing: “Let no one be fooled by the fact that we may write in English, for we intend to do unheard of things with it” (Teju Cole qtd. in “Chinua” 2012: n.pag). Thus Achebe conceives of African agency within the English language and suggests an ability to inscribe African cultures and languages into the chosen medium. There is potential for hybridity. This message of Black Consciousness, that a theoretical paradox does not surface in practice, is endorsed by Stephen Gray (1989) as the means to create a national literature in a country divided by eleven official languages and cultures. This thesis therefore explores cultural exchange. But the problem remains of how language and literature can be brought into a single frame of reference. Literary critics and linguists have long asserted their right to be considered as actors in profoundly different disciplines. Literary critic Elias Schwartz, writing in 1970 on a different subject but 1 nonetheless testifying to the tensions between the two fields, fiercely insisted that “linguistic analysis is not, and cannot be, literary criticism” (qtd. Fish 1980: 99). Equally, Attwell and Attridge’s introduction warns of the problems of grounding claims of a national literature in language (2012: 3-5). Yet literature does not necessarily rest above language, as becomes clear if one follows Stanley Fish in challenging the distinction between ordinary language and literary language, therefore asserting “literature is language” (1980: 108). His is an argument on two fronts: [First the distinction] impoverishes both the norm [ordinary language] and its (supposed) deviation [literary language], and second [Fish denies] that literature, as a class of utterances, is identified by formal properties (1980: 97).
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