20 Mail & Guardian December 20 2019 to January 2 2020

The fifth installation of the annual Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Awards, taking place on March 12 2020, honours authors and contributors of books, Humanities creative collections, and digital contributions. The Awards – hosted by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) – boasts over 100 entries in eight categories, and uplifts the work of creatives and scholars. The Awards Awards categories include fiction (edited volumes and single authored volumes), non-fiction monographs and edited volumes, musical compositions/arrangements, public performances, visual arts and digital humanities visualisations and infographics. 2020 The awards not only serve as a platform for recognition of the writers and

Long List Non-Fiction Monograph Educational Imagination, by Wayne Hugo, Fynn and Sherianne Kramer, Wits HSRC Press University Press Are You Two Sisters? a memoir, by Hester There Goes English Teacher: A memoir, by We Are No Longer at Ease, by Wandile Van der Walt, Modjaji Books Karin Cronje, Modjaji Books Ngcaweni and Busani Ngcaweni, A Political Biography of Selby Msimang Voices of Liberation: Archie Mafeje, by Jacana Media Collection Principle and Pragmatism in the Bongani Nyoka, HSRC Press Whose History Counts – Decolonising Liberation Struggle, by Sibongiseni M Voices of Liberation: Fatima Meer, by Shireen African Pre-colonial Historiography, by Mkhize, HSRC Press Hassim, HSRC Press June Bam, Lungisile Ntsebeza and Allan After Dawn, Hope after state capture by Voices of Resilience: A Living History of the Zinn, African Sun MeDia Mcebisi Jonas, Pan Macmillan SA Kenneth Gardens Municipal Housing Inspiring… Birding in ’s National Parks, Estate in Durban, by Monique Marks, Kira by Rob Little, Jacana Media Black Erwin and Tamlynn Fleetwood, with a Best Fiction Single Authored Consciousness and Progressive Movements photo essay by Cedric Nunn, UKZN Press Volume (Novel) under Apartheid, by Ian M Macqueen, Wilder Lives: Humans and our A Tree for the Birds, by Vernon Head, UKZN Press Environments, by Duncan Brown, Jacana Media Body Politics: Fingerprinting South UKZN Press Called to Song, by Kharnita Mohamed, Activists, African Contemporary Dance, by Writing the Ancestral River: A biogra-phy of Kwela Books Adrienne C Sichel, Porcupine Press the Kowie, by Jacklyn Cock, Wits University Illumination, Nthikeng Mohlele, Pan City of Broken Dreams, Myth-making, Press Macmillan SA poets and Nationalism and the University in an African WTF: Capturing Zuma – A Cartoonist’s Tale, Lacuna, Fiona Snyckers, Pan City, by Leslie J Bank, HSRC Press Zapiro with Mike Wills, Jacana Media Macmillan SA Civilising Grass: The art of the Lawn on the Liefde in die Tyd van die Internet, by South African Highveld, by Jonathan Cane, Non-Fiction Edited Volume Fransi Phillips, Queillerie animals are Wits University Press Confronting Apartheid: Medusa, by Rudie van Rensburg, A Personal History of South Africa, Namibia A School Where I Belong, by Roy Queillerie and Palestine, by John Dugard, Jacana Hellenberg, Dylan Wray, Roy Hellenberg Prooi, by Deon Meyer, Human & explored in Media and Jonathan Jansen, Bookstorm Acts Rousseau : The Road to of Transgression – Contemporary Live Stof, by Alettie Van den Heever, Presidential Power, by Anthony Butler, Helen Art in South Africa, by Jay Pather and Queillerie Lunn, Jacana Media Catherine Boulle, Wits University Press The Accident, by Gail Schimmel, Pan fascinating Dance of the Dung Beetles: Their Role in our Black Academic Voices – The South Macmillan SA Changing World, by Marcus Byrne and Helen African Experience, by Grace Khunou, The Snow Sleeper, by Marlene van Lunn, Wits University Press Edith Dinong Phaswana, Katijah Niekerk, Human & Rousseau detail Death and Compassion: The Elephant in Khoza-Shangase and Hugo Canham, Southern African Literature, by Dan Wylie, HSRC Press Wits University Press Democracy Works Conspicuous Consumption in Africa, Best Fiction Edited Volume rewiring politics to Africa's advantage, by Deborah Posel and Ilana van Wyk, Asleep, Awake, Asleep, by Jo-Ann - Anele Ngcoya by Greg Mills, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jeffrey Wits University Press Bekker, Modjaji Books Herbst and Tendai Biti, Pan Macmillan SA Equitable Rural Socioeconomic Red Cotton, by Vangile Gantsho, Dr T: A Guide to Sexual Health & Change: Land, Climate Dynamics, Impepho Press Pleasure, by Tlaleng Mofokeng, Pan Technological Innovation, by Peter The History of Intimacy, by Gabeba Macmillan SA T Jacobs, HSRC Press Baderoon, Kwela Books Everyone is Present: Essays on photography Hidden Voices Series No3- The Story Vuvuzela Dawn, by Luke Alfred and Ian memory and family , by Teresa Kurgan, of One Tells the Story of Hawkey, Pan Macmillan SA Fourthwall Books All:Metalworkers under Apartheid , by Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism: The Mandlenkosi Makhoba and Petrus Role of Business in South Africa, by Tom, Jacana Media Best Musical Composition/ Raymond Parsons with Ali Parry, Jacana I Want to go Home Forever – Stories Arrangement Media of Becoming and Belonging in South Liminal, by Reza Khota Like Family: Domestic Workers in South Africa’s Great Metropolis, by Loren B Mantombi Matotiyana: Songs of African History and Literature from 1658 to Landau and Tanya Pampalone, Wits Greeting, Healing and Heritage, by the present, by Ena Jansen, Wits University University Press Michael Blake Press Parcel of Death: The Biography In a Time of Plague: Memories of the There’s No Disappointment in Heaven, by of Onkgopotse Abram Tiro, by 'Spanish' Flu Epidemic of 1918 in South Kgomotso Moshugi Gaongalelwe Tiro, Pan Macmillan SA Power Africa, by Howard Phillips, VRS/VRV in Action: Democracy, Citizenship Neva Again: Hip Hop Art, Activism and Social Justice, by Steven Friedman, and Education in Post-Apartheid Best Public Performance Wits University Press Radio Soundings: South South Africa, Adam Haupt, Quentin Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Africa and the Black Modern, by Liz Gunner, Williams, H Samy Alim and Emile Festival 2018, by Jay Pather Wits University Press Jansen, HSRC Press The Tree Song, by Kristina Helena Real and Imagined Readers: Post-School Education and the Labour Johnstone Censorship, Publishing and Reading under Market in South Africa, Michael Yet to be Determined, by Gavin Krastin Apartheid, by Rachel Matteau Matsha, Rogan, HSRC Press UKZN Press Race, Nation, Translation: South Sol Plaatje: A life of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje African essays, 1990-2013, by Andrew Best Visual Art 1876–1932, by Brian Willan, Jacana Media Van der Vlies, Wits University Press Asymmetries Exhibition, by Nduka South Africa’s Survival Guide to South African Social Attitudes, Family Mntambo Climate Change, by Sipho Kings and Sarah Matters: Family Cohesion, Values Black is Blue, Oupa Sibeko Harmonia: Wild, Pan Macmillan SA Stopping the Spies: and Wellbeing, by Zitha Mokomane, Sacred Geometry – Patterns of Constructing and Resisting the Surveillance Benjamin Roberts, Jarè Struwig and Existence, by Gordon Froud State in South Africa, by Jane Duncan, Steven Gordon, HSRC Press Longing for the Old Days, by Clement Wits University Press State of the Nation: Poverty and Maenetja The Cape Radicals: Intellectual and Inequality Diagnosis, Prognosis and Prides and Plights – the Reformation of Political Thought of the New Era Responses, by Crain Soudien, Vasu Senior Women’s Struggles, by Daniel Fellowship, 1930s-1960s, by Crain Reddy and Ingrid Woolard, HSRC Rankadi Mosako Soudien, Wits University Press Press Speaking Through Walls, b y The First Safari – Searching for The Climate Crisis: South African Sethembile Msezane François Levaillant, by Ian Glenn, Jacana and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Media Alternatives, Vishwas Satgar, Wits The House of Tshatshu: Power, Politics and University Press Best DH Visualisation Or Chiefs North-West of the Great Kei River These Are the Things that Sit with Infographic c1818-2018, by Anne Kelk Mager and Phiko Us, by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, 'Azimuth': An Experiment of Virtual Jeffrey Velelo, UCT Press Friederike Bubenzer and Marietjie Reality for the Fashion Film Genre, by Oelofsen, Jacana Media Transforming Theorising Education: A primer for the Nirma Dolly Madhoo Research Methods in the Social Oxford Digital Thematic Atlas series, by Sciences: Case Studies from South Elaine Williams Africa, by Sumaya Laher, Angelo The Chronicles of Sketch and Etha, by Gregory Koole Mail & Guardian December 20 2019 to January 2 2020 21 contributors, but to also pay tribute to the strides made by the associated publishing houses; they also aid the creatives and academics in promoting their work. “With more than a 100 entries, we are pleased to note the phenomenal growth and interest in the number of submissions for the HSS Awards 2020. Qualifying entries for these annual HSS Awards 2020 feature 67 book entries, 18 creative collections and digital contributions,” explains Professor Sarah Mosoetsa, NIHSS chief executive. The submissions are supported by various publishing houses and associated with 15 higher education institutions. “The book submissions for the awards span a wide range of categories and they illustrate the diversity, beauty, complexities, and richness of the South African context. Most of the book entries below are a highlight of the 2020 Awards entries; they include a plethora of non-fiction literature that reflects the institutionalisation of the Southern African experience, demographic, and landscape,” says Mosoetsa.

Included in the non-fiction paints the picture of his life, The body of South African bio- book entries is Whose History the context in which his liter- graphic literature is extended Counts: Decolonising African ary work was created, and his with an entry that tells the life Pre-colonial Historiography, lived experiences that formed story of Abram Tiro. More than edited by June Bam, the background of his politi- four decades after his pass- Lungisile Ntsebeza, and cal contributions and opin- ing, this is a portrait of South Allan Zinn; it is the third ions. The book demonstrates Africa’s first liberation activ- volume of the Rethinking his commitment to black lib- ist to be assassinated by a par- Africa series of the Centre for eration by bringing to light cel bomb beyond the borders African Studies, University Plaatje as one of the founding of the country by the apart- of Cape Town. The book is a members of the ANC, and his heid regime. Parcel of Death: result of the 2017 conference, participation in the resist- The Biography of Onkgopotse held at the ance to the Native Land Act Abram Tiro, recounts the little- University, which addressed of 1913. Plaatje was also com- told life story of Tiro. His life and debated the perceptions mitted to language preserva- might have been short but it was and facts of the precolonial tion: his work as newspaper expansive: he was an expelled history of South Africa. editor, published writer in both English and Setswana, and student and member of the Student Representative Council The book focuses on Xhosa history; this focus is based on the his translation of English creative work into his native lan- at the University of the North (now known as University of observed absence of the Xhosa narrative in precolonial his- guage are evidence to this fact. Willan examines the forma- Limpopo) in 1972, and organiser of the South African Students tography, despite the prominence of the colonial land wars tive years of the libertarian and weaves in the struggles and Organisation, a history teacher, and a worker at a manganese between the Xhosa people and the British, as well as the edu- triumphs of his personal life. The portrait of Plaatje as writ- mine in his elementary schooling years. Gaongalelwe Tiro, the cation system of the time that produced noteworthy lead- ten by Willan is drawn from extensive research in Southern author of the book, is a blood relative of Onkgopotse and writes ers and academics. It goes beyond the facts of Xhosa history African, European, and American archives and Solomon’s not only of the struggles of the freedom fighter’s death and the to explore the theory of knowledge, especially with regards own writings. preceding events, but also of his sphere of influence, his politics to the methods, validity, scope, as well as the distinction and the formative experiences of his politics. between justified belief and opinion as it relates to South Another libertarian portrayed in African Xhosa history. The editors explore facets of Xhosa the Awards entries is President The Climate Crisis: South African culture that include: the past, definitions and naming, lan- Cyril Ramaphosa. Whether you and Global Democratic Eco- guage, idioms, and knowledge retention methods within the know Ramaphosa as the cur- Socialist Alternatives, edited by indigenous knowledge system; they also explore the practical rent President of the Republic of Vishwas Safgar, is a Southern challenges associated with the decolonialising of knowledge. South Africa, as an active partici- African perspective on one of the pant in the liberation movement most pertinent global issues. It Building on the theme of written history, the Voices of in the 1980s and early 1990s, describes the role of corporate Liberation series recognises as the founding father of the organisations in accelerating the the lives and written work of National Union of Mineworkers, crisis, as well as the shortfalls of African and South African or as one of the most success- public governance structures in activists and heroes dedicated ful black businessmen in South introducing impactful approaches to the liberation movement. Africa, you know him as a formi- and solutions. Safgar also pro- A new addition to the series dable character in the dynamics vides a commentary on the various is dedicated to Archie Mafeje of our country. Anthony Butler’s aspects of the capitalist approach — whom the South African Cyril Ramaphosa: The Road to that are detrimental to the climate History Online befittingly Presidential Power examines the president’s traits, accom- change conversations. This book is describes as an “intellectual plishments and struggles. Butler looks at Ramaphosa’s form- a third volume of the Democratic Marxism series and debates pathfinder” — who contrib- ative years and schooling, delves into his contributions in the eco-socialist solutions that are led by climate justice activ- uted much to the people of paving the road to emancipation and the mobilisation of the ists and campaigns. Safgar highlights the failings of the top- Africa’s knowledge and self- mining workforce. down approach that are demonstrated in international agendas worth. Not only was Mafeje Ramaphosa’s leadership in the fight for the recognition of such as the Paris Climate Agreement and suggests a bottom-up an influential academic, but mineworker’s rights is also contrasted by Butler against the systematic transition to enable sustainable living. Expressing he was a person of brilliance, Marikana Massacre. Butler, who is a Professor of Political the vulnerabilities of island states and low-lying countries to intellect and a man of insight. Studies at the University of Cape Town, bases his assess- changes in the climate and the environment, the book is a prod- The book Voices of Liberation: Archie Mafeje by Bongani ment and portrayal of Ramaphosa’s life on numerous con- uct of both empirical and theoretical research, and it builds on Nyoka captures Mafeje as a pan-Africanist and cosmopolitan versations with the president, as well as his associates and volume two of the previous series. thinker and scholar, who used his worldview to place South friends. His portrayal paints the South African political con- Africa and its narrative in the global context. His contribu- text and landscape as the backdrop of the Ramaphosa’s expe- Dance of the Dung Beetles: Their tions impact how Africans understand themselves and how riences. He concludes the book by forming an analysis of the role in our changing world they engage the journey to emancipation; his contributions Ramaphosa’s prospects as the fifth president of democratic explores our perception of the are informed by his family and political background, as well South Africa, drawing on his observations of the current natural world and how societies as his scholarly experiences and his life in exile. Most nota- and past presidents, combined with an understanding of the engage with their environment. bly, the book includes a collection of Archie’s scholarly works, country’s political framework and landscape. The book looks at the number which are insightful and educational. of dung beetle species identified A superb entry in the fic- over the years and how these Among the biographical entries of the Awards is the story of tion category is Nthikeng species have impacted socie- an unsung hero. This is the story Mohlele’s sixth book, ties across the globe. Marcus of a man who would grow up to Illumination, which is an elec- Byrne — writer and Professor be a political activist, qualified tric tale of Bantubonke’s life in the School of Animal, Plant teacher, journalist, interpreter, in as an artist. and Environmental Science — farm manager and committed The book follows the life of together with Helen Lunn (PhD emancipation activist, Henry revered trumpeter, composer, in Musicology) bring together 3 Selby Msimang. Msimang was a and band leader Bantubonke 000 years’ worth of dung beetle founding member of the African through the heights of his history. The authors portray dung beetles as insects but also as National Congress in 1912, music and the eventual down- remarkable creatures that have a longstanding presence in reli- and wore many hats through- ward spiral that comprises his gion, literature, science, the environment and as a known friend out his life, which ended in love life as well as his music. of the elephant. 1982. A Political Biography of The downward spiral of the Selby Msimang: Principle and main character’s life follows The 2020 HSS Awards also fea- Pragmatism in the Liberation his involvement in a horrific ture an entry by one of South Struggle is the first comprehen- domestic gas explosion that leaves him disfigured and his Africa’s award winning poets, sive biography of the activist’s music making compromised. The lives of Bantubonke and Gabeba Baderoon. Gabebas’s life and is written by Sibongiseni the associated characters are marked by the lingering colours fourth poetry book, The History Mkhize. Mkhize draws on extensive unpublished sources to of apartheid. Mohlele’s literary tapestry and characters bring of Intimacy, is a collection of create a body of work that reflects the social and political to mind the existential question of who among the charac- poems that express the hurts experiences of Selby, which informed his view of the world ters is really living? His rendering of an artist’s multi-layered and intimacies of desire, mem- and shaped his life journey. life and struggles are poignant; he draws vivid imagery of ories, and engagement with not only the hustle and bustle of the Johannesburg scenery laws of existence. Baderoon One of South Africa’s most accomplished and celebrated and lifestyle, but also of music and music creation. Mohlele’s is not only a poet and writer; political and literary figures is Sol Plaatje. Written by accom- powers of imagery are drawn from his experience as a perfor- she is also serves an Assistant plished historian and academic, Brain Willan, the book mance arts student, which entrenches the imagination and Professor of Women’s Studies at Sol Plaatje: a life of Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje 1876-1932, related artistic development. Pen State. — Anele Ngcoya