Yim’uthi gomololo Land, labour, poetry and the struggle for environmental justice in South Africa Emily McGiffin A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Environmental Studies York University Toronto, Ontario June 2017 ©Emily McGiffin, 2017 Abstract The present work is an interdisciplinary investigation of the environmental politics of written and oral literature in South African society and the shifting role of the amaXhosa imbongi, or oral praise poet, from colonial times to the present. I argue that since colonial times, African literature has played a vital role in constituting understandings of and responses to the social and environmental impacts of capitalism, exploitation, and uneven development. I begin by situating the relationships between amaXhosa people, their environments, and the Western political economy historically, drawing on existing scholarship in the fields of human geography, political ecology, and postcolonial ecocriticism. I then examine several examples of isiXhosa poetry in translation against the backdrop of their historical, political, and environmental contexts, investigating how these poems grapple with the arrival and expansion of extractive capitalism in South Africa and the entrenchment of oppressive patriarchal, colonial, and profoundly racist politics that the process entailed. My research includes several months of field work in the Eastern Cape, where I conducted semi- structured interviews with iimbongi and their audiences. Based on these interviews, I show how the ongoing practice of ontologically and spiritually rich literature has a profound effect on audiences, contributing directly to the spiritual and emotional wellbeing of people and their communities. In recent times, despite radical changes in South African society, poetry has continued to provide a forum for political transformation, social relationships, and environmental justice. In rural and peri-urban areas alike, iimbongi remain a relevant and respected source of knowledge and cultural identity that can help heal the lasting psychic trauma wrought by colonialism, apartheid, and contemporary crime and unrest. ii Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Dr. Catriona Sandilands for the invaluable wisdom and experience she brought to bear on this project and for her generous and thoughtful commentary and guidance on all aspects of the project. The generosity and expertise of my committee members, Drs. Thembela Kepe and Ilan Kapoor, is also deeply appreciated; I have been truly fortunate in receiving the support of such an accomplished and committed team and this project would have been much less without their efforts. I am indebted to colleagues and friends at Rhodes University, South Africa—among them Drs. Jaine Roberts, Ian Meiklejohn, Roddy Fox, Dan Wylie, Heike Gehring and Pamela Maseko—and to the team at the National English Literature Museum for their assistance, insights and friendship during my time in South Africa. I also owe a large debt of gratitude to Drs. Jeff Opland and Russell Kaschula, whose pioneering, extensive, and rigorous scholarship on iimbongi I have relied on throughout my research. Throughout the course of my research in South Africa, people were unfailingly and overwhelmingly generous in their assistance and willingness to participate. The warm welcome I received from the extended Kepe family on my initial trip to South Africa convinced me to base my research in Grahamstown and the broader Eastern Cape and it is thanks to their initial support that this dissertation took the direction it did. Monde Ntshudu of the Department of Environmental Studies at Rhodes introduced me to the Willowvale community and to the Busakwe family who welcomed me into their home and community, making possible the field work component of the research. Particular thanks are due to Nontlantla Busakwe, who was not only an excellent field assistant but also a kind and generous friend. Thanks are also due to Dumisa Mpupha for being ready to assist with language, translation and cultural commentary at a moment’s notice or from the other side of the world. The iimbongi I spoke with in iii Willowvale, Bholotywa, Mthatha, East London, King Williamstown, Grahamstown and Durban were generous with both their time and their knowledge, as were the many research participants from Willowvale and Grahamstown who offered their invaluable insights on the imbongi tradition. Without the participation and support of these people this work would not have been possible and I owe them my most humble thanks. My doctoral project was supported by a number of scholarships and awards, including a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, a Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship, an Abella Scholarship, a dian marino Scholarship, an Adrienne Pocock Memorial Scholarship, a Unilever Canada Graduate Award in Environmental Studies, a Han Shan Sih Buddhist Society Scholarship and financial support from the Faculty of Graduate Studies under the Field Research Cost Fund and the Graduate Development Fund. My most heartfelt thanks to the donors and organizers of these awards for making not only my own research possible, but also that of so many other students. Finally, special thanks are due to my parents Jane and Tim McGiffin for their invaluable support, to Sonja Killoran-McKibbon for responding to more than one intercontinental cry for help, to François for his stalwart good humour and support, and to Jenny, Mark, Jack and Grace and to Sandra for unfailingly offering their homes to this vagabond researcher. Thank you all for your part in this work, and for making it fun. iv Note on the title The phrase “Yim’uthi gomololo” urges that one should not be shaken by any possible opposition and instead must be brave at all costs, even to the extent of giving up one’s life. The various translations could include “stand firm,” “be strong,” or “be courageous.” v Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iii Note on the title ............................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................. viii Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Race, space, capital: the making of racist globalization ........................... 23 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 23 Uneven development: the origins of exclusionary economics ............................................................... 29 The case of South Africa ............................................................................................................................. 40 The neoliberal present ............................................................................................................................. 48 Conscious resistance ................................................................................................................................ 53 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 2: The political ecology of isiXhosa literature ............................................... 59 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 59 The amaXhosa and their literature ............................................................................................................. 62 Iimbongi and the izibongo genre .......................................................................................................... 69 Methodologies ............................................................................................................................................... 72 Postcolonial ecocriticism ........................................................................................................................ 76 Poetic resistance ....................................................................................................................................... 89 Methods ..................................................................................................................................................... 92 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 3: Verse, violence, and the migrant labour system ....................................... 102 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 102 Historical and social perspectives ............................................................................................................. 108 Women: