Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition

Description

Writing Namibia: Literature in Transition is a cornucopia of extraordinary and fascinating material which will be a rich resource for students, teachers and readers interested in Namibia. The text is wide ranging, defining literature in its broadest terms. In its multifaceted approach, the book covers many genres traditionally outside academic literary discourse and debate. The 22 chapters cover literature of all categories in Namibia since independence: written and performance poetry, praise poetry, Oshiwambo orature, drama, novels, autobiography, women’s writing, subaltern studies, literature in German, Ju|’hoansi and Otjiherero, children’s literature, Afrikaans fiction, story-telling through film, publishing, and the interface between literature and society. The inclusive approach is the book’s strength as it allows a wide range of subjects to be addressed, including those around gender, race and orature which have been conventionally silenced.

Informations

• Publié par: University of Namibia Press
• Date de parution: 29 avril 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789991642345
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

Writing Namibia Literature in Transition edited by

Sarala Krishnamurthy and Helen Vale

University of Namibia Press www.unam.edu.na/unam-press [e-mail] Private Bag 13301 Windhoek Namibia

© Introduction, Sarala Krishnamurthy and Helen Vale, 2018 © Individual chapters, stated authors, 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, e.g. electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher.

Chapter 18 originally published in Van Vuuren, H. (2016).A Necklace of Springbok Ears– /Xam Orality and South African Literature.Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. Re-printed with permission.

| Images in Chapter 19 first published in Cwi, T., & Jones, K. (2014).Da’abi!oaJu ’ hoan | | N ǂ omtciasi Kokxuisi ǂ Xanua, Ju ’ hoan prentewoordeboek vir kinders, Ju ’ hoan children’s picture dictionary. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. Re-printed with permission.

First published: Cover design: Design and layout: Printed by:

ISBN

2018 Nambowa Malua Vivien Barnes, Handmade Communications John Meinert Printers, Windhoek

978-99916-42-33-8

UNAM Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Namibia.

Distribution In Namibia by Namibia Book Market: www.namibiabooks.com Internationally by the African Books Collective: www.africanbookscollective.com

Dedication

To our students at the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (past and present), for all that they have taught us over the years.

Contents

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Foreword André du Pisani

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Setting the context Sarala Krishnamurthy and Helen Vale

The shifting grounds of emancipation: From the anti-colonial struggle to a critique of post-colonial society Henning Melber Gathering scattered archives Margie Orford

Conceptualising national transition: Namibian women’s autobiographies about the liberation struggle Kelly Jo FulkersonDikuua Emplotting nationalism: Comparing Sam Nujoma’sWhere Others Waveredand Joseph Diescho’sBorn of the Sun Patrick Colm Hogan The forgotten child of Namibia: An analysis of Misheke Matongo’s autobiography Jason Owens and Sarala Krishnamurthy Otjiherero literature in transition from the oral to the written word Alfeus Tjijoro

Gender stereotypes in Oshiwambo orature Petrus Mbenzi

Who speaks at Spoken Word? Performance poetry in Namibia Hugh Ellis and Don Stevenson

‘Call of the Witpenssuikerbekkie’: Landscape as symbol in contemporary Namibian poetry Sarala Krishnamurthy

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10. Namibian poetry since independence: A poet’s perspective Keamogetsi joseph Molapong interviewed by Helen Vale

11. Representing Namibian drama (1985–2000): Frederick Philander Laurinda OlivierSampson

12. When applied theatre is no rehearsal for the revolution Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja

13. The development in theatre since independence: A director’s perspective Sandy Rudd interviewed by Helen Vale 14. Reading Namibian film HansChristian Mahnke

15. The Namibian novel: Reflections of an author Brian HarlechJones

16. Power at the margins: Black female agency in two Namibian novels Netta Kornberg

17. Autotelic violence: An analysis of selected Namibian short stories in | Elizabeth Khaxas’We Must Choose Life Juliet S. Pasi and Nelson Mlambo 18. ‘Keeping a pet Bushman alive’: Piet van Rooyen’s Namibian oeuvre Helize van Vuuren

| 19. Will there be written literature in Ju ’hoansi, a Khoesan language of Namibia? Kerry Jones and Megan Biesele 20. Multilingual children’s books in an independent Namibia: The emergence of a new literature AndreeJeanne Tötemeyer 21. When the colonised imperialists go post-colonial: Namibian-German literature since independence Sylvia Schlettwein 22. Books, words and truth in Namibia: The contribution of New Namibia Books (1990–2005) Jane Katjavivi About the editors About the authors Index

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Foreword

André du Pisani

This anthology on Namibian writing in the post-colony represents a substantial contribution to the literary archive and culture. For the first time, this edited volume engages with literature in English, Afrikaans, German and the indigenous African languages. By engaging with all genres – novels, short stories, the performing arts, film, autobiography, prose and children’s literature – the volume breaks new ground. This multiplicity, however, poses a difficult hurdle because it carries with it a sense of ambivalence and complexity. The problem with embracing differences lies in its concomitant sense of unease. While the act of writing is indicative of the writer’s or performer’s perspectives on how they see their world and how they exist within it, humanity began before words, and will end beyond them. The recognition of place and language, too, can function as a self-reflective space, affirming the self, rather than as a revelation of the self and the other, and lead to a richer, more insightful exploration of literary culture. Anthologies such as this should attempt to overcome this innate tension. This challenge is compounded by the fact that perceptions of difference are by no means limited to considerations of geography, since these percolate through filters of identity, gender, language, race, class, sexuality, or religion. The relationship between literature and terrain remains complex, and this volume maps some of these complexities. As Ben Okri, Booker Prize-winning author, laments, ‘our days are poisoned with too many words. Words said and not meant. Words said and meant. Words divorced 1 from feeling. Wounding words. Words that conceal. Words that reduce. Dead words.’ To its credit, this volume employs a broad understanding of the construct of ‘writing’ – extending it to narratives in film, the archives, oral literature and publishing. Mindful that the majority of the contributors are academics, much of the text has naturally been infused by various theoretical approaches – among these post-colonialism, subaltern studies, socio-linguistics and cognitive stylistics. At least one of the contributors poses the meta-question: Why does one write? While not making any attempt at providing a complete answer to the question – is it possible to do so? – the act of writing can offer a meditative space on life, the

1  Ben Okri, (1998).A Way of Being Free, ‘Beyond Words’, London, Phoenix, p. 88.

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human condition, on history and so forth. Writing connects the self and the ‘other’, and like art, literature and acting, more generally, has the potential for preserving and presenting richly storied experiences. Structurally, the architecture of the anthology provides the setting and context to writing in the post-colony. This is done against the background of the wounding of the souls of people by colonialism, for the language of colonialism has had an earthly gravity about it and it has indeed been difficult for the victims to escape this. Yet, we have to escape words and enter into a higher realm, which is based on the simple fact of our indivisible humanity and our common future. Informed by this diverse undercarriage, the collection engages reflectively with writing in English with reference to poetry, drama, prose and autobiography. Some chapters take a more eclectic turn and have a more random spirit with a diversity of voices and themes, which is the source of both its weakness and its strength. Of the themes, the social and the political dominate, linking post-colonial Namibian literature to a wider body of work that permeates much of contemporary African literature. Under this rubric, there are specific seams which have been mined, such as the exile condition and home-coming, gender, nationalism and identity politics and the advent of disillusionment with political and socio-economic conditions in the post-colony. The living presence of history and how it distorts the human condition in an independent Namibia, provides a transversal theme which snakes through a number of chapters and genres. The critical reader will undoubtedly recognise the different ‘silences’ in both pre- and post-independent Namibian literature, and, indeed, how specific writers and poets invest such silences with a presence, often linking conditions of exile and home, longing, desperation, and a search for meaning. Another theme is that of female agency and how literature brings it to life and invests it with a meaning which emancipates. As several contributions to this volume show, female agency cannot be reduced to being oppositional to patriarchy only, rather it takes many forms and travels many roads, some of which have been quite uncharted. The poetic register, too, features with insights which are culled from the work of a number of Namibian poets as they strive to promote the poetic cause and wrestle with the economy of words, to engage the complexities and contradictions of a society in transition. Performance poetry receives due attention, mostly as a leveller which connects across class, ethnic and racial divides. This well-crafted volume contains many of the contributors’ insights about the importance of writing as an innate creative human act. The late Nadine Gordimer called writing and literature, ‘the bread of the heart’. Reading this volume, one can appreciate why this is so. Dedicated to their former students, and informed by a series of perspectives, the volume will interest students, teachers and researchers in the field of African literature. It will also be of great interest to the wider reading public.

Professor André du Pisani Emeritus Professor at the University of Namibia Member of theAssociation des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques

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Acknowledgements

This book has been in the making for some years and we would like to thank all our contributors warmly, for their chapters, professionalism and patience. Professor André du Pisani is gratefully acknowledged for kindly agreeing to write the foreword for our book. This book would not have seen the light of day, but for the kind support and attention which we received from UNAM Press, in particular, from Jane Katjavivi, Jill Kinahan and Mutaleni Nadimi. NUST student interns, Erasmus Awaseb and Suoma Uupindi, have provided editorial assistance and have to be appreciated for their hard work.

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