Of land, bones, and money : toward a South African ecopoetics / Emily McGiffin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGiffin, Emily, author.

Series:

Under the sign of nature.

Under the sign of nature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laudatory poetry, Xhosa--South Africa--History and criticism.

Laudatory poetry, Xhosa.

Laudatory poetry, Xhosa--Political aspects--South Africa.

Environmentalism in literature.

Ecocriticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville ; London : University of Virginia Press, [2019]

Summary:

The South African literature of iimbongi, the oral poets of the amaXhosa people, has long shaped understandings of landscape and history and offered a forum for grappling with change. Of Land, Bones, and Money examines the shifting role of these poets in South African society and the ways in which they have helped inform responses to segregation, apartheid, the injustices of extractive capitalism, and contemporary politics in South Africa.Emily McGiffin first discusses the history of the amaXhosa people and the environment of their homelands before moving on to the arrival of the British, who began a relentless campaign annexing land and resources in the region. Drawing on scholarship in the fields of human geography, political ecology, and postcolonial ecocriticism, she considers isiXhosa poetry in translation within its cultural, historical, and environmental contexts, investigating how these poems struggle with the arrival and expansion of the exploitation of natural resources in South Africa and the entrenchment of profoundly racist politics that the process entailed. In contemporary South Africa, iimbongi remain a respected source of knowledge and cultural identity. Their ongoing practice of producing complex, spiritually rich literature continues to have a profound social effect, contributing directly to the healing and well-being of their audiences, to political transformation, and to environmental justice.

Contents:

A brief history of isiXhosa literature

Verse, violence, and the migrant labor system

Black mamba and the Durban/rural nexus

Versions of silence

Literature, Iimbongi, and ideologies of development

Neoliberal land reform and the vocal dispossessed

Appendix A. FOSATU, by Alfred Themba Qabula

Appendix B. Isibongo performed at the State of the Nation Address 2016

Appendix C. Izibongo performed by Thukela Poswayo.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780813942773

0813942772

OCLC:

1078954516