Indigenous South African poetry as conduits of History: Epi-poetics – a pedagogy of memory

Gerhard Genis

doi:10.17159/2223-0386/2019/n22a4

Abstract

Indigenous South African poetry as conduits of History: Epi-poetics – a pedagogy of memory

Highlights

Indigenous poetry, history and epi-poeticsIndigenous South African poetry can be incorporated in the history classroom as memory traces and sources or conduits of indigenous history
These poems serve as epi-poetic texts wherein language, the body and the environment interact to create inter-generational meaning that is embodied in poetic language
Epi-poetics marries the fields of epigenetics, which studies the bio-psychological manifestation of inheritance, and the literary criticism of texts with a marked contextualisation of inter-generational memory and trauma

Summary

Introduction

Indigenous South African poetry can be incorporated in the history classroom as memory traces and sources or conduits of indigenous history. Indigenous South African poetry as conduits of History: ..., pp. visual and aural modes in altered (or higher) states of consciousness (Lewis-Williams, 2004) They made sense of their world as individuals and as members of small hunting bands through poetic storytelling (Krog, 2004; Lewis-Williams, 2002), which was accompanied by trance dance and rock painting (Lewis-Williams, 2004). The poetic narratives were vessels to teach the young how to hunt and transferred medicinal practices inter-generationally These stories connected the San to their innerworld, to nature, to their community, and to their ancestors and related how the cosmos was created (Van der Post, 1961). The rich oral poetry practice of the African communities of South Africa is closely connected to the San oral literary tradition These poems were first published in the late 19th century in independent Xhosa and mission publications (Opland, 2004). By tapping into an epi-poetic approach to learning and teaching, learners are exposed to a Rankean “what happened”, and an Owenesque “what was experienced” in the past

Conceptualisation and methodology

Pedagogical framework

The doomed

Conclusion