South African Literature Research Articles

“The Truth Hurts But Silence Kills”: Restitutio ad Integrum and Scriptotherapy in Mario d’Offizi’s Autobiography Bless Me Father

Bless Me Father, the autobiography of South African-Italian poet Mario d’Offizi, enriches the spectrum of masculinities presented in South African white male poets’ autobiographies. It narrates the story of a “marginal” white man growing up under apartheid, and provides an innovative testimony within the rich autobiographical tradition of South Africa. The focus in this article is placed on traumatic episodes in the author’s past and on the relationship with a predatory father figure. The conflict between the choice to remain silent about hurtful events and the desire to expose them is the central dialectic of psychological trauma, and scriptotherapy is the medium used by d’Offizi to grapple with his haunting past and seek healing. Bless Me Father, this article argues, is a story of pain, loss, survival, and triumph over adversities that occupies a distinctive space within post-apartheid South African literature.

Towards Dismantling Heteronormativity at South African Universities: Heterosexual Students’ Perceptions of Heteronormative Ideologies and LGBTIQ+ Identities

South African literature demonstrates that heteronormative ideologies are evident at universities and inform various discriminations against LGBTIQ+ students. These heteronormative ideologies emanate from the traditional heteronormative socialisation in the South African society. While there is notable literature based on the experiences and perceptions of LGBTIQ+ students at universities, not much research pays attention to heterosexual students’ perceptions. It is imperative to consider heterosexual students’ perceptions of LGBTIQ+ identities to challenge heteronormative ideologies and transform universities into inclusive spaces. This article is based on heterosexual university students’ non-heteronormative perceptions of LGBTIQ+ identities. I argue that there is the potential to dismantle heteronormativity at universities since the heterosexual students in this research are critical of heteronormative ideologies and question stereotypes about sexual minority identities. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 self-identifying heterosexual students, the article established that students’ perceptions of LGBTIQ+ identities were affirming as they resisted traditional norms of sexuality and gender and demonstrated sensitivity to sexual diversity. The paper calls for further research to critically engage heterosexual students in conversations around heteronormativity to advance the acceptance, tolerance, and inclusion of LGBTIQ+ students at South African universities.

An investigation into symptoms of depression and anxiety and emotion regulation among older adolescents from low-income settings in South Africa

IntroductionMental health conditions (MHC) among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries, including South Africa, are estimated to be high. Adaptive emotion regulation (ER) skills can protect against MHC among adolescents. In South Africa, there is limited adolescent mental health prevalence data as well as little understanding of the associations between MHC and ER among adolescents. This study aimed to address these gaps by describing the psychosocial characteristics of older South African adolescents from low-income settings as well as investigating associations between depression and anxiety symptoms and ER. MethodsWe selected 12 schools in collaboration with two NGOs. Learners aged 15–18-years were recruited to complete a tablet-based survey. ER, depression, anxiety, and other psychosocial measures were included. Two multiple linear regression models were used to determine associations between depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, other psychosocial factors, and ER. ResultsOf the 733 participants from 12 Western Cape schools, 417 (56.90%) screened at risk for clinically significant anxiety symptoms, 423 (57.70%) participants for depression symptoms, 229 (31.40%) participants for PTSD symptoms and 263 (35.90%) for risky alcohol use. Depression and anxiety scores were found to be significantly positively correlated with ER difficulties and adolescents struggled most with identifying and utilizing adaptive ER strategies. The adjusted linear regression model reported that female gender, clinically significant depressive, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms and risky-alcohol use were all significantly associated with poorer ER scores, while self-esteem was significantly associated with better ER scores. ConclusionThese findings contribute to the South African adolescent mental health literature and to the research gap on the links between depression and anxiety and ER. Future research should consider further exploration of the relationships between psychosocial factors and ER to inform the urgent development and testing of appropriate adolescent interventions in this setting.

Violence Against Children

Violence against children (VAC) is a global phenomenon that needs deliberate attention. Children exposed to violence in their families, communities, and schools in their early years are likely to maintain this cycle of violence in their youth and adult lives if no efforts are made to break this cycle. Taking this into consideration the author adopts a social-ecological theoretical perspective in exploring global, regional, and South African literature on the risks and causes of VAC as well as the protective factors that can prevent VAC. Embedding VAC within a social-ecological perspective warrants the need to explore it at four crucial levels, namely individual, relationships, community, and society. The literature review embodies the relevance of these four levels since all risk and causal factors of VAC are easily categorised in one or more of these levels. As such, the author provides a social-ecological perspective comprising all four levels that holistically address the prevention of VAC. The literature review indicated that many of the risks and causes of VAC are a common trend across countries even though it is more prevalent within African contexts. This suggests that the preventive measures discussed are likely to have global value.

Perceptions of interprofessional collaborative practice in South Africa: A systematic review.

Interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) were developed to address the health needs of communities through collaborative practice across healthcare disciplines. The impact of IPE on IPCP and clinical service delivery in South Africa is not evident, possibly because of the lack of IPCP experiences among healthcare professionals. International literature reports facilitators and barriers of IPCP implementation, but there was a need to filter the evidence to identify literature from the South African context regarding the perceptions of healthcare workers' perceived barriers and facilitators of IPCP. South African literature. A systematic review was conducted to synthesise evidence from articles published between January 2017 and December 2021. Only qualitative studies targeting health professionals in South Africa who had been exposed to IPCP were included. Consistent with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis, a multi-database search yielded 424 articles, which were screened for relevance and appraised for quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool. A thematic synthesis of the findings was conducted by applying ethical principles. Synthesis of barriers and enablers for IPCP implementation in the South African context included key aspects of healthcare systems, management and team leadership. The integration of IPCP into clinical practice in South Africa is still limited as healthcare professionals operate in silos. Recommendations of this study include greater integration of services combined with competent management and visionary leadership, together with the incorporation of IPE into undergraduate professional training programmes.

Anti-apartheid transatlantic networks in the age of the civil rights struggle: Bloke Modisane in the United States

In the Spring of 1963, London-based South African exiled artist and intellectual Bloke Modisane traveled to the United States on a co-sponsored visiting lecture tour of ten historically black colleges and universities in the South. A guest of the American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Modisane’s lectures were a combination of intellectual, political, and performative registers which provided treatments on topics such as African rhythms in music and dance, South African literature, race and identity, and the anti-apartheid struggle. The institutions that he lectured in were actively involved in the struggle for civil rights in the early 1960s, positioning his visit at the center of the ongoing black freedom struggle in America. This article argues that Modisane was an active participant in anti-apartheid transatlantic networks and made a small but significant contribution to the cultural dimension of the anti-apartheid and civil rights struggles as a public intellectual and artist. It focusses on the Southern college circuit of civil rights activism and aims to enrich our understanding of mid-century transatlantic pan-Africanism, cultural solidarity, and transnational linkages between black South African and African American intellectuals, especially realized in the literary rather than political-organizational locus of black transnationalism.

Scars of a Colonial History

Central to virtually any indictment of South African literature, its historiography, or otherwise culturally and politically influenced modes of representation persist themes of social, political, and racial inequality. That is not to say that all South African cultural productions revolve around a centrifuge of racially focused social commentary; rather, that when historicizing a work of South African aesthetics such themes inevitably arise because of the nation’s colonial history and the Eurocentrism that have pervaded its modern socio-political foundations. When examining South African aesthetic/cultural representations (in this case, a literary text) it is thus crucial to properly locate the work in as full a historical context as possible. My research therefore aims to link South Africa’s history of colonization with the damaged race relations that ensued in the twentieth century as represented in a prominent work of South African theater: Athol Fugard’s “Master Harold” … And the Boys. My essay traverses the history of British and Dutch colonization in South Africa and seeks therein to register foundations for the Eurocentric, whitewashed ideologies which would eventually translate into official state policy in 1948 and which precipitated the broken race relations that Fugard’s semi-autobiographical play interrogates. I discuss Fugard’s depiction of white privilege while systematically linking such representations back to their colonial foundations, and ultimately assess Fugard’s play as a condemnation of white supremacy and as a plea for the recalibration of prejudiced racial hierarchies.

Stylising agency, identity and solidarities in South African English language classrooms

In a call for papers, the English Academy of Southern Africa (EASA) problematises what we perceive as the challenges of stylising agency, identity and solidarities in South African literature in English and English Language classroom encounters. The academy argues that speaking of literature and literacy in a single breath is to take for granted a linear relationship between literature and literacy. In interrogating ways of reading, this article contends that such proficiency is itself unstable and shifting, subject to different contexts and approaches inasmuch as these diverse ways are contingent upon material and technological changes. Literacy is a contested term: while it denotes the ability to read and write, a more nuanced understanding recognizes its capacity to confer value and influence aesthetic judgment. Already implicit in such an understanding is the mutually reinforcing relation between literature and literacy: the cognitive skillset which enables us to read is constantly being modified by what we read, and by the material forms which our reading takes. The entanglement of literature and literacy is embedded in cultures, compelling us to ask how particular teachers, writers and critical literary approaches shape our reading practices, our ways of seeing. The same entanglement generates questions about social justice, access to education, and material affordances.

Country ownership and sustainable programming of the HIV response in South Africa: A scoping review.

Concerns have arisen regarding the extent to which South Africa's HIV response can be country-owned and sustainable given substantial foreign investment and technical support. To assess the extent to which South Africa's national HIV response is country-owned. We conducted a scoping review of South African literature using the Global Health Initiative Framework for country ownership. South Africa has clear aspirations for what should be accomplished and strategies are aligned with national and international priorities. Although South Africa has leveraged community-based strategies to reach key populations (KPs), most are supported by international donors, which poses a sustainability challenge. Despite robust capacity strengthening and training programmes, South Africa continues to face healthcare worker shortages. While it is commendable that South Africa funds nearly 70% of the national HIV response, the funds mainly support HIV treatment. This may create dependency on international partners. South Africa appears to be progressing well along the spectrum of country ownership, but sustained efforts are required to combat HIV. Greater ownership over KP programming and prevention services are especially needed to achieve greater impact.

The Effect of a Physically Active Academic Intervention on the Physical Fitness and Mathematical Performance of Grade 1 Learners in Cape Town, South Africa

AbstractCombining physical fitness (PF) and academic content can be a beneficial way to improve PF and mathematics performance of learners. The purpose of the current study was to establish whether a physically active academic intervention had an effect on the PF and mathematics performance of Grade 1 learners over 16 weeks. This intervention is based on an educational approach that combines physical activity into the academic environment. The goal is to enhance learning by learning through movement. Grade 1 learners [N = 119] from two schools in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, volunteered to participate in this study. They were assigned randomly to an attentional control [n = 51] and an experimental group [n = 68]. Pre- and post-test data were collected with the Fitnessgram which measured their PF and the VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test which measured their mathematical performance. The intervention included age-appropriate PF components that were incorporated into learners’ academic lessons. The results indicated that the experimental group performed significantly better (p < 0.01) in mathematics and upper body strength after the intervention. It could be assumed that these improvements can be attributed to the physically active academic intervention programme. These findings suggest that these types of interventions could encourage physical activity (PA) and enhance the PF and mathematical performance of young learners. The current study adds to South African Sport Science literature because it is one of few studies performed in this field that have produced significant results.

South African Literature and the “Strange Seductiveness” of the Fantastic

In postcolonial literature, magic realism and science fiction are two subgenres that have worked diligently to contest realism as a Western novelistic tradition. In the South African context, the fantastic initiates a process of psychic liberation from old (white) world-narrative domination and its cognitive codes. It recapitulates problems of historical consciousness in (post)apartheid cultures and interrogates inherited notions of imperial history. This article reads two “fantastic” texts that belong to a similar postcolonial culture―South Africa―and strives to explain the ways in which these texts recapitulate, in both their narrative discourse and their thematic content, the “real” social and historical context in which (post)apartheid South African culture exists and thrives. Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying and Lauren Beukes’s Zoo City use magic realism and science fiction respectively to re-view and debunk inherited literary modes of colonial discourse and to work towards more authentic yet challenging codes of recognition. By so doing, they offer positive and liberating responses to emerging cultural forms.

The benefit of using in vitro bioassays to screen agricultural samples for oxidative stress: South Africa’s case

Applied pesticides end up in non-target environments as complex mixtures. When bioavailable, these chemicals pose a threat to living organisms and can induce oxidative stress (OS). In this article, attention is paid to OS and the physiological role of the antioxidant defense system. South African and international literature was reviewed to provide extensive evidence of pesticide-induced OS in non-target organisms, in vivo and in vitro. Although in vitro approaches are used internationally, South African studies have only used in vivo methods. Considering ethical implications, the authors support the use of in vitro bioassays to screen environmental matrices for their OS potential. Since OS responses are initiated and measurable at lower cellular concentrations compared to other toxicity endpoints, in vitro OS bioassays could be used as an early warning sign for the presence of chemical mixtures in non-target environments. Areas of concern in the country could be identified and prioritized without using animal models. The authors conclude that it will be worthwhile for South Africa to include in vitro OS bioassays as part of a battery of tests to screen environmental matrices for biological effects. This will facilitate the development and implementation of biomonitoring programs to safeguard the South African environment.

Imagining Fatherhood through the Parenting Experiences of University Students from Poor Economic Backgrounds in South Africa

While “fatherhood roles” are generally assumed to be formed along socialised masculine identities, analyses of how such socialised masculine identities are sensitive to economic realities around the people through which the identities are formulated, are hardly presented within the South African literature on gender. This article addresses this research gap by analysing how 10 purposefully selected young university students studying at the University of Venda in South Africa interpret their parental roles amid economic challenges at the university. A qualitative research methodology was followed in the collection and analysis of the data. Drawing on several semi-structured interviews with the students, the article argues that even though traditional cultural norms may form the basis for the initial perception of fatherhood, socioeconomic situations additionally provide an unpleasant but suitable background through which young people formulate a broader definition of masculinity. Economic challenges can be a catalyst for self-reflection and reassessment of family social priorities. As the study found, it provides the basis for young men to question societal expectations of masculinity, become more open and flexible to parental responsibilities that involve emotional support and nurturing to their children, and participate in domestic activities.

Reading emotion, reading joy: South Africa’s literary non-scenes

ABSTRACT #Fallism has taken South African literature to a precipice. A growing mistrust in the country’s postcolonial politics and the continuing physical and economic oppression of black bodies – captured in the spirit of #RhodesMustFall – has led to a questioning of the rational desire to ‘put into words’. The radical social and political change required, critics imply, can no longer be adequately understood through the certainty of the written form: The path to a true decolonial future is in live art. This paper uses these suggestions as a springboard but refuses to accept the ‘death of the text’ that is implied. Rather I utilise interventions from the 1980s to once again encourage the academy to recognise the power of ‘literary non-scenes’ where the performed and the written interact. Moreover, I argue that scholars should begin to read for emotion and, in so doing, open the space for the expression of Black joy.

<i>I Show Her My Feelings</i>: Young Black Men and the Doing of Love in a South African Township

Love in the lives of young black men in South Africa has received particularly limited attention in literature. Although there has been a steady increase in love scholarship in Africa, these studies have mostly focused on the love experiences of young women. In that context, studies on love often focus on the disproportionate vulnerabilities experienced by young women, such as intimate partner violence. However, this characterisation of love in South African literature has, perhaps inadvertently, promoted a narrow understanding of young black men as being violent and emotionally inept. The article moves beyond these limited conceptualisations of young black men and explores love as a productive force in their lives. Drawing on empirical findings generated from interviews with 34 young men between the ages of 16 and 21, the article shows how love and the young men’s emerging masculinities were experienced as mutually constitutive. Their negotiations of love were experienced as opportunities to resist normative masculinities, demonstrated through <i>ukushela</i> and emotional reflexivity. These young black men’s investment in their relationships suggests the progressive possibilities of love in their lives.

South African Literature and the “Strange Seductiveness” of the Fantastic

Abstract In Postcolonial literature, magic realism and science fiction are two sub-genres that have worked diligently to contest realism as a western novelistic tradition. In the South African context, the fantastic initiates a process of psychic liberation from old (White) world narrative domination and its cognitive codes. It recapitulates problems of historical consciousness in (post)apartheid cultures and interrogates inherited notions of imperial history. This paper reads two “fantastic” texts that belong to a similar post-colonial culture—South Africa—and strives to explain the ways in which these texts recapitulate, in both their narrative discourse and their thematic content, the “real” social and historical context in which (post)apartheid South African culture existed and thrived. Zakes Mda’s Ways of Dying and Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City use magic realism and science fiction respectively to re-view and debunk inherited literary modes of colonial discourse and to work towards more authentic yet challenging “codes of recognition”. By so doing, they offer positive and liberating responses to new emerging cultural forms.

Genders, Sexualities and Cities: A Review of South African Literatures

Well-developed bodies of literature—of course with major lacunae as well as strengths—exist in relation to two areas of research and thought relevant to the emergence of better cities in the tortured territory and society of South Africa. The more personal scale deals with genders and sexualities and is energetic, young, globally linked and relatively open. At city scale, extensive literatures are voluminous though sometimes tied to global urban conceptual traditions, although there are many creative and original contributions too. From the perspective of intersections between the person and the city, what is lacking is more substantial work which brings questions common in genders and sexualities literatures to city scale enquiry, and some of the techniques of city enquiry into genders and sexualities research more broadly. There exists, however, a variety of types of work which consciously (sometimes otherwise) brings gender and sexuality studies to the city, and, in turn, brings city studies to exploration of genders and sexualities. The modest purpose of this intervention is to survey such literatures and to generate new questions for conceptualisation, research and writing. The intention is to aid new entrants to the field of genders, sexualities and cities to add creatively and substantially to scholarship.

Academics with disabilities during transformation to a New African University in South Africa

The idea of transformation to a ‘new African university’ has become topical in contemporary African education scholarship. Whilst it is claimed that the process seeks to include all stakeholders, academics with disabilities are excluded because of discourses and dynamics in Africa’s higher education that have remained deeply embedded in Eurocentric thinking and mind-set. This paper applied Critical Disability Theory to analyse the challenges that face academics with disabilities in the areas of teaching, research, community engagement and doctoral supervision in South African higher education and that must be appropriately and adequately addressed for a successful transformation to a “‘new’ African University”. Data were collected through an analysis of South African literature on exclusion of students with disabilities as research, community engagement and supervision are regarded as a continuum and involve both students and the academics. Findings revealed that academics with disabilities are confronted with specific challenges similar to those faced by students with disabilities, as they all function within the same context during transformation to a ‘new African university’. The challenges are inaccessible physical environment, negative attitudes from the community members, impairment-related disadvantages, lack of adequate funding and lack of adequate media for use, which all compound to limit their functioning like their able-bodied counterparts. Including the voice of academics with disabilities in disability policy was proposed as a way to alleviate the challenges they confront enabling them to contribute positively to scholarship and thus affirm the transformation to a new African University

“Poetry alerting us to our propensity to repeat errors of the past”. Michael Chapman and Phil van Schalkwyk in conversation with Karina Jarzyńska on Adam Zagajewski, Poland and South Africa

A conversation with two South African literary scholars who have engaged in comparative research on Polish and South African literature, addressing historical parallels between the two regions. The conversation was conducted through an email exchange.

‘Good’ South African Literature: The Booker Prize, its Infatuation with the Postcolonial and Damon Galgut’s The Promise

‘Good’ South African Literature: The Booker Prize, its Infatuation with the Postcolonial and Damon Galgut’s The Promise