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

Published Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2019

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 249 pages) Series Under the sign of nature : explorations in ecocriticism Under the sign of nature. 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 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 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 26, 2019) Subject Laudatory poetry, Xhosa -- South Africa -- History and criticism Laudatory poetry, Xhosa -- Political aspects -- South Africa Environmentalism in literature. Ecocriticism. LITERARY CRITICISM -- Subjects & Themes -- Nature. Ecocriticism Environmentalism in literature Laudatory poetry, Xhosa South Africa Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book LC no. 2018058604 ISBN 9780813942773 0813942772 9780813942766 0813942764

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