Academic literature on the topic 'Xhosa (African people), Folklore'
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Journal articles on the topic "Xhosa (African people), Folklore"
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Naidoo, S. "THE STRUGGLE FOR AUTHORITY IN GEORGE MCCALL THEAL’S KAFFIR FOLKLORE (1882)." Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies 24, no. 1 (September 30, 2016): 78–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/1674.
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This article focuses specifically on George McCall Theal’s collection of folktale texts, Kaffir Folklore (1882), as an example of an early South African ethnographic publication, and argues that the folktale transcriptions contained therein, although a part of Theal’s general colonialist project, are hybrid, containing the voices of both coloniser and colonised. The key argument is that the presence of the African voices in this text reveals simultaneously that Theal’s editorial aspirations were never absolutely imposed, and that agency and influence (albeit limited) of the colonised Xhosa co-authors were present. The article offers an analysis of the paratext (the preface, the introduction and the explanatory notes) of Kaffir Folkore, rather than a close reading of the tales themselves. To facilitate an understanding of Theal’s editorial practice, Kaffir Folkore is compared to Harold Scheub’s The Xhosa Ntsomi (1975). More generally, drawing on postcolonial folklore and book-history scholarship, the article explores how folklore texts of the colonial era, although contributing to the establishment of a literary and cultural orthodoxy in modern South Africa, constitute a telling hybrid genre, which invites a re-evaluation of colonial relations, and of individual texts themselves. In short, these texts synthesise different literary traditions (European and African), different mediums (the oral and the written), different disciplinary approaches (ethnography, folklore, literature), and most significantly, the voices of different subjects. Kaffir Folklore (1882) epitomises this synthesis.
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Niehaus, Dana, Esme Jordaan, Riana Laubscher, Taryn Sutherland, Liezl Koen, and Felix Potocnik. "Do South African Xhosa-Speaking People with Schizophrenia Really Fare Better?" GeroPsych 33, no. 1 (March 2020): 31–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1024/1662-9647/a000217.
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Abstract. Objectives: Results from multinational WHO studies suggest that schizophrenia patients in developing countries may have more favorable prognoses and morbidity outcomes than those in developed settings. This study serves to establish whether mortality outcomes in South African Xhosa-speaking schizophrenia patients are more favorable than in the general South African population. Methods: We recruited a group of 981 patients from September 1997 to March 2005 as part of a genetic study in the Western, Southern, and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. For this substudy, participants were included when they reached the age of 60 years during the study period (8–15 years). We examined factors associated with the probability of dying and computed survival times using national census data as reference. Results: At the time of follow-up, 73 individuals were 60 years or older (21.9% could not be traced); some 40% of the sample had died at the time of the follow-up assessment (mean age at death = 60.12 years, SD = 4.97). Univariate survival analysis, using duration of disorder, revealed that the number of hospitalizations and psychotic episodes impacted survival time. Compared to the age-specific death rates of the general South African population, the death rate in the Xhosa-speaking schizophrenia sample was higher than expected in the 60–69 years category, but lower than expected in the 70+ years category. Conclusion: This study suggests that increased exposure to inpatient mental healthcare (expressed as number of hospitalizations) at baseline, and number of psychotic episodes, improve survival probability in a group of older South African Xhosa-speaking schizophrenia patients.
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Matshabane, Olivia P., Megan M. Campbell, Marlyn C. Faure, Paul S. Appelbaum, Patricia A. Marshall, Dan J. Stein, and Jantina de Vries. "The role of causal knowledge in stigma considerations in African genomics research: Views of South African Xhosa people." Social Science & Medicine 277 (May 2021): 113902. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113902.
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Klemz, Bruce R., Christo Boshoff, and Noxolo‐Eileen Mazibuko. "Emerging markets in black South African townships." European Journal of Marketing 40, no. 5/6 (May 1, 2006): 590–610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560610657859.
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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to assess differences between the guidance offered by cultural studies in the services literature and the retailing literature for emerging markets. To research these differences, the role that the contact person has towards South African township residents' willingness to buy is to be assessed.Design/methodology/approachA services quality survey of black (ethnic Xhosa) township residents was performed for two different retail types: new, small, independently owned grocery retailers located within the townships, and established, large, national chains located within the city centres. The influence of these services quality measures on willingness to buy was assessed using the partial least squares method for each of the two retail types. Differences between the model parameters for these two retail types were assessed using ANOVA.FindingsThe results show that, consistent with the retailing literature, the contact people in these new, small, local and independently owned retailers focus extensively on empathy to influence willingness to buy, while the contact people in the large, traditionally white‐owned national retailers jointly focus on assurance and responsiveness to influence willingness to buy, and spend very little effort on empathy.Research limitations/implicationsResearch implications are based on the usefulness of supporting theory, namely that the guidance offered by the cultural studies in the retailing literature is more predictive than that in the services literature for the emerging South African retailing market.Practical implicationsIt is found that core elements in relationship marketing are well ingrained in collectivist Xhosa cultural norms. The results suggest that these cultural norms can, and should, be leveraged by the new independently owned grocery retailers.Originality/valueThe research addresses a key concern within emerging markets and offers practical help for retail development within this dynamic economic setting.
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Chapman, Michael. "Red People and School People from Ntsikana to Mandela: The Significance of ‘Xhosa Literature’ in a General History of South African Literature." English Academy Review 10, no. 1 (December 1993): 36–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10131759385310061.
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Jordaan, Esmè R., Dana J. H. Niehaus, Liezl Koen, Cathlene Seller, Irene Mbanga, and Robin A. Emsley. "Season of Birth, Age and Negative Symptoms in a Xhosa Schizophrenia Sample from the Southern Hemisphere." Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 40, no. 8 (August 2006): 698–703. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01870.x.
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Objectives: Seasonality of birth, more specifically winter/spring births, has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether schizophrenia patients of Xhosa ethnicity born in autumn/ winter have different symptom profiles to those born in spring/summer. The secondary aim was to determine whether the autumn/winter and spring/summer birth rates for schizophrenia patients of Xhosa ethnicity were similar to that of the general Xhosa population. Method: Individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, born in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa (n = 386), were categorized as autumn/winter-born (March to August) patients or summer/spring-born (September to February) patients. Negative global scores of the schedules for the assessment of negative symptoms were categorized as normal (rating of 0 and 1) or positive (rating of 2 to 5). Results: Patients born in autumn/winter were more likely to have avolition/apathy than those born in summer/spring. The results also showed that the age of the patients played a significant role in modifying the effect of the season of birth on symptoms of schizophrenia. Especially older people (more than 30 years old) born in autumn/winter had a higher incidence of avolition/apathy than those born in summer/spring (p = 0.026). Furthermore, in the relationship of birth season and avolition/apathy, the marital status of the patient was a significant independent explanatory variable, while gender was not. The study also showed a spring excess of 4% in birth rate compared with the general Xhosa population. Conclusion: The results from our study support the existence of a seasonal birth pattern in an African schizophrenia population and suggest that avolition/apathy may underpin this seasonal pattern.
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Makgopa, Mokgale, and Mmaphuti Mamaleka. "Mmapoo ga a nyalwe, the challenges of tradition versus modernity from a social work perspective." African Journal of Religion, Philosophy and Culture 1, no. 2 (December 1, 2020): 61–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.31920/2634-7644/2020/1n2a4.
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African culture and tradition are questioned and tested on whether they fit to be part of the changing world. This makes folklore an endangered species as most cultural beliefs and traditions are seen to be out-dated. The instruments used to measure these cultural beliefs and traditions are transformation and globalisation. Folklore, which is currently treated like an appendage to disciplines such as languages, indigenous knowledge systems and anthropology, is now targeted. The authors aim to demonstrate the synergy between folklore and social work in which the social work values and principles are applied and analysed in terms of the figurative language; mmapoo ga a nyalwe. The authors advocate for an interdisciplinary approach, hence the focus is on folklore, language and social work. The theoretical consideration for this article was system theory with its proposition that people are part of the system and their connectedness, wholeness and their feedback in the system is valuable.
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Zungu, Evangeline Bonisiwe, and Nomvula Maphini. "Out with old, in with the new: Negotiating identity in re-naming a Xhosa umtshakazi." AFRREV LALIGENS: An International Journal of Language, Literature and Gender Studies 9, no. 1 (April 28, 2020): 66–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/laligens.v9i1.6.
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Umtshakazi (singular) is a bride and abatshakazi (plural) are brides in isiXhosa language. The word is derived from the word ‘tsha’ which means new in isiXhosa. The word is popularly known as Makoti in other African languages, such as isiZulu. In short, a bride is a woman about to be married or newly married and thus a “new member” of the husband’s family. In a South African context, naming is not reserved for new-born children as there are circumstances whereby older people get new names. In Xhosa re-naming of abatshakazi, is a religious practice where name-givers bestow a name on a newlywed and then expect brides to live up to their newly acquired names. Like most things cultural, the brides have no choice but to accept the new name, embrace what the name entails and live up to the family’s expectations. Through the re-naming process the bride assumes a new identity which means taking the responsibility that comes with it. This article examines how such a process gives brides new roles to play; how brides make a conscious effort to live up to the name and how this changes their identity. This article is going to take a phenomenology stance. The phenomenology theory is a theoretical proposition which focuses on people’s perceptions of the world in which they live and what it means to them. It focuses on people’s lived experiences. This theory is essential in this article as the article focuses on the individual experiences of Xhosa abatshakazi in the naming process.
Key Words: gender, culture, names, identity, marriage
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Campbell, Megan M., Olivia P. Matshabane, Sibonile Mqulwana, Michael Mndini, Mohamed Nagdee, Dan J. Stein, and Jantina De Vries. "Evaluating Community Engagement Strategies to Manage Stigma in Two African Genomics Studies Involving People Living with Schizophrenia or Rheumatic Heart Disease." Global Health 2021 (June 26, 2021): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/9926495.
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In global health research and genomics research specifically, community engagement has gained prominence in enhancing ethical conduct, particularly in managing the risk of stigmatization, but there is minimal scientific evidence on how to do this effectively. This article reports on community engagement evaluation strategies in two African genomics studies: the Stigma in African Genomics Research study and the Genomics of Schizophrenia in South African Xhosa People (SAX) study. Within the Stigma in African Genomics Research study, a self-report rating scale and open-ended questions were used to track participant responses to an experiential theatre workshop. The workshop focused on participant experiences of living with schizophrenia or rheumatic heart disease (RHD). While the schizophrenia group reported more alienation and less stigma resistance than the RHD group, both groups demonstrated increased stigma resistance over time, after participating in the workshops. Hearing from others living with and managing the same illness normalised participants’ own experiences and encouraged them. Within the SAX study, a short rating scale and qualitative feedback methods were used to evaluate a Mental Health Literacy Day targeting mental health stigma. Information talks about (i) the symptoms of schizophrenia and treatment options and (ii) the illness experiences of a patient in recovery were rated as the most helpful on the day. Audience members reported that these talks challenged negative perceptions about severe mental illness. Three important learnings emerged from these evaluations: firstly, integration of evaluation strategies at the research study planning phase is likely to promote more effective community engagement. Secondly, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods that draw on simple descriptive statistics and thematic analysis can provide nuanced perspectives about the value of community engagement. Thirdly, such evidence is necessary in establishing and promoting the science of community engagement in genomics research and health research more broadly.
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Suzman, Susan M. "Names as pointers: Zulu personal naming practices." Language in Society 23, no. 2 (April 1994): 253–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047404500017851.
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ABSTRACTChildren in many African societies have meaningful names – unlike their Western counterparts, whose names are primarily labels. In Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and many other cultures, namegivers traditionally chose personal names that pointed to a range of people and circumstances that were relevant at the time of the child's birth. These highly individual or unique names were part of particular social frameworks that have long been evolving with Western acculturation. Like the social frameworks within which they are embedded, naming practices are in the process of change.This article investigates change in Zulu naming practices as a reflection of wider social changes. Taking historical accounts as the source of traditional namegiving, an analysis of rural, farm, and urban names shows quantitative and qualitative differences in naming practices. Contemporary names differ significantly from traditional ones, and provide evidence that the world view within which names are given is in the process of redefinition. (Anthropological linguistics, naming, South Africa, Zulu)
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Xhosa (African people), Folklore"
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Mpola, Mavis Noluthando. "An analysis of oral literary music texts in isiXhosa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012909.
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This study examines the relationship between composed songs in isiXhosa and the field of oral literature. In traditional Xhosa cultural settings, poetry and music are forms of communal activity enjoyed by that society. Music and poetry perform a special social role in African society in general, providing a critique of socio-economic and political issues. The research analyses the relationship that exists between traditional poetry, izibongo, and composed songs. It demonstrates that in the same way that izibongo can be analysed in order to appreciate the aesthetic value of an oral literary form, the same can be said of composed isiXhosa music. The art of transmitting oral literature is performance. The traditional izibongo are recited before audiences in the same way. Songs (iingoma) stories (amabali) and traditional poetry (izibongo) all comprise oral literature that is transmitted by word of mouth. Opland (1992: 17) says about this type of literature: “Living as it does in the performance is usually appreciated by crowds of people as sounds uttered by the performer who is present before his/her audience.” Opland (ibid 125) again gives an account of who is both reciter of poems and singer of songs. He gives Mthamo’s testimony thus: “He is a singer… with a reputation of being a poet as well.” The musical texts that will be analysed in this thesis will range from those produced as early as 1917, when Benjamin Tyamzashe wrote his first song, Isithandwa sam (My beloved), up to those produced in 1990 when Makhaya Mjana was commissioned by Lovedale on its 150th anniversary to write Qingqa Lovedale (Stand up Lovedale). The song texts total fifty, by twenty-one composers. The texts will be analysed according to different themes, ranging from themes that are metaphoric, themes about events, themes that depict the culture of the amaXhosa, themes with a message of protest, themes demonstrating the relationship between religion and nature, themes that call for unity among the amaXhosa, and themes that depict the personal circumstances of composers and lullabies. The number of texts from each category will vary depending on the composers’ socio-cultural background when they composed the songs. Comparison will be made with some izibongo to show that composers and writers of izibongo are similar artists and, in the words of Mtuze in Izibongo Zomthonyama (1993) “bathwase ngethongo elinye” (They are spiritually gifted in the same way).
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Mpolweni, Nosisi Lynette. "The orality - literacy debate with special reference to selected work of S.E.K. Mqhayi." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2004. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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The focus of this thesis is on Xhosa oral and written poetry. The discussion in the thesis is based on the information from existing literature, the responses from the questionnaires and the interviews with some Xhosa iimbongi (person who sings praises) who have reflected on their personal experiences. In addition to this, S.E.K. Mqhayi is at the centre of discussion because as a prominent Xhosa imbongi he features in both the oral and the written world.
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Fox, Helen Elizabeth. "The role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008061.
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The aim of this thesis is to examine the role of anthropogenic disturbance in the creation of a socio-ecological landscape. Three key questions were answered: what impact has past anthropogenic disturbance had on present vegetative characteristics; what value did this disturbed landscape have to local people; how did the local peoples' worldviews and eco-cosmologies influence how they perceived, valued and managed their landscape? Research was based in a rural, predominantly amaXhosa village in the Kat River valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Four major landscape components characterised the environment, namely dense forests, former grazing lands, abandoned fields and old settlements. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted, consisting of a vegetation and soil survey and social science methods including semistructured interviews, focus groups, transect walks and participant observation. The key finding was that anthropogenic disturbance is necessary to enhance the potential of the area to support human habitation. However, anthropogenic disturbance can have positive or negative effects for both local people and the environment. An intermediate level of disturbance is a key factor leading to a resilient socio-ecological system. Various anthropogenic disturbances have had significant affects on vegetation characteristics in terms of species richness, and a change in vegetation composition and species heights. Of the three anthropogenic landscapes examined, former grazing lands were the least intensively disturbed. They were also more species rich and structurally diverse than areas that were under agricultural production or used as a settlement. Dense forests, although the least desirable landscape to local people were, together with sacred pools, sources of ecosystem renewal and played a critical role during times of disturbance. Anthropogenic disturbance has added value to local people's livelihoods; this disturbance has resulted in a patchy landscape that supplies a wide variety of resources to local people. Local people are dependent on their environment for their basic needs; this has encouraged sustainable management practices. The local AmaXhosa still retain many elements of their traditional worldview, which has many characteristics of Animism. The environment is an integral component of their belief system and certain sites and species have significant cultural value and are protected.
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Kaschula, Russell H. "The transitional role of the Xhosa oral poet in contemporary South African society." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002085.
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This thesis outlines the changing role of the Xhosa imbongi in contemporary South African society. The changing socio-economic and political scenario in South Africa, and the way in which the imbongi is adapting in order to accommodate new pressures created by these changes, form an integral part of this thesis. The effects of education and increasing literacy on the tradition are outlined. The interaction between oral and written forms is explored in chapter 2. The role of the imbongi within the religious sphere is included in chapter 3. Xhosa preachers within the independent churches often make use of the styles and techniques associated with oral poetry. Iimbongi who are not necessarily preachers also operate within this context. The relationship between the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the African National Congress and iimbongi has also been researched and forms part of chapters 4, 5, and the epilogue. The modern imbongi is drawn towards powerful organisations offering alternative leadership to many of the traditional chiefs. In the epilogue collected poetry is analysed in the context of Mandela's visit to Transkei in April 1990. Interviews have been conducted with chiefs, iimbongi attached to chiefs as well as those attached to different organisations. Poetry has been collected and analysed. In chapter 5, three case studies of modern iimbongi are included. The problems facing these iimbongi in their different contexts, as well as the power bases from which they draw, are outlined. Finally, an alternative definition of the imbongi is offered in the conclusion
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Cumes, Heide Ulrike. "Coping in two cultures: an ecological study of mentally ill people and their families in rural South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002467.
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This study explores severe mental illness in a South African ru~al district, moving, as with a zoom lens, from the macroperspectives of (i) Xhosa culture, and (ii) biomedicine, to the lived experience of the individual. Its methodology, predominantly qualitative, employed anthropological and psychological procedures. The fieldwork (1988-1989)encompassed a three month stay in the village of Msobomvu. Patients continued to be tracked informally until June, 1995. The empirical research has three parts. In part one, the person with a mental illness was contextualized within Xhosa cosmology and social attitudes. The cognitive and social ecologies were tapped through the narratives of high school and university students at different stages of a Western-biased education. Social attitudes regarding mental illness, and confidence in treatment by traditional healers and the hospital, were also evaluated. Traditional attitudes and supernatural beliefs of illness causation persisted in spite of Eurocentric education, with a concurrent increase in the acceptance of Western-type causal explanations commensurate with continued education. Part two considered the the patients in relation to (i) the biomedical framework (the mental and local hospitals), and (ii) their readjustment to the community after hospitalization. Data came from patient charts, interviews with medical staff, and follow-up visits in the villages. Socio-political and economic issues were salient. Part three case-studied people identified by the village residents as having a mental illness. Resources for treatment - traditional healers, mobile clinic, and village health workers - were the focus. The traditional healing system, and biomedicine, were compared for effectiveness, through the course of illness events. While biomedicine was more effective in containing acute psychotic episodes than treatment by the traditional healer, lack of appropriate resources within the biomedical setting had disastrous results for patient compliance and long-term management of the illness, particularly in people with obvious symptoms of bipolar disorder. The mental hospital emerged as an agent of control. While Xhosa culture provided a more tolerant setting for people with a mental illness, the course of severe mental illness was by no means benign, despite research suggesting a more positive outcome for such conditions in the developing world.
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Koen, Liezl. "Chromosomal aberrations in the Xhosa shizophrenia population /." Link to the online version, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/1697.
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Anderson, Elisabeth Dell. "A history of the Xhosa of the Northern Cape, 1795-1879." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26614.
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Deliwe, Dumisani. "Responses to Western education among the conservative people of Transkei." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002662.
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This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).
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Niehaus, Daniel Jan Hendrik. "Limiting clinical heterogeneity in schizophrenia : can affected Xhosa sib pairs privide valid subtypes? /." Link to the online version, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/265.
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Tisani, Nomathamsanqa Cynthia. "Continuity and change in Xhosa historiography during the nineteenth century : an exploration through textual analysis." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002416.
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This study is an exploration of the making of Xhosa historiography from the end of the eighteenth century to the close of the nineteenth century. Continuity and change are key features that are identifiable in the writing of Xhosa history over the period. Selected documents provide evidence on how different writers built on the works of their predecessors. At the same time, over a period of hundred years, due to changing socio-political contexts, new ideas and perceptions crept into Xhosa history. European writers, who dominated the writing of Xhosa history, were made up of colonial officials, missionaries, and travellers. Sharing a common European Christian background these writers brought along their particular understanding of history, and held assumptions about the indigenous people and their past. However such assumptions were always in a state of flux. South-east Africans were also major contributors to the making of Xhosa history. Their oral traditions were important sources from which Xhosa history was produced. The African and European encounter in the making of Xhosa history meanHhat historioracy and historiography came together in the production of Xhosa history. At the end of the eighteenth century there were a handful of European travellers who explored the interior of southern Africa and recorded their observations of indigenous communities. These observations of south-east Africans, whom they divided into three racial groups, formed the basis of later writings about the indigenous communiti~s. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought the establishment of British rule at the C,ppe. This introduced new players into the African-European drama that was being acted out on the frontier. Colonial officials set out to inform themselves about the indigenous people, and this meant writing up their history. From the 1820s missionaries were a main source of information on amaXhosa. Xhosa history produced under the missionary influence included works by African converts, among whom Noyi was the most noteworthy. As British imperialism gained ground from the middle of the nineteenth century, history was increasingly used by British officials as a tool to justify their colonial expansion. Under Governor Grey there was a deliberate production of a Xhosa history that depicted amaXhosa as having a barbaric past and in need of civilisation. Theal who consulted Dutch and British archives as well as oral tradition made a major contribution to the writing of Xhosa history. But Theal later began to select evidence to show that amaXhosa were recent immigrants into southeast Africa. During the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century a band of literate Africans, using newspapers like Isigidimi and later Imvo Zabantsundu, embarked on writing African history. This study highlights the development of certain themes in Xhosa history, themes which remained central in later years. The royal theme became pivotal and in the process displaced other histories in African communities, like clan histories. This study has also traced the roots of some historical myths. For example claims by early travellers about an empty land fed into the migration theme which sought to explain amaXhosa as recent immigrants into south-east Africa. Xhosa historiography, just like its European counterpart, marginalised ordinary people, especially women, and became primarily an account of the lives and activities of ruling men.
Books on the topic "Xhosa (African people), Folklore"
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Makhuphula, Nombulelo. Xhosa fireside tales. Johannesburg: Seriti sa Sechaba Publishers, 1988.
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Zenani, Nongenile Masithathu. The world and the word: Tales and observations from the Xhosa oral tradition. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.
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Amagqabantshintshi oncwadi lwemveli. [Khayelitsha South Africa?]: X. Tshongolo, 2013.
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Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001.
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ill, Hays Michael 1956, ed. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. 2nd ed. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2005.
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ill, Hays Michael 1956, ed. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African Lullaby and folk story. New York: Aladdin Books, 1994.
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Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
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Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
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Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. New York: Scholastic, 1989.
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Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: Based on a South African lullaby and folk story : [Pete Seeger's storysong]. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2001.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Xhosa (African people), Folklore"
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Agwuele, Augustine, and Tafesse Matewos Karo. "Fichee-Cambalaalla of the Sidaama People." In The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore, 509–27. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55517-7_26.
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Singh, Shawren. "HCI in South Africa." In Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction, 261–65. IGI Global, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-562-7.ch041.
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South Africa is a multi-lingual country with a population of about 40.5 million people. South Africa has more official languages at a national level than any other country in the world. Over and above English and Afrikaans, the eleven official languages include the indigenous languages: Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele, Tsonga, and Venda (Pretorius & Bosch, 2003). Figure 1 depicts the breakdown of the South African official languages as mother tongues for South African citizens. Although English ranks fifth (9%) as a mother tongue, there is a tendency among national leaders, politicians, business people, and officials to use English more frequently than any of the other languages. In a national survey on language use and language interaction conducted by the Pan South African Language Board (Language Use and Board Interaction in South Africa, 2000), only 22% of the respondents indicated that they fully understand speeches and statements made in English, while 19% indicated that they seldom understand information conveyed in English. The rate of electrification in South African is 66.1%. The total number of people with access to electricity is 28.3 million, and the total number of people without access to electricity is 14.5 million (International Energy Agency, 2002). Although the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” is narrowing, a significant portion of the South African population is still without the basic amenities of life. This unique environment sets the tone for a creative research agenda for HCI researchers and practitioners in South Africa.
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Simela, Oscar Dick. "The Imperatives and Challenges of Passing on the Tenets of Ubuntu to the Younger Generation." In Advances in Religious and Cultural Studies, 117–29. IGI Global, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7947-3.ch010.
Full textAbstract:
This chapter provides some of the challenges and difficulties that parents face in trying to pass salient features of the African concept of Ubuntu to their children. It starts by presenting a plausible definition of Ubuntu, followed by some learning theories that explain ways by which some people learn new concepts. Additionally, some folklore stories are included in the chapter to illustrate favorite methods used by grandparents for teaching some valuable life lessons to their grandchildren. An attempt is made towards the end of the chapter to summarize some of the things that can be done to facilitate the means by which displaced and fragmented families can still pass on Ubuntu to their offspring.
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Gussow, Adam. "Zora Neale Hurston in the Florida Jooks." In Whose Blues?, 151–79. University of North Carolina Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469660363.003.0008.
Full textAbstract:
Like W. C. Handy and Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston was a translator: she sought textual analogies—words on a page--for the bittersweet lyricism, dynamism, and bold self-declarations found in blues music made by Black people in the rural South of the early Twentieth Century. She was also, like both men, a migrant to the urban North, a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. A biographical as well as literary-critical exploration, this chapter focuses on Hurston’s two best-known works: Mules and Men (1935), a folklore study, and Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), a cornerstone of the African American literary tradition. Both works vividly evoke the rough but vital blues culture of rural Florida, offering us Black spaces of self-making through the eyes of a Black female participant-observer. Both texts also force readers to confront the presence of scarifying, sometimes deadly violence within that juke-joint world. Hurston, this chapter argues, uses the novel to rewrite the folklore study, offering us a questing and indomitable young woman, Janie Crawford, who earns her way into the blues and lives out her destiny with the help of Tea Cake, a passionate, adventurous, and mercurial young bluesman.