Thetha Sizwe: Contemporary South African Debates on African Languages and the  Politics of Gender and Sexualities

Nompumelelo Zondi; Gabi Mkhize; Evangeline Zungu; Siseko Kumalo; Vasu Reddy; Adebola Fawole; Gugulethu Mazibuko; Phindile Dlamini; Bonakele Mhlongo; Sipho Ntombela; Tsoaledi Thobejane; Mafemani Baloyi; Sicelo Ntshangase; Bongani Mbatha; Nobuhle Ndimande-Hlongwa

doi:10.35293/esi.18

Thetha Sizwe: Contemporary South African Debates on African Languages and the Politics of Gender and Sexualities

Authors

Nompumelelo Zondi; Gabi Mkhize; Evangeline B. Zungu; Siseko H. Kumalo; Vasu Reddy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35293/esi.18

Keywords:

South Africa, gender, sexualities, African languages

Synopsis

Thetha Sizwe invites readers to rethink and reimagine the play of power, firmly rooted in the triad of African languages, genders and sexualities. ‘Thetha Sizwe’, loosely interpreted as ‘let your voice be heard’, opens up spaces for fresh and active debate and discussion that inform the complexities and contestations of language. As a linguistic injunction, ‘thetha sizwe’ is not purely a communicative plea but directs the reader (and listener) to the politics of voice, silence, and indeed, the capacity to hear and listen.

The volume explores and problematises contemporary and current debates that shape African languages and literature by investigating assumptions and received notions, with deliberate attention to breaking out of dominant models that pose limits on further debate. The rich assembly of essays provide provocative and nuanced engagements with questions of morphology, syntax, and the meanings of prescribed texts for secondary schools. All arguments unequivocally coalesce around the politics of African languages in the context of feminist and gendered epistemologies and decolonial humanities. Arising out of this engagement is a volume that spotlights local (and some continental languages) as crucial to global shifts in decolonial struggles that aim to re-imagine new worlds.

Chapters

Introduction

Nompumelelo Zondi, Gabi Mkhize, Evangeline Zungu, Siseko Kumalo, Vasu Reddy

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Chapter 1: Thetha Sizwe: Challenging Gender Fixities through Interventions from the Margins Using African Languages

Nompumelelo Zondi, Gabi Mkhize, Evangeline Zungu, Siseko Kumalo, Vasu Reddy

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Chapter 2: Understanding Culture to Fight Patriarchy: Knowledge and Practice of Oríkì among Yoruba Women in South Africa

Adebola Fawole

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Chapter 3: Critiquing Dominant Patriarchalised African Languages Through Feminist Approaches

Gabi Mkhize

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Isahluko 4: Ukulondolozwa Kwezilimi Zomdabu zase-Afrika Ngemikhosi Yabesifazane Esizweni SamaZulu

Gugulethu Mazibuko, Phindile Dlamini, Nobuhle Ndimande-Hlongwa

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Isahluko 5: Iqhaza Elibanjwe Ngababhali Besifazane Bamanje Ukudiliza Imingcele Yobulili

Nompumelelo Zondi, Bonakele Mhlongo

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Chapter 6: Fighting Women’s Cultural Subjugation Using Metaphors, Euphemism and Sarcasm in Izingane zoMa Musical Renditions

Evangeline Zungu, Sipho Ntombela

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Chapter 7: Thokoza Ngwenyama!—Unsettling Gendered African Language(s) Using Umsamo

Nompumelelo Zondi, Siseko Kumalo

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Chapter 8: Interrogating South African Reality and Probing the Interconnections of Language, Hegemonic Masculinities and Patriarchy

Tsoaledi Thobejane

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Chapter 9: Intersectionality and (Re)marriage: A Perspective of the Xitsonga Sociocultural Identity

Mafemani Baloyi

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Chapter 10: Unholy Unions: Analysing the Constitutionality of Levirate Marriages in Zulu Custom

Sicelo Ntshangase

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Chapter 11: Feminism and Literacy: Tortured and Traumatised Femininity in Njabulo Ndebele’s Death of a Son

Bongani Mbatha

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About the contributors

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Index

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Published

31 October 2023

Details about the available publication format: Full PDF