Siseko H Kumalo
Biographic Data
| ID | 926626 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Siseko H Kumalo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Siseko H |
| FAMILY NAME | Kumalo |
| SIGNATURE | KUMALO S H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pretoria |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6591-5995 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Aesthetics as political? Analysing objections to the politicisation of the arts
This article interrogates the long-standing tension between aesthetics and politics in the South African literary landscape. Dominant institutional frameworks have historically privileged an apolitical conception of the aesthetic – art for art’s sake – while dismissing politically inflected cultural expression as mere ‘craft’. Against this backdrop, I argue that Black poetic production in South Africa, particularly in the work of Mzwakhe Mbuli (T…
Pedagogic obligations towards a decolonial and contextually responsive approach to teaching philosophy in South Africa
With the calls to decolonize the philosophy curriculum, and the university more generally, which have seen a series of intellectual interventions in South Africa, this article takes its cue from Nyoka’s recommendation when he suggests moving beyond merely thinking about decolonization. In reflecting on processes of decolonizing the curriculum, this article considers the successes and failures of a course taught during a global pandemic, wherein p…
Can Iqaba Possess Ontological Legitimacy
In this article I think through the recognition of the “ontological legitimacy” of iqaba—a concept that is found in South Africa, owing to the ontological split among Blackness/Indigeneity that was promulgated by colonial incursion. I do so using the question: “How will black people, long accustomed to dispossession and deprivation, adjust to a new condition of not being racial victims,” which was initially posed by Zoë Wicomb in the early 1990s.…
Amaqaba nama Gqobhoka
Working through the two concepts of amaqaba nama gqobhoka, I outline ‘ontological derision’. I argue that ontological derision is rooted in intra-Black conflict that leads to interracial conflict, and propose ontological recognition as a resolution to the tensions that exist in the South African political landscape. To reach the postcolonial condition advanced by scholars like Mahmood Mamdani (2021), the modes of life that existed in South Africa…
Decolonisation as Democratisation
Justice through higher education
Interrogating the White Paper 3 of 1997 which upholds academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability, I make the case for justice through higher education using public accountability. I argue that the higher education system in South Africa is capable of fulfilling such a role in the context of extreme injustices but not without a critical engagement of the extent and causes of these injustices and an understanding of their im…
The Black Register (Tendayi Sitholo)
None.
Distinguishing between ontology and ‘decolonisation as praxis’
In this review article I closely read the recently published book African Philosophical and Literary Possibilities: Re-reading the Canon (2020), edited by Aretha Phiri. I suggest two ways of reading the text. The first levels a critique at some of the conflations we find in the text and the second showcases the useful takeaways that the reader gleans from the book. These takeaways are not—themselves—without criticisms, however. Such criticism is …
Race, Nation, Translation
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde is an online, peer-reviewed, accredited scholarly journal which publishes original, previously unpublished research and overview articles on theoretical, applied or comparative aspects of African literatures and cultural practices
Curriculating from the Black Archive – Marginality as novelty
The Black Archive is constitutive of works of literato such as JT Jabavu, Nontsizi Mgqwetho, the artist Gerard Bhengu, and musicians like Busi Mhlongo. This collective resource, which should play a crucial role in curriculating, compels us to consider two questions when rethinking Philosophy curricula: First, pedagogically, how does the epistemic access that the Black Archive affords our context facilitate justice? Second, and importantly, how do…
Reading the Polis through Literary Aesthetics – Queer in Africa
Queer in Africa: LGBTQI Identities, Citizenship, and Activism, Edited by Zethu Matebeni, Surya Monro and Vasu Reddy, 2018 (Hardcover), Routledge, pp 210, ISBN 9781138222847.I come to the reading of
Resurrecting the Black Archive through the decolonisation of philosophy in South Africa
While acknowledging the impact of colonial imposition and violence, in this paper, I challenge the notions of epistemicide and linguicide in South Africa as claimed by some decolonial scholars. Using the Black Archive by drawing from S.E.K. Mqhayi’s historical accounts, I argue that to claim linguicide and by extension epistemicide, only perpetuates the erasure of profound Indigenous thinkers such as S.E.K. Mqhayi and W.W. Gqoba. My second move i…
Confronting the complexities of decolonising curricula and pedagogy in higher education
Recent critiques voiced by students in both the Global South and North have turned attention to the ways in which higher education practices have been informed by, and continue to perpetuate, a series of assumptions that favour particular epistemological perspectives. Across the world, students have criticised universities for the content of their curricula, institutional cultures, and pedagogic practices that perpetuate the attainment gap and ex…
“Authentic” Queer Identities – Koos Prinsloo as a Site of Contestation
Koos Prinsloo’s short story, “Promise you’ll tell no-one”, highlights three aspects that continue to plague Afrikaner identity. The first of these are the phallus, understood here as the symbol of patriarchal power which was the epicentre of Afrikaner identity under the apartheid regime in South Africa, governing both the home and politics. The second aspect is the vacillation between “homomasculinity” (Sonnekus 2013: 35) and heterosexuality, wit…
Explicating Abjection – Historically White Universities creating Natives of Nowhere
In Ebrahim Patel’s, the world of Nat Nakasa: A collection of letters, Nathaniel Nakasa’s term ‘Native of Nowhere’ describes Nakasa’s experience of leaving South Africa on an exit permit. Negotiating his classification as an aggressor of the state, Nakasa’s expression signals his confrontation with his expendability as a Native in a country founded on the use of Blackness as Blackbodies that prop up white supremacy and rule. ‘Native of Nowhere’ he…
An Afro-Communitarian Compatibilist View on Rights
The historical debate, in African philosophy, on personhood has been characterised by radical and moderate communitarianism seen through the scholarship of Menkiti (1984) and Gyekye (1997) and continues contemporarily with scholars considering its implications on contemporary conceptions of rights. Responding to Chemhuru’s compatibilist view that, he maintains, safeguards and guarantees individual rights, I showcase how his conception of the comm…
Confronting the complexities of decolonising curricula and pedagogy in higher education
Recent critiques voiced by students in both the Global South and North have turned attention to the ways in which higher education practices have been informed by, and continue to perpetuate, a series of assumptions that favour particular epistemological perspectives. Across the world, students have criticised universities for the content of their curricula, institutional cultures, and pedagogic practices that perpetuate the attainment gap and ex…
Resurrecting the Black Archive through the decolonisation of philosophy in South Africa
While acknowledging the impact of colonial imposition and violence, in this paper, I challenge the notions of epistemicide and linguicide in South Africa as claimed by some decolonial scholars. Using the Black Archive by drawing from S.E.K. Mqhayi’s historical accounts, I argue that to claim linguicide and by extension epistemicide, only perpetuates the erasure of profound Indigenous thinkers such as S.E.K. Mqhayi and W.W. Gqoba. My second move i…
Pedagogic obligations towards a decolonial and contextually responsive approach to teaching philosophy in South Africa
With the calls to decolonize the philosophy curriculum, and the university more generally, which have seen a series of intellectual interventions in South Africa, this article takes its cue from Nyoka’s recommendation when he suggests moving beyond merely thinking about decolonization. In reflecting on processes of decolonizing the curriculum, this article considers the successes and failures of a course taught during a global pandemic, wherein p…
Amaqaba nama Gqobhoka
Working through the two concepts of amaqaba nama gqobhoka, I outline ‘ontological derision’. I argue that ontological derision is rooted in intra-Black conflict that leads to interracial conflict, and propose ontological recognition as a resolution to the tensions that exist in the South African political landscape. To reach the postcolonial condition advanced by scholars like Mahmood Mamdani (2021), the modes of life that existed in South Africa…
Explicating Abjection – Historically White Universities creating Natives of Nowhere
In Ebrahim Patel’s, the world of Nat Nakasa: A collection of letters, Nathaniel Nakasa’s term ‘Native of Nowhere’ describes Nakasa’s experience of leaving South Africa on an exit permit. Negotiating his classification as an aggressor of the state, Nakasa’s expression signals his confrontation with his expendability as a Native in a country founded on the use of Blackness as Blackbodies that prop up white supremacy and rule. ‘Native of Nowhere’ he…
“Authentic” Queer Identities – Koos Prinsloo as a Site of Contestation
Koos Prinsloo’s short story, “Promise you’ll tell no-one”, highlights three aspects that continue to plague Afrikaner identity. The first of these are the phallus, understood here as the symbol of patriarchal power which was the epicentre of Afrikaner identity under the apartheid regime in South Africa, governing both the home and politics. The second aspect is the vacillation between “homomasculinity” (Sonnekus 2013: 35) and heterosexuality, wit…
Explicating Abjection – Historically White Universities creating Natives of Nowhere
In Ebrahim Patel’s, the world of Nat Nakasa: A collection of letters, Nathaniel Nakasa’s term ‘Native of Nowhere’ describes Nakasa’s experience of leaving South Africa on an exit permit. Negotiating his classification as an aggressor of the state, Nakasa’s expression signals his confrontation with his expendability as a Native in a country founded on the use of Blackness as Blackbodies that prop up white supremacy and rule. ‘Native of Nowhere’ he…
An Afro-Communitarian Compatibilist View on Rights
The historical debate, in African philosophy, on personhood has been characterised by radical and moderate communitarianism seen through the scholarship of Menkiti (1984) and Gyekye (1997) and continues contemporarily with scholars considering its implications on contemporary conceptions of rights. Responding to Chemhuru’s compatibilist view that, he maintains, safeguards and guarantees individual rights, I showcase how his conception of the comm…
Race, Nation, Translation
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde is an online, peer-reviewed, accredited scholarly journal which publishes original, previously unpublished research and overview articles on theoretical, applied or comparative aspects of African literatures and cultural practices
Curriculating from the Black Archive – Marginality as novelty
The Black Archive is constitutive of works of literato such as JT Jabavu, Nontsizi Mgqwetho, the artist Gerard Bhengu, and musicians like Busi Mhlongo. This collective resource, which should play a crucial role in curriculating, compels us to consider two questions when rethinking Philosophy curricula: First, pedagogically, how does the epistemic access that the Black Archive affords our context facilitate justice? Second, and importantly, how do…
Reading the Polis through Literary Aesthetics – Queer in Africa
Queer in Africa: LGBTQI Identities, Citizenship, and Activism, Edited by Zethu Matebeni, Surya Monro and Vasu Reddy, 2018 (Hardcover), Routledge, pp 210, ISBN 9781138222847.I come to the reading of
Resurrecting the Black Archive through the decolonisation of philosophy in South Africa
While acknowledging the impact of colonial imposition and violence, in this paper, I challenge the notions of epistemicide and linguicide in South Africa as claimed by some decolonial scholars. Using the Black Archive by drawing from S.E.K. Mqhayi’s historical accounts, I argue that to claim linguicide and by extension epistemicide, only perpetuates the erasure of profound Indigenous thinkers such as S.E.K. Mqhayi and W.W. Gqoba. My second move i…
Confronting the complexities of decolonising curricula and pedagogy in higher education
Recent critiques voiced by students in both the Global South and North have turned attention to the ways in which higher education practices have been informed by, and continue to perpetuate, a series of assumptions that favour particular epistemological perspectives. Across the world, students have criticised universities for the content of their curricula, institutional cultures, and pedagogic practices that perpetuate the attainment gap and ex…
Decolonisation as Democratisation
Justice through higher education
Interrogating the White Paper 3 of 1997 which upholds academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability, I make the case for justice through higher education using public accountability. I argue that the higher education system in South Africa is capable of fulfilling such a role in the context of extreme injustices but not without a critical engagement of the extent and causes of these injustices and an understanding of their im…
The Black Register (Tendayi Sitholo)
None.
Distinguishing between ontology and ‘decolonisation as praxis’
In this review article I closely read the recently published book African Philosophical and Literary Possibilities: Re-reading the Canon (2020), edited by Aretha Phiri. I suggest two ways of reading the text. The first levels a critique at some of the conflations we find in the text and the second showcases the useful takeaways that the reader gleans from the book. These takeaways are not—themselves—without criticisms, however. Such criticism is …
Amaqaba nama Gqobhoka
Working through the two concepts of amaqaba nama gqobhoka, I outline ‘ontological derision’. I argue that ontological derision is rooted in intra-Black conflict that leads to interracial conflict, and propose ontological recognition as a resolution to the tensions that exist in the South African political landscape. To reach the postcolonial condition advanced by scholars like Mahmood Mamdani (2021), the modes of life that existed in South Africa…
Can Iqaba Possess Ontological Legitimacy
In this article I think through the recognition of the “ontological legitimacy” of iqaba—a concept that is found in South Africa, owing to the ontological split among Blackness/Indigeneity that was promulgated by colonial incursion. I do so using the question: “How will black people, long accustomed to dispossession and deprivation, adjust to a new condition of not being racial victims,” which was initially posed by Zoë Wicomb in the early 1990s.…
Pedagogic obligations towards a decolonial and contextually responsive approach to teaching philosophy in South Africa
With the calls to decolonize the philosophy curriculum, and the university more generally, which have seen a series of intellectual interventions in South Africa, this article takes its cue from Nyoka’s recommendation when he suggests moving beyond merely thinking about decolonization. In reflecting on processes of decolonizing the curriculum, this article considers the successes and failures of a course taught during a global pandemic, wherein p…
Aesthetics as political? Analysing objections to the politicisation of the arts
This article interrogates the long-standing tension between aesthetics and politics in the South African literary landscape. Dominant institutional frameworks have historically privileged an apolitical conception of the aesthetic – art for art’s sake – while dismissing politically inflected cultural expression as mere ‘craft’. Against this backdrop, I argue that Black poetic production in South Africa, particularly in the work of Mzwakhe Mbuli (T…
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · African cultural and philosophical studies (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · South African History and Culture (7 works)