Volume, Power, Originality

This article aims to reassess recent and continuing analyses of Soweto poetry that merely confirm it as a product and expression of a Black Consciousness vogue. Discussing works by Mongane Serote, Sipho Sepamla, James Matthews and Njabulo Ndebele, I argue that although Black Consciousness ideas of self-respect and self-assertion are unmistakably included, this canon is situated within a profoundly complex historical and social context. Adopting Steve Biko's alternative definition of a ‘national culture’, I argue that Soweto poetry is a medial literature. This oeuvre creates a dialogue between common binary constructions of race, agency, culture and locale, and therefore becomes a factor in the creation of Black Consciousness and not simply its reflection

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Assertion · Consciousness · Epistemology · Literature · Poetry · Situated · Social science · Sociology · History · Legal Issues in South Africa · Philosophy · South African History and Culture

• Dissonances from the Global South

  Liz Gunner, Tom Penfold•Social Dynamics•2017

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