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O'Mandingo!
Written for the past two decades, this collection of poetry is a raw snapshot of social and political millieu as seen through the eyes and experiences of the author. This modern South African poetry is a journey through the geography of love, hate, politics, race, dance, poetry, and language.
O'Mandingo!
Based on the controversial but popular e-zine, this collection of opinion pieces and essays analyzes current topics facing postapartheid South Africa; including black economic empowerment, affirmative action, race, poverty, and affluence, while also touching on such lighter topics as sports, movies, love, and friendship. Black pride, strength, unity, and prosperity are central themes in these articles, creating a unique picture of the current South African black consciousness movement.
Here Comes the Snake in the Grass
‘Did Mandela work for nothing?’ ‘Mr Sushi comes to town’ ‘Give me a corrupt black any day’ These are just some of Eric Miyeni’s newspaper columns and opinion pieces, which have earned him friends and enemies alike. Known for his straight-talking frankness, his views on subjects ranging from politics and travel to big business and sport elicit strong responses. Here Comes the Snake in the Grass is a selection of Eric Miyeni’s columns and occasional writings covering a variety of topics, from Julius Malema, Oprah Winfrey and Brenda Fassie to the value of radio, the true cost of crime, the need for excellence in South Africa and the difficulty of finding love in the modern world. Some of the writings in this collection court controversy, addressing issues many want hidden from view; others provide glimpses of the writer’s softer side. All show why Eric Miyeni’s is an unmistakeable voice in the South African media. Alternately hard-hitting and personal, rousing and funny, Here Comes the Snake in the Grass is an entertaining and informative look at the South African cultural landscape.
The Release
“Someone has to pay.” Jeremy Hlungwani has a gun and an unquenchable violent thought has lodged in his mind. Today he will drive his luxury car from his big-shot job and life in the suburbs to his childhood home in Meadowlands, Soweto. Along the way he will recall the moments in his life that got him here, on the wrong track. Today, Jeremy’s desperate attempt to reconcile his black life with his life in white Johannesburg will end in a dramatic culmination. The Release is a powerful anthem of a post-apartheid South African life, a reminder that the legacy of the past runs deeper than the bling-blinded present would have us believe.
Native Nostalgia
Challenging the stereotype that black people who lived under South African apartheid have no happy memories of the past, this examination into nostalgia carves out a path away from the archetypical musings. Even though apartheid itself had no virtue, the author, himself a young black man who spent his childhood under apartheid, insists that it was not a vast moral desert in the lives of those living in townships. In this deep meditation on the experiences of those who lived through apartheid, it points out that despite the poverty and crime, there was still art, literature, music, and morals that, when combined, determined the shape of black life during that era of repression.
O'Mandingo!
Featuring pieces written from 1994 to the present, this collection explores the minds of black youth in South Africa during apartheid. Collectively, they provide a provocative commentary of the realities of everyday life, tenderly yet intensely giving a voice to the rising youth who would become prominent players in the post-apartheid nation.
Spearheading Debate
As South Africa’s democracy matures, this book raises pertinent questions: How does the state mediate between traditional tribal authority and constitutional law in matters such as initiation customs or the rights of women, children, and homosexuals? What are the limitations on artistic freedom in a society where sensitivities over colonial- and apartheid-era representations are acute? How does race open up discussions or close down dialogue? and What are the parameters of freedom of speech when minorities fear that hateful language may trigger actual violence against them? Examining disputes over South African art, music, media, editorial cartoons, history, public memory, and a variety of social practices, the culture wars' perspective is extended to new territory in this study, demonstrating its cross-cultural applicability and parsing critical debates within this vibrant society in formation.
Amagama Enkululeko! Words for Freedom
Why did African men leave their homes to work on the mines of the Witwatersrand? How did a woman searching for her husband make a life in the city? What happened to a family or community forcibly removed from their homes or their land? How did racial classification destroy families and communities? What thoughts went through a detainees mind during their long hours in prison? How did black people in South Africa manage to keep the fires of resistance burning under such harsh social, political and economic conditions? How did people born into such a hopeless present keep their dignity and resolve? With a foreword by Zakes Mda, and a mixture of famous and seemingly forgotten struggle writers, this anthology tackles the history of colonialism and Apartheid from the ground up. Through a blend of history and story-telling, it opens a window onto the ways ordinary, everyday life was shaped by the forces of history. It displays the anger, suffering, love, joy, courage and enduring humanity of ordinary people and communities striving for dignity, freedom and justice.
Babel Unbound
In this timely, original and sophisticated collection, writers from the Global South demonstrate that forms of publicness are multiple, mobile and varied The notion that societies mediate issues through certain kinds of engagement is at the heart of imaginings of democracy and often centers on the ideal of the public sphere. But this imagined foundation of how we live collectively appears to have suffered a dramatic collapse across the world, with many democracies apparently unable to solve problems through talk – or even to agree on who speaks, in what ways and where. In the 10 essays in this timely, original and sophisticated collection, writers from southern Africa combine theoretical a...
My Father, My Monster
Bright, articulate, and charismatic, former journalist and police spokesman McIntosh Polela has been on African television screens for many years. But behind a dazzling career, Polela’s troubled past haunts him. When he was a child, both his parents disappeared, leaving him and his sister Zinhle to suffer years of abuse. The story of Polela’s journey to uncover the truth, this candid autobiography shares the journalist’s turmoil as he confronts his father about his mother’s brutal death and faces the worst dilemma a son can ever confront: How can he possibly forgive when his father remains a remorseless, cruel, and heartless murderer?
