Publisher's Synopsis
Sasinda and Siselapha (Still Here) is a fearless new interdisciplinary collection of contemporary criticism in the arts and humanities by scholars working on contemporary South Africa. Authors examine the period after the legal end of apartheid across genre and with an eye toward the study of culture. Derilene (Dee) Marco studies the cinematic legacies of Coetzee's Disgrace; Sharlene Khan explores the hateful art criticism that has become the norm in response to Black and women of color artists; Natalia Molebatsi theorises about the poetry scene and its aesthetics and ethics of healing across generations; Zethu Cakata examines the injuries caused by unenforced post 1994 language policies; Ashraf Jamal analyses how 'African' is African art and Bhavisha Panchia offers a provocative argument for the use of laughter, humour and play as anticolonial political ethical strategies; Peter Hudson scrutinises the colonial unconscious reproducing itself through capitalist property relations in the present; and Robert Muponde and Abebe Zegeye write about the legacies of 'white writing.' The book closes with creative writing on Winnie Mandela's prison memoir curated by Natalia Molebatsi and Jeanne Scheper and Willoughby-Herard's reflection on the present. From June Jordan to T. Obinkaram Echewa to Sibongile Khumalo to Mary Rahube, poetry, song, fiction, photography, new media, and drama offer us an ongoing and spirit-filled struggle with potential victory. This book is an important contribution to the study of culture in the new dispensation in South Africa and beyond. With a keen attention to the meanings of race, class, and gender the authors take up questions of representation and reparation in the face of ongoing structural and institutional forms and practices of violence.
