Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies - latest Issue

Proverbs are part of people’s language – particularly the oral culture. According to different definitions within the academic discourse, proverbs are sayings or expressions that teach what conduct is acceptable within a society. Proverbs do this by guiding, rebuking, warning and admonishing people who engage in unwanted behaviours. Setswana proverbs are still used and enjoyed by some of the native Batswana, but it is evident from the rate of usage that they are no longer used as frequently or as effectively as in the past. However, it seems that elders who participate in kgotla settings are most likely to use proverbs because they are familiar with their usage. This article, therefore, assesses the functions of Setswana proverbs in conflict resolution in some dikgotla in Botswana villages to determine the role they play and their level of usage in the modern judicial system.

For a long time lithoko have been understood and referred to not just as poetry, but as praise poetry. This is evident in the work of some of the classical lithoko analysts, such as Damane and Sanders (1974) and Kunene (1971), in their texts Lithoko Sotho praise poems and Heroic poetry of the Basotho respectively. The same perception still prevails among many modern and oral literature analysts today. Hence the critical question posed in this paper, namely whether lithoko are “to be, or not to be” perceived as praise poetry. In order to answer this question, the following aspects are considered: the definition, classification, functions and poetic aspects – such as metre and rhyme – of both lithoko and praise poetry. The authors contend that lithoko – as a literary oral genre – are neither poetry nor praise poetry; rather, they are in a class of their own, as praise is just one of the many elements contained in lithoko.

This article highlights the problem of the inadequacy of the print mode that the indigenous South African languages (IndiSAL) have largely adopted to preserve their folktales. It identifies shortcomings that support the contention that not enough is being done to preserve the art of folktale narration and it suggests a way out of the cul-de-sac. Most works on IndiSAL folktales focus on the value of preserving the art itself, rather than on the mode of preservation. This research follows a performance-centred approach, as advocated by Marivate (1991), Bill (1996), Dorji (2010) and Backe (2014), among others. Compared with countries such as Nigeria and Malawi, South Africa is lagging behind in the use of digitisation to preserve its indigenous language folktales. This article describes an empirical study based on the author’s experiences and observations of folktale narration and the analysis of the transcribed form. In it, the author critically reviews the various preservation modes and highlights their respective pros and cons.

There is a dearth of scholarship on gender relations in Ndebele literary works from Zimbabwe. The present study sets out to analyse the literary troping of women in Umhlaba Lo!, a play by B.C. Makhalisa, and Lifile, a novel by O.S. Mlilo, two works of art that challenge the perception of women. To begin with, by centring the narratives on protagonists who are prostitutes, these works move these figures from the margins to the mainstream of the literary universe. Moreover, the narratives give voice and agency to these prostitute protagonists in such a manner that they are able to speak for themselves and give a personal account of their lives. The image of the prostitute challenges the stereotype that women cannot be active sexual agents, but are rather framed as passive sexual objects. Moreover, it dislocates the private/public dichotomy, since sexuality – which is normally viewed as a private issue – is brought into the public sphere through the mise en scène of the sexualised body that imposes itself in the public space. Ultimately, the author argues that instead of viewing women who take charge of their sexuality as ‘femmes fatales’, there is a need to look at the multifaceted issues that lead women to use their bodies and sexualise them in a bid to earn a living.