RESISTANCE POETRY IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: AN ANALYSIS OF THE POETIC WORKS AND CULTURAL ACTIVISM OF VANONI BILA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/1675Abstract
The article explores selected works of Vonani Bila, one of the most influential wordsmiths of post-apartheid South Africa. It outlines the difference between “protest poetry†and “resistance poetryâ€, and contextualises the contemporary expression(s) of the latter within today’s South Africa’s poetry scene. Focusing on Bila’s “politically engaged†poems and cultural activism, this article maintains that resistance poetry has re-invented itself in the post-94 cultural scenario, and still represents a valid tool in the hands of poets to creatively expose and criticize the enduring contradictions of South African society
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