"You Are Suffering from Literary Kwashiorkor": Transculturation at the Confluence of African Literature, Vegetarianism and Indigenous Ritual Practice in Nape 'a Motana's Son-In-Law of the Boere

Abstract

On the surface, Nape 'a Motana's fictional work Son-In-Law of the Boere (2010) is a tale of love between a black "Jim-comes-to-Jo'burg" stereotype and a white Afrikaans female teaching colleague during a transitional era in South African political and social history. However, as this article will reveal, the text is a compelling and transformative narrative which should be read as a literary transculturation of three veins of social discourse: (1) the literary historiography of African literature and the provision of access for contemporary readers to the African literary archive, (2) vegetarianism as a metaphor for transformation in a postcolonial and post-apartheid society, and (3) the representation of indigenous ritual practices in the modernity of liberation-era South Africa. Furthermore, the novel suggests that access to African fictional texts and a corps of motivated educators in South African schools would go some distance toward developing the necessary literacies to overcome the "literary kwashiorkor" referred to in the title of this essay.

Opsomming
Nape 'a Motana se fiksieverhaal Son-In-Law of the Boere (2010) lyk op die oog af na 'n liefdesverhaal tussen die stereotipiese swart "Jim-van-die-platteland-in-Jo'burg" en 'n Afrikaanse blanke vroulike onderwyskollega tydens 'n oorgangstyd in die Suid­Afrikaanse sosio-politieke geskiedenis. Nogtans, soos hierdie artikel dit na vore bring, is die teks 'n meesleurende en transformerende verhaal wat gelees behoort te word as 'n literere transkulturasie van drie modusse van sosiale omgang: (1) die literere historiografie van Afrika-literatuur en die eienaarskap daarvan, (2) vege­tarianisme as 'n metafoor vir transformasie in 'n postkoloniale en postapartheid samelewing, en (3) die voorstelling van inheemse rituele praktyke in die moderniteit van bevrydingsera Suid-Afrika. Verder suggereer die roman dat toegang tot Afrika­fiksietekste en 'n korps van gemotiveerde opvoeders in Suid-Afrikaanse skole grootliks sal bydra tot die ontwikkeling van noodsaaklike geletterdheid en om "literere kwashiorkor" waarna in die titel van hierdie artikel verwys word te oorkom.