Introduction:

The opening address / Die openingsrede

Abstract

1991: Writers Conference in December in Johannesburg

1995: Cape Town conference on African Literature in the Curriculum in February

1995: Tongaat Colloquium in May on the Rethinking of South African Literary History, organised by the Centre for the Study of South African Literature and Languages (CSSALL) at the University of Durban-Westville

Summary

This opening address looks at a number of issues complicating the Africanist's under­standing and vision, against the background of the country's recent political past and its implications for education in general and the study of African-language literature in particular. These include the comparative "imperative", the oral-written interface and the transitional text, canonicity and possibilities of understanding arising from colonial and postcolonial readings of Southern African literature. However, a century-old oral genre – the Difela tsa ditsamayanaha - cautions against decontextualised, uncritical applications of theory. The challenge probably lies in translating problems into oppor­tunities.

Opsomming
Die openingsrede kyk na 'n aantal vraagstukke wat die Afrikanis se begrip en visie kompliseer, teen die agtergrond van die land se onlangse politieke verlede en die impli­kasies vir onderrig in die algemeen en die studie van die literatuur in Afrikatale in die besonder. Dit sluit in die vergelykende "imperatief", mondeling-geskrewe raakvlakke en die oorgangsteks, kanonvorming en verklaringsmoontlikhede wat uit 'n koloniale en postkoloniale lesing van die Suider-Afrikaanse literatuur na vore kom. 'n Eeu-oue monde­linge genre – die Difela tsa ditsamayanaha – waarsku egter teen gedekontekstualiseerde, onkritiese aanwending van teorie. Die uitdaging is waarskynlik dat probleme in geleenthede omskep behoort te word.