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A panegyric is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.
Xhosa, formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 10 million people and as a second language by another 10 million, mostly in South Africa, particularly in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng, and also in parts of Zimbabwe and Lesotho. It has perhaps the heaviest functional load of click consonants in a Bantu language, with one count finding that 10% of basic vocabulary items contained a click.
The Mfecane, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane, is a historical period of heightened military conflict and migration associated with state formation and expansion in Southern Africa. The exact range of dates that comprise the Mfecane varies between sources. At its broadest, the period lasted from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, but scholars often focus on an intensive period from the 1810s to the 1840s. The concept first emerged in the 1830s and blamed the disruption on the actions of Shaka Zulu, who was alleged to have waged near-genocidal wars that depopulated the land and sparked a chain reaction of violence as fleeing groups sought to conquer new lands. Since the latter half of the 20th century, this interpretation has fallen out of favor among scholars due to a lack of historical evidence.
The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni people. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Hlubi, Zulu, Ndebele, and Swati. The appellation "Nguni" derives from the Nguni cattle type. Ngoni is an older, or a shifted, variant.
The poetry of South Africa covers a broad range of themes, forms and styles. This article discusses the context that contemporary poets have come from and identifies the major poets of South Africa, their works and influence.
Benedict Wallet Vilakazi was a South African novelist, linguist, a descendant of the Zulu royal family, and a radically innovative poet who created a combination of traditional and Romantic poetry in the Zulu language. Vilakazi was also a professor at the University of Witwatersrand, where he became the first Black South African to teach University classes to White South Africans. In 1946, Vilakazi also became the first Black South African to receive a PhD.
South African Bantu-speaking peoples represent the overwhelming majority ethno-racial group of South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the English word "people", common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes "Bantu", when used in a contemporary usage or racial context as "obsolescent and offensive", because of its strong association with the "white minority rule" with their apartheid system. However, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family.
The Nguni people are a cultural group in southern Africa made up of Bantu ethnic groups from South Africa, with offshoots in neighboring countries in Southern Africa. Swazi people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Ukhozi FM is a South African national radio station & owned by SABC, based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal that caters to the needs of the Zulu-speaking community. Founded in 1960, it is the largest radio station in South Africa and Africa. The station has a broadcasting licence from ICASA.
Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi was a Xhosa dramatist, essayist, critic, novelist, historian, biographer, translator and poet whose works are regarded as instrumental in standardising the grammar of isiXhosa and preserving the language in the 20th century.
The Hlubi people or AmaHlubi are an AmaMbo ethnic group native to Southern Africa, with the majority of population found in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa.
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people are a Bantu ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily the Cape Provinces of South Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in Southern Africa and are native speakers of the IsiXhosa language.
The Rharhabe House is the second senior house of the Xhosa Kingdom. Its royal palace is in the former Ciskei and its counterpart in the former Transkei is the Gcaleka, which is the great house of Phalo.
Ityala Lamawele is the first extant novel in the Xhosa language. It was written by Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (1875–1945) and published in 1914, by the Lovedale Press. Since that time it has been a significant influence on isiXhosa literature.
The Bantu peoples are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native African ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The languages are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Southern Africa. There are several hundred Bantu languages. Depending on the definition of "language" or "dialect", it is estimated that there are between 440 and 680 distinct languages. The total number of speakers is in the hundreds of millions, ranging at roughly 350 million in the mid-2010s. About 60 million speakers (2015), divided into some 200 ethnic or tribal groups, are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone.
Nhlangwini/Ntlangwini (Hlangwane) is a Bantu language of South Africa. It is located along the border between Xhosa and Zulu, but is more closely related to Swazi.
The Revd Professor Peter Tshobisa Mtuze is a poet, priest and academic. He worked as an interpreter in the law courts of the old South Africa, a radio announcer, a salesperson for a publishing company, a civil servant in the homeland government structures, a lecturer at Unisa, an Editor in Chief of the Greater Dictionary of isiXhosa at Fort Hare, before joining Rhodes University as Professor and Head of the isiXhosa Department.
Nontsizi Mgqwetho was a South African poet, "the first and only major female poet to write in Xhosa". Her poems were published in Umteteli wa Bantu, a multilingual weekly Johannesburg newspaper established in 1920.
An imbongi, or a Xhosa Praise Poet, is a member of the Xhosa community who performs ceremonial activities at important events. An imbongi is traditionally a male who recites emotive poetry, sings, explains family relationships, re-tells historical events, and comments on current affairs
Benjamin Johnson Langa was a South African activist, poet and brother of Pius Langa, Bheki Langa and Mandla Langa. Ben was assassinated in 1984 as part of the apartheid regime's destabilisation of the ANC; an Mkhonto WeSizwe (MK) commander who was also an apartheid agent instructed two operatives to kill Langa, saying that he had betrayed the movement. The operatives were later hanged for murder by the apartheid regime. Langa's killing and its aftermath have been used to illustrate the danger of accepting without due process accusations of treachery, and by implication, of organisations which enable or condone this.
References
- 1 2 Turner, Noleen (1994). "A brief overview of Zulu oral traditions" (PDF). Alternation. 1 (1): 58–67. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- 1 2 Fikeni, Somadoda (2006). "The Nature and Function of Izibong-Panegyric Legends: The Case of the Xhosa People of South Africa". In Kunnie, Julian; Goduka, Nomalungelo Ivy (eds.). Indigenous Peoples' Wisdom and Power: Affirming Our Knowledge Through Narratives. Ashgate. pp. 225–45. ISBN 9780754615972.
- 1 2 3 Opland, Jeff (1983). Xhosa Oral Poetry: Aspects of a Black South African Tradition. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture. Cambridge UP. ISBN 9780521241137.
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