Die rol van oraliteit en identiteit in die bevordering van gemeenskapseie woordkuns in Suid–Afrika

Abstract

There are many spaces and identities in South Africa which have not been described; communities where the creative potential of the storytellers/writers have not been developed. The complexity of the South African society, particularly in terms of language and the literacy continuum means that community-specific word art projects cannot be regarded on a one-dimensional level. In one community there could for instance be members who still function fully in the oral tradition, as well as others for whom the written tradition is accessible. A new, so-called “secondary oral tradition” also plays a role and there are complex interfaces between these traditions. In each community, people share mini-narratives with each other, but there are also master narratives influencing the specific community and the wider society. The overall goal of the study is to determine the role of orality and identity in the promotion of community-specific word art in South Africa. As research method, a heuristic and interpretative approach is used to reach conclusions from existing literature and case studies. The study is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part includes a meta-theoretical framework, based on the literature study. The rest of the study is viewed through this framework. Three theoretical spheres are involved, namely (1) identity and space, (2) word art and (3) community development. In the practical part practice-based research is primarily used, as well as participatory observation and auto-ethnography. Insights are also gained from two case studies on community-specific word art, as well as the discussion of several nonrecurrent word art projects. From both the theoretical and practical parts of the research certain markers are derived, which are used to create a model for the promotion of word art in South Africa. The model is not generally applicable; it only provides principles which can serve as guidelines in the promotion of communityspecific word art. The conclusion of the research is that both orality and identity play a central role in the word art of communities. It is found that there are several links between the identity and space of a community and the ways in which they express themselves in word art. It is further ascertained that a participatory approach to community development can serve as an appropriate framework for community-specific word art projects. The approach (taking into account the concepts of identity and space) is also used as framework for the development of the model to promote community-specific word art.