Athol Fugard honoured by the Academy
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Council member wins UKZN Book Prize

English Academy Council Member Dr Betty Govinden was recently awarded the UKZN Book Prize for the best academic book published this year.
The prize is awarded alternately in 2-year cycles in Science and in the Humanities. The prize money is R30.000, which is paid into the winner's university research account. The following was the citation for the award:

SISTER OUTSIDERS

Democracy had many unintended effects, both positive and negative. In South Africa we tend to focus on the latter and not on the former. The story-telling culture of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has encouraged a flourishing of writings in South Africa. We see the publishing of memoirs, biographies and autobiographies. This “refusal of amnesia” is an important positive quality of our time.

Dr Devarakshanam [Betty] Govinden, literary critic, argues that the time of the rebirth of South Africa is also the time to re-examine the literary wealth of South Africa.

Claiming a literary space for writings by South African Indian women is precisely what she does in her new book, Sister Outsiders – Identity and Difference in selected writings by South African Indian women, recently published by Unisa Press and Brill.

Sister Outsiders, produced in the series Imagined South Africa, was one of ten books published by Unisa Press to celebrate the new democracy in South Africa, and was endorsed by the Centre for African Renaissance Studies at Unisa.

Being a longstanding scholar of English literature, and of women’s writings globally, Govinden became aware of the neglect of writings by South African Indian women, and chose this field for her doctoral study. Her intention was to broaden the scope of South African literary criticism.

In recent decades in South Africa, recognition had increasingly emerged for women writers, both black and white. It is necessary, she points out in her book, to constantly expand and extend that community of voices shaping, moulding and creating images of the human environment.

It is the first full-length critical work to focus on a significant number of examples of writings by South African Indian women, with specific focus on autobiographical writing and fiction.

Her book covers a range of South African Indian women’s writings. Among the many writers that included are Ansuyah Singh, Jayapragra Reddy, Muthal Naidoo, Krijay Govender, Agnes Sam, Farida Karodia, Zuleikha Mayat, Phyllis Naidoo, Dr Goonam and Fatima Meer.

For writers such as Phyllis Naidoo, Dr Goonam and Fatima Meer writing was part and parcel of their activism. In their lives and in their writings, they were anticipating the new nation long before people dreamed it were possible. It is inevitable that many of the diverse impulses emerging from the political and historical context will be evident in Indian women’s writings in South Africa.

In her study Govinden is sensitive to the fact that some women object to the “Indian tag” and prefer to assert a broad “South Africanism”. She delves into these issues of identity at length, and shows that there is a wide spectrum of views on the subject. She shows how many of the women writers challenge the notion of a homogenous or “authentic” Indian identity.

While further research is necessary into earliest writings and the book culture of the old Indian immigrants that kept language and literature alive, much has come to light, and the book is testimony to this. Her archival work revealed that groups such as the Indian Women’s Association were writing petitions in the first decade of the 20^th Century. These were published in newspapers such as the Indian Opinion, established by Gandhi. Another early example of Indian women’s writings was a poem by Olga Paruk, performed at a concert in 1910 [a month before the Union of South Africa was formed] to protest against the pass laws aimed at Indians.

An interesting chapter in the book deals with Govinden’s own grandmother, who began life as a child labourer in Kearsney, Natal. The chapter is a moving account of her grandmother’s arrival and work in the tea and sugar plantations of Colonial Natal, and conjures up evocative images of an era long past.

Since she initially began working on this research project, Govinden notes that there has been a new wave of writing, much of it published in this new century. She would like to direct her attention, among other work, to this new corpus of writing by women, a development that bodes well for the future of women. These new writers - Sumayya Lee, Praba Moodley, Sherin Ahmed, Pregs Govender, Sherin Sarif, Venitha Pillay, and many others – are quite different from one another, and offer different vantage points from which to look at our history and politics, and our social, cultural or academic life.

On the value of the writings, Govinden noted that they show the enduring truths we find in every corner of the world, in every time in history - that the human spirit is indomitable; that in spite of oppression of various kinds human beings will rise above them and assert their belief in justice, and their self-worth. These writings show the ‘horizons of possibility’ when women, undaunted by the realities of their context, write about those very realities and, in this way, show that they will overcome.

She shows in her work that a number of the women were inspired by Gandhi, and write out of the context of South Africa’s struggles for justice. But some women also write about personal grief or their everyday experiences.

This book should have broad appeal – from ordinary readers, to academics, feminists and historians. This book would appeal to not only to those living in South Africa, but also to the rest of the continent of Africa, and globally: “There is a new interest in women’s voices, in women from third world contexts, from contexts of oppression historically. South African Indian women writers have counterparts in India, and the Indian diaspora. They are also part of the growing conversation among women from all parts of the world.”

Sister Outsiders, as well as Govinden’s other book, A Time of Memory, is available from Adams Booksellers and Exclusives Books.

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE DRAFT MEDIA BILL

The English Academy of Southern Africa is deeply concerned at the trends evident in the Bills relating to the Protection of Information and the Media Appeals Tribunal, and calls on the government to withdraw them. The Bills are radically at odds with the spirit of liberation enshrined in our national Constitution, and represent a drift back to the oppressive spirit of the apartheid state. This neo-colonial trend should be halted before it gains momentum. The Bills are silent on whose interests are to be served by the measures proposed. There is a legitimate national interest, and we would expect all legislation to serve it. However, the notion of “the national interest” was given first priority by B J Vorster to justify the increasing oppression of the apartheid state. The burden of such a past demands explicit redefinition of the concept for the democratic era. In particular, the national interest has to be interpreted in relation to the constitutional concepts of the public interest and the right to know. Failure to be explicit in this matter opens the way for “the national interest” to represent the political interests of the ruling party, or (even more narrowly) of the government of the day. The proposed Media Appeals Tribunal suggests that such slippage is not a figment of the imagination. A tribunal which is managed politically and is empowered to impose penalties which effectively shut down “troublesome” media is fundamentally at odds with democracy. To introduce it for serious consideration is a mark either of default resort by the legal drafters to the totalitarian assumptions of the apartheid state, or of a cynicism which we would hesitate to ascribe to any government in a democratic South Africa. As a nation we must avoid replicating the profound errors of the past. The two Bills discussed here undermine the national transformation project by recreating objectionable aspects of that past. They are so poorly drafted that they fudge key conceptual issues, opening the way for proposals alien to a democratic state. Documents so fundamentally flawed cannot be satisfactorily amended. If the founding principles of a liberated, democratic South Africa are to be honoured, nothing short of a radical rethink will do.

THE ACADEMY’S NEW PRESIDENT (2009-2012)
PROFESSOR STANLEY RIDGE

Stanley Ridge was born in Durban and grew up on a farm in the Byrne Valley near Richmond, KZN. He trained as a teacher at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, taught for several years at Kearsney College, and then went abroad for further study in England (York) and Canada (British Columbia).  In 1969, he was appointed Lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. He taught there for 10 years, during which time he took his doctorate. Since 1979, he has had several careers on the staff of the University of the Western Cape. He has been Professor and Head of the Department of English, Senior Professor, Dean of Arts, Director of Development and Public Affairs, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. He retired from full-time work at the end of 2009, but is still serving as a Special Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor. He is Professor Emeritus.
Stanley Ridge has published 52 accredited articles on English language and literature, has co-edited a volume on Applied Linguistics in southern Africa, has edited or contributed significantly to 3 school textbooks, and has served on many language-related committees, including the HSRC Main Committee on Modern Languages, the national syllabus revision committees for English, The NRF specialist panel for Language and Literature, the Western Cape Language Committee, the National Language Body for English, and the Council of the English Academy. He has also served on the editorial boards of four South African journals and one international journal, and has been a guest editor (with his wife, Dr Elaine Ridge, and Professor Sinfree Makoni) of The Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, and Equity and Excellence in Education. Professor Ridge has served on the National Heritage Council, and chaired the Council of the National English Literary Museum. He serves as the Academic Trustee of the Babette Taute Trust, which makes scholarships available for the study of English.
Stanley Ridge was invited to deliver the Mandela Lecture at the University of Utrecht in 1990. He has served as Academic Adviser to the Global Foundation for Research and Scholarship in Tokyo, and has had periods as Visiting Scholar at the University of Buffalo in the USA, and Visiting Professor at the University of Essen in Germany and the University of Linköping in Sweden. An Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Travelling Fellowship allowed him to work in the British Library for 6 months. In 2004 he was awarded the English Academy Medal for “sustained and distinguished services to English.” In February 2010 he was honoured with the Ubuntu Dialogue Award for his contribution to Education. 

Teaching English Today

REPORT SEPTEMBER 2010

Background

• It is more affordable.
• It allows for an archive to be built up for future reference.
• It allows educators to download and print specific articles that they find of use.
• It makes interaction and discussion much easier, allowing for interchanges of opinions, responses to articles, queries to be posed.

We were aware that there are schools in poorer areas which do not have internet access. For this reason, we have offered to supply a print version to schools that request that.

The publication  is intended to be a vehicle for teachers and teacher educators to debate critical issues, to share approaches and valuable learning material and to help build communities of practice. Clearly, the magazine also has significant value for teachers in training. The emphasis is on what will help the teacher in the classroom to teach well and to keep in touch with best practice in a South African context. This implies a predominance of practical material with some articles which bring practice into critical review.
It was decided that it would be published twice a year on a specially designed website, but may be updated between ‘issues’.

Progress report

• The first ‘issue’ was published in June, with 17 posts on varying topics.
• Our webmasters from Evalunet were superb in their training and ongoing assistance.
• It was advertised to about 450 people and institutions.
• It was also advertised at the Schools Festival in Grahamstown, by kind favour of the Grahamstown Foundation, and at a NAPTOSA conference in the Western Cape.  NAPTOSA has also advertised it in newsflashes.  Attempts to get SADTU and the SAOU (the other major teacher unions)  have not succeeded, but I will persist.
• It will be further advertised to schools by SACEE.
• I have received very positive responses from some members of Council and other individuals, including a senior curriculum official in the Department of Basic Education and the SG of the Western Cape Education Department.
• There have been 41 comments on the articles posted.
• There has been a good number of visitors – see below.
• I have written to the Donaldson Trust to request funding for 2011.

Where to next

Regarding the next step, I am looking into making it an ongoing publication rather than two ‘issues’ per year, or a combination .  The problem that arose was that, when one adds a new post, it comes at the beginning.  This can affect the ‘unity’ of an issue.  I have, however, found a way of adding items that appear in the list of contents on the right but not at the beginning of the issue.  I have, thus, added an advertisement for a course at Wits (for Andrew Foley); info about English Alive and the English Olympiad; and the call for comments on the proposed new curriculum for English; information on a book which would aid in the studying of a particular setwork.   The danger here is that, when one downloads the website, one might miss these items as they do not appear as articles.  I’ve got round that by inserting a post which comes at the beginning of the ‘issue’ called ‘English Matters’.  There I have listed the items which have been added on the right and referred the viewer to these.

Statistical report (at 30/07/2010)

Since its launch, TET has received 747 visitors and achieved 1,835 page views.

The top 10 read articles are:

1. Listening to visual images – appreciating political cartoons
2. To examine or not to examine
3. Teaching English Today launched
4. English in South Africa, a double-edged sword 1
5. Why English teachers need professional associations
6. Viva English teachers viva
7. English in South Africa, a double-edged sword 2
8. Shakespeare in the classroom
9. Formatting for results
10. Mother tongue education in South Africa

The top 10 countries with visitors are:

1. South Africa
2. United Kingdom
3. United States
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Canada
6. Philippines
7. India
8. United Arab Emirates
9. Malaysia
10. Pakistan
11. Russia
12. South Korea
13. Australia
14. Hong Kong
15. Mexico

547 of the 747 visitors are from South Africa.